MUSIC

   I will sing to the Lord all my life;

    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

-Psalm 104:33

    As I was scanning through random pictures in pinterest this afternoon, I decided to look for a few quotes about music. I also created a board for it, and I cannot even believe that I didn't make one before. Anyway, as I was scanning, repinning these photos, it just struck me--the power of music. 

   I found a lot of boards and pictures with different definitions of how powerful music is, as in there are a LOT from different artists. It was inspiring, and then it just dawned on me, Music is indeed so powerful. I also stumbled upon this picture that states the benefits of singing. I was actually shocked by its accuracy. singing has health benefits! I didn't even know that it was possible. I mean think about it, and honestly, when we hear that someone is telling us that singing is his/her profession, we think that it is just a hobby or a waste of time, we think of it as a joke, right? but for real, music and singing has its benefit. Now, I'm not saying taht I want to be a singer someday and that is why I am doing this post, no. I am saying this because I just realized the true and real power of music. It is not a waste of time and it is NOT a joke. It is something that benefits so many things in a person. I'll be honest, for the longest time, I have felt the same way towards music and singing too, I always thought of this as a hobby, something that was just created to kill time, but for real, the power that music brings is like a higher level of healing. MUSIC does play a very viral role in our lives which is awesome. I mean, I love music, Music strengthens my faith. Music is my faith. I have to say this, my faith has grown through the use of music, it speaks a certain language that only God and I understand. I mean, we all have this personal connection with God and mine is in the form of music and writing. I feel HIM speaking to me through music, I speak to HIM through music. He corrects me through music, He comforts me through music. This is how powerful music is, it heals, corrects and convicts us. That is why we have to be careful with what we listen to. Because music and singing affects our mood too. This is scientifically proven. Whenever someone feels down or extremely happy but he or she does not know how 

to express his or herself through words, music comes in and takes its place. Music speaks to us more that we can ever imagine. It is more than entertainment, it is more than an expression, Music is more than a hobby, it is more than an art, it is more than something to do on a boring day, Music is life itself. The feeling that music feeds us is so indescribably perfect that it can only be created by someone SO MAGNIFICENTLY GREAT, GOD. God created music. He speaks through music. I recently (and when I say recently, I literally mean a few minutes ago, when I had that "AHA" moment to write this post) had an answered prayer, I was contemplating on giving up on music. On letting music go, sort of ending this chapter of my life, but lo and behold, the moment I told GOD that I will be giving this up, I couldn't stop singing, as in I find myself singing the whole day, random songs would enter my brain and I just start singing and singing like crazy, not that loud though, cause I live with my family. I now find myself listening to music-all day. Which is odd on my end because it has been a while since I placed an earphone on my ear and actually listen to my playlist. It's been so long when I felt my soul wanting to listen to something again. I admit, I lost the drive, the passion, the fire for music for a while, especially when I started working and when I got back to school. I didn't want to sing nor listen to music anymore. I dunno why, but my fire for music faded--almost disappeared actually. It is sad, but it's true. I lost my love for music. And that is when I told God that I am surrendering this to HIM. I told HIM that I will just allow HIM to direct my life and if this passion is not from HIM, I asked HIM to take it away from me because I didn't want it anymore. I find myself crying without tears because I was so confused. Everything confused me. I felt numb and I didn't know what I felt exactly."Fill A Heart" which is such a great song, 

I just threw it all to God, especially my love for music. I felt lost for a while because I was somehow pushing down these feelings that I should have addressed in the first place. I ignored my soul's longing and hunger because I felt so dried up, but the moment I surrendered everything to God, HE reignited my passion for music, HE revealed to me that music is part of who HE has created me to be. It is more than a hobby, more than a talent, it is who I am in HIM. My passion has been reignited because of GOD. Yayyy! PRAISE GOD for restoring me into HIS original masterpiece. HE fed my soul. He restored something in me that was missing for months. Passion. It was something so   surreal. Honestly, I could not actually believe that I asked HIM to take this away from me in the first place. All I really want is to sing for HIM. All the days in my life, to sing for my King. For everyone to see my love for HIM through singing. I mean, I am not the best singer, believe me, I am not. I am not this GREAT singer at all, a LOT of people can attest to that! Believe me, I'm not. At all. I can carry a tune though but I don't actually care because all I long to do is to sing praises to HIM. To connect with HIM, to connect people to HIM through music.Whether we admit it or not, music speaks. Lately, I've been somewhat obsessing over Tori Kelly's Fill a Heart , It is such a great song. Right now, it encourages me to sing for GOD and bring people closer to HIM. 

Feed a SOUL, Fill a HEART

feed a soul, fill a heart - these are the parts of the songs lyrics that really struck me. It has such a beautiful message that conveys what I really want to do. There are so many instances in my life where I have connected with people through music. I mean, just sharing the same interests, songs, genre--I have written songs with these artists. The power that God has placed in music is so majestic that it truly goes beyond our reach. All I really want is to use this now reignited passion of mine to glorify who HE is in my life. My one and true King, the only LOVER of my SOUL--GOD. Music is where I find my faith. Music strengthens my faith. It is one of HIS many ways where I feel that I am eternally bonded to Him; HE reminds me through music that there is always hope, that we are all connected whenever we feel disconnected in life. I feel like God created music as this majestic glue that brings us all together which allows each of  our souls to let it all go. My music is for HIM. Only for HIM. Always for HIM.

FORGET

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

– Isaiah 43:18-19

      One of the things that really struck me in this verse is when it said "FORGET THE former things; do NOT dwell on the past" --Easier said than done, right? Of course! It's easier to forgive rather than to forget, others may say otherwise, but stay with me on this, what is the main reason why we cannot seem to forgive? The answer is because we can't forget. We can never forget why certain people did such things, why certain things and instances happened to us, it's hard to forget those people who wronged and offended us. It is, and this is the reason why we cannot forgive, why for some reason, even if these people already said their sorry, already paid their dues, are already living a new and peaceful life that is so far from how he/she was before; we still cannot find it in ourselves to forgive them, why? because we cant' forget. No, scratch that, we choose not to forget. That is why we have these burdens, these anger, these grudges within us that holds us prisoners to unforgiveness, this happens; to the best and worst of us. 

     But the thing is, God's word tells us to forget  the former things. Believe me, when I first read this, I was like "Whaaaat? forget? it isn't that easy. This happened, and that happened, he did this and she did that..." blah...blah...blah... Yes. It did happen. This person offended you. That person spoke ill of you. They hurt you. She judged you. He did spread false things about you. It did happen. But, hello. Have you noticed something? They're all in PAST tense. It happened. It was done. It's in the PAST. Do you live in the past? of course not! We live in the present. I am not saying that we should just easily forget the past, because well, the past is indeed part of us, but it is not the whole of us. "Do NOT dwell on the past" --this can easily be said that we should stop living in the past and live in the now, in the present, in what's currently happened. Hey, I am not saying that this is an easy thing to do, it's not and believe me, I know how hard it is, I actually spoke to God about this-and I bluntly told Him that it is not that easy and that it was close to impossible,but you know what HE said to me? He just lovingly answered, 

"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." -Isaiah 43:25

   That was such a boom and pow moment for me. I felt both insignificant and so significant at the same time. It's true, Our Father, chose to FORGET our SINS. He who is blameless, and who is being hurt and forgotten by us everyday chose to forgive and forget about our sins. He sees us as the person we are NOW not who we are a year ago, a month ago, a week, a day, an hour or even a few minutes ago. That is not how HE sees us, He sees us for who we are now, kneeling and worshiping HIM now. In the present. Living and dwelling in HIS present. This is how HE sees us, this is how HE sees us. He sees HIS children now. He who is blameless and sinless, He who tells us our unpleasant actions, He who is hurt deeply by our unpleasant actions, He who has the right and the true license to judge us remembers our sins no more. Isn't that just humbling? I mean, out of everyone else in all the worlds combined, He should choose to remember everything, every single moment that we hurt, disappointed, betrayed, cursed, slapped, punched, poked, and snapped -He has the right to remember all of those things and hold it against us, but He didn't. He remembers our sins no more. He chose to forget every single wrongdoing that we did. He chooses to place all those things as part of our past. I cannot even begin to describe how it feels to be so cleansed and to be looked with so much joy and love. I could feel my soul leaping with so much joy because of this. Friends, it isn't impossible to forgive and forget, nothing is ever impossible with God after all, it is impossible if we would rely on our own strength, but if we will rely and lean on our Heavenly Father for strength, wisdom, will and power--Nothing is Impossible with God :D He wants us to be reflections of His glory, and forgiveness is definitely part of His majestic glory. 

The Challenge: 

Learn to Forget. Time to Forgive. Step into Freedom.

Here's to NEW BEGINNINGS! STAY BLESSED FRIENDS!