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Music is my boyfriend. When I'm down and out, it makes me smile! It's the perfect balance of venting, praying, and listening to some good music that keeps me afloat. I was texting my silly goose Cali and I thought about how much music can really help you through a situation. The Bible places a huge emphasis on hope, faith and love so I got to thinking about a couple of my go to songs to help me out when I've lost hope, I'm lacking faith and in need of love. Don't get me wrong, prayer, personal time, venting, and all that are good modes of restoration but what's life without a soundtrack??


1. HOPE
India.Arie, There's Hope
India.Arie said it well:
 "it doesn't cost a thing to smile, you don't have to pay to laugh, you better thank God for that..."
"that's when I learned a lesson, it's all about your perspective..."
I remember a time that I felt down and out and I almost CRIED listening to these lyrics. It IS all about perspective. Hope is often defined as an expectation. You HOPE things work out. You EXPECT things to work out. I'm not delusional, I understand that some things just won't work out, but there's ALWAYS HOPE. Besides, they say some people lie so much they begin to believe their lies. Well I'm about to smile so much that even in the darkest situations I believe there's HOPE.

2. FAITH
Mary Mary, Can't Give Up Now
"nobody told me, the road would be easy/and I don't believe, He brought me this far, to leave me"
WELL, those lyrics are pretty much self explanatory. According to the Bible, 'faith is the assurance of things hoped for'. THE ASSURANCE. Sometimes, I must admit, I tend to lose faith. Things aren't going the way they should and I'm just talking to Him, wondering how he could let things get this bad. It doesn't happen frequently but every now and then I lose FAITH. Now after having written the definition just before typing this, the term 'lose faith' sounds like an oxymoron. If I don't have anything else I need to have FAITH. It's hard. How many things can you ASSUREDLY declare? I KNOW this will happen. I KNOW that will happen. I can't say that about much but as many times as I have began to lose my grasp on hope there's a million times that He has proven to me that my FAITH in him, my unwavering certainty in his actions, is justified. I don't know a lot of things but what I do know is that I believe those lyrics and I don't believe He brought me this far to leave me. GAME ON ;)

3. LOVE
Chrisette Michele, Best Of Me
"my momma made me much wiser/what's mine will be just for me..."
I like this song because it doesn't discuss a blame. I don't know if she cheated on him or if he just up and left her but I do know that she has an extremely positive outlook. She doesn't care that he's moved on; she's happy for him. She acknowledges she's affected; she can't sleep. HOWEVER, she's ACCEPTING it and KNOWS that one day she'll find a love like the love she thought she found when she found him. Ya'll know what I mean! She doesn't even sound exhausted. That's another post for another time but some breakups are EXHAUSTING. This is a very light song. She understands that he's not for her. That's a hard pill to swallow because sometimes we want people so much we're like toddlers, forcing puzzle pieces together. She's not focused on him in this song, she's trying to find HERSELF. Some tend to lose themselves looking for love. She lost love and she's looking for HERSELF. Some of us claim to have found love but still haven't found themselves. But. Again. That's another post for another time.

I could go on and on with song lyrics and my opinion but I was just in the mood to jot these thoughts down. Do you have a go to playlist? We all need one.


(conversation with Cali earlier)

@ms_shady (Twitter/Instagram)
E: ShadesOfMarketing@me.com




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