In 1985 I was going through some very dark and difficult times. I had gone through a very nasty divorce to a woman I had loved and who I thought loved me for who I was. I'd also had severe emotional struggles during and before then and just felt very disconnected from people. It was a very isolating time.
We've all felt that way sometime during our lives, but this was amplified by being dissatisfied with my job, my living situation, and just feeling a general loneliness.
It would have been easy to turn to drugs or alcohol to medicate the pain, but I knew that wouldn't help what I was going through. It would only make things worse.
As I was browsing in a Christian book/music store at the time, I came across an album that looked interesting to me. It was called: 'Benny from here' and was recorded by an artist named: Benny Hester.
Eager to hear it, I hurried home and played the tracks on my cassette player. That was when I heard the song: 'When God ran'. It was stunning, and boy did that song resonate with me!
The song is about a young man who after turning his back on his Father remembers how much his Father loved him. It mirrors the story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus in Luke, Chapter 15.
The young man remembers his Father and heads home with a humble and contrite heart to beg his Father to let him work merely for food since he'd been starving. The Father sees him from a distance and runs to embrace him. What a picture of love!
It is amazing how a story, especially when put to music, can change one's whole perspective. After I heard that song, I felt hope and I felt loved. It may seem silly to others, but I did!
There is something in our spirit that connects with music at the deepest level. David knew this when he would play music for King Saul as he was tormented by an evil spirit.
I also learned how encouraging music can be at that time. I hadn't really known it until I went through such darkness.
It's interesting how the music school I went to, Cal State Northridge, was only a few years before this time learning how much of an impact music therapy can have on people. Often music can reach a person's soul and work in their heart when nothing else will.
Ask yourself if movies would be the same without music? They touch us at the heart level that most things cannot.
All of this is to say what a blessing it is we have a way to reach and touch people with love! I'm not saying that music alone does it, but the message we can share with others is how important they are and how healing can begin through the songs and stories we share with music.
I found a beautiful story shared by a site called: Music Therapy, that you can see touches on the power of what this means to people even at the end of their lives.
Never let anyone tell you that music is not transformative. It is and can be a very powerful way for people to express what words themselves cannot!
