Sing a New Song

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

All of us have been slammed by some life tragedy: death of a loved one, a life-threatening diagnosis, divorce, betrayal, so forth and so on. For talented individuals, heartbreak can birth wonderful melancholy songs. However, for non-music writing folks, heartache can be a melody stealer.  It is hard to sing a happy tune when our lives are out of sync.  

Within a very short period of time I experienced all of those things above. Many days I didn’t want to get out of bed. I dreaded facing the world, my children, my life, or the possibility that one more devastating thing might happen. At one point, every area of my life (family, work, friendships, and marriage) was in a state of limbo.  Candidly, some days I just did not make it out of bed. 

There were days that God ministered to me in a deep soul-cleansing way. Other times, He sent friends to my door to pick me up, literally.  A couple friends came to my house, convinced me to change out of my jammies, took me to lunch, and kept me from spiraling.  (I don’t know how they stomached their food with all my incoherent, snot-filled blubbering.) He forged connections with people who became my “Ms. Celie.” They loved on me, encouraged me, and listened to my tear-soaked, anger-laden mumblings and rumblings. God used all of the above to “scratch a song out of Shug Avery’s head.” (To understand these references see The Color Purple.  For real, see it.  This movie is a classic.)

Thankfully, He did not leave me where I was during those dark times. In my deepest pit He still saw me and reached down for me. Now, I am standing on firm and stable places. God gave me a New Song!  A song I never sang before.  I heard about God in certain ways, but after all that, I can now sing about Him as Healer, Comforter, and Lover of my soul.  The great thing is that while this is my journey, it is a common story.  All of us have or will have an “after all that” experience.  We are not at our final destination because we are still alive.  We have not sung our last song.  It is time to put that old tired melody to bed.  It is time for a New Song.