EVERYBODY IS LOOKING FOR SOME LIGHT

It’s been a tough few years.   Several friends and family experienced sickness and loss.  I started a small business to help Christian youth learn cultural discernment.  I hoped God would bless my leap of faith but the business struggled. I began to question whether I had even heard God’s call correctly.  Maybe it was time to admit defeat and find other work. One particular evening many of these feelings flooded over me and tears began to flow.

I am not the only person who has had a tough few years. Many have experienced sickness, death, job loss, addiction, broken relationships or any combination of these.   And as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic grows many more are entering a season of significant suffering.  In these moments, some of us turn to our faith in God, crying out for him to see our suffering.  Often, we hear silence leaving us feeling alone and discouraged.   We may pray repeatedly, wondering why God isn’t responding.  After all, didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 7:7: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

As my tears fell that evening, talking to God was the last thing I wanted to do. To distract myself, I put on my headphones and opened up the music-listening app Spotify.  I stumbled upon the album called Leave What’s Lost Behind by Colony House.  And that’s when I received an unexpected gift.   Every song become a prayer from me to God.  Line after line felt like it was written for how I was feeling in that moment:   When the band asked “Are you listening?”  I questioned God, “Are you listening?”    When the band proclaimed that “Everybody is looking for some light.”, I told God that I also was searching for hope.

I became the main character of each song, calling out to God to recognize me:

“Here I labor on in the holy war
Find myself on the threshing floor
Praying somebody will stay with me
While I remain in between
Looking for light
In the breaking of day
Somebody stay with me.” - Where I’m From

At other times, I felt the band rally around me.   Even though we had never met, I trusted that they were on my side, understanding my discouragement, and cheering me on:

“So fight for your life
Fight till the death
Fight to survive
Fight for the rest of the time you have left on this planet
No need to panic
Fight for the moment
Take it slow” – Take It Slow

These songs didn’t change my situation but I feel different. I feel God heard me. I feel less alone. In a particularly challenging moment of life, God gave me a gift that I could use to call out to him. So “When the sorrow's heavy on your soul,” and you find yourself too tired to pray, I hope you receive an unexpected gift.  Maybe it will be music, art, poetry, nature, a pet, friendship, or something else surprising. God wants to connect and can use anything.