Munching On Music
For the past six years, I’ve struggled with dips into depression and anxiety in my fight against PTSD. In recent months, I’ve felt stronger, happier and healthier. I wondered what has been the most helpful to turning my thinking around – back towards God? A lot of times it’s music. Like snacking on different foods when our bodies hunger for them, my mind and heart often call me to “munch” on music.
Christian music is helpful in guiding my thoughts back to my source of hope – the Lord. God has been near me, guiding and loving me through dark times and music based on Biblical truths helps me to refocus my thoughts. My “Clear My Mind” playlist on Amazon Music is curated to help me during those dips.
All the songs echo truths from the Bible and they are sometimes able to express what I cannot. They can be a form of prayer, as well as praise. They all remind me who my God is, always was and will always be. The songs are supported by scripture. In “I Shall Not Want”, Audrey Assad sings, “From the need to be understood / From the need to be accepted / From the fear of being lonely / Deliver me O God.” This truth about God’s ability, and desire, to deliver me is supported by Psalm 50:15, “[A]nd call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
Another song, “Even Me”, by I Am They reminds me that Jesus loves me and I’m forgiven. The chorus reads: “Yes, Jesus loves me / Even me, even me / I stand forgiven and free…” This song directly connects to John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
A third song, “Truth I’m Standing On” by Leanna Crawford, emphasizes God’s faithfulness. Repeatedly, it declares, “Oh, this is the truth I’m standing on / Even when all my strength is gone / You are faithful forever / And I know You’ll never / Let me fall.” In the letter of 2 Timothy, it reads, “if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself” (2:13).
We often live life making choices about how to spend our time without understanding the impact those choices have on our bodies, on our thinking and on our behavior. We need to be mindful. I have over 90 songs on that playlist to help me refocus on God – who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised. These fuel my soul and help me to withstand onslaughts of low mood or anxiety. Maybe you share my experience with valleys of anxiety and depression. I urge you, refocus on the Lord, focus on truth and hope. “Munch” on Christian music until you feel full.
