Recently, I have been spending my Sundays with a friend of mine from work, going to her Church. Organized religion and I do not often get along, or see eye to eye upon various topics. We will clash and agree to disagree on a variety of topics and I'm going to continue to be opinionated and ultimately I will find my peace with it or I won't.
Music is a large part of my life. There are songs that can make me cry at the drop of the hat, songs that make me want to get up and dance, and songs that can express my emotions ten times better than I can find words to do myself. My day doesn't start without music, be it some video that I find on Youtube, something playing on VH1 JumpStart or something else. I can't function properly without my music, just like I can't function without a brief glimpse in my bible to get a scripture to start my day.
I love all genres of music from rap to country and even new age, classical and folk. I've been known to dance to salsa, reggeton, and pretty much anything else that has a beat or has lyrics that I can find myself getting lost in.
My spirituality is a multifaceted thing, and it does show in my music. I love listening to bands like Third Day, Newsboys, Plumb, and so many others. I've listened to songs inspired by scripture, and I've listened to songs that simply fill a hole in my life at that point in time. Yes, music can do that for me.
More below the squiggle :)
For someone like me, with a belief system that is pulled from most major religions instead of confining myself into one single religion. My love for music has also an effect upon my spirituality, and I often find myself singing or humming a piece of Christian music, or something along those lines. Soulful and spiritual, is something that I need and ultimately, I find myself focusing on a piece of music and turning to a scripture (because despite my belief system being composed of a large number of religions that are NOT Christianity, I still read my bible).
Third Day is one of my favorite groups and these two songs are definitely among my favorites from them, Agnus Dei and Love Song. I find myself singing or humming both of these often.
Another group that I adore is Casting Crowns, and the song that I often find myself singing or humming along to is Who Am I by them.
My first experience at an event with fantastic Christian musicians was at Night of Joy my freshman year of college, when I'd gone with Campus Crusade for Christ. I'd loved it, really enjoyed each and every concert that I'd seen - among my favorites were the Newsboys Concert (and I still have my bright orange Newsboys shirt around somewhere) and Plum.
This is one of my favorite Newsboys song, Breakfast:
And I can't listen to Newsboys without listening to Shine as well. It's one of my favorites, most definitely!
Three of my favorite songs from Plumb are Stranded, God Shaped Hole, and Damaged.
Okay, so these are quite a few of my favorite songs. They are all pretty much my go to songs when I need something to calm me down, and deal with things and ensure that I can find the peace that I need. Enjoy them!