ChristianDance

Joy is a choice you can make today. “I Will Rejoice” by Maria Segerholm is a song of joy and praise, and her message is that joy is a choice despite the challenges we face. Maria has been called a happy person since she was a little girl. The unexpected happened, the trials came. Seasons arrived when her joy faded, and she says the enemy worked hard to steal her joy. Does that sound familiar? Those seasons didn’t last. Over the past few years, God has taught Maria what it means to rejoice in Him at all times, and this song, “I Will Rejoice”, grew from that lesson. Listen to how she sings it. Clouds try to block her light, yet she won’t stay down. Pain tries to break her praise, so she sings His Name. Fear shakes her soul, and she gives thanks “cause I know You’re good.” Notice the words that Maria uses: Clouds, pain, fear, and noise… They all “try,” but none of them win. Joy here is a choice that she makes again and again, long before her feelings catch up. The bridge pushes further....

Darkness grips hard, but one name holds harder. Where do you turn when your strength runs out? Josef Tingbratt and Joakim Arenius wrote “No Other Name” for that moment. Their song follows a man who is “Restless weary and alone,” “So many miles from home.” Inner voices that treat him unkindly. Then a night raid brings brutal violence: “They tried to break his body down, but they could not break his crown.” Notice what he does when “darkness gets its grip.” He calls Jesus: “Jesus, Jesus hear my cry.” No fancy words, just a cry. The song grew where two struggles meet. Some believers face ridicule or violence for following Jesus. Others fight a quieter battle with loneliness and doubt. Both struggles need the same answer. Peter answered the rulers who questioned him in Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” He spoke with threats hanging over him. His confidence never rested on comfortable c...

What has God done that you haven’t shared yet? Shumie knows what waiting feels like. Long seasons of silence came first, and then came provision that could only be called supernatural. A healing in childhood planted a faith that never left. How long have you been waiting? “Psalm 40” grew from that road. The opening line sounds like a page from a ledger of answered prayer: “We waited on the Lord and He heard our cry.” There’s no panic in it, only settled confidence. The pre-chorus plants a flag: “We will not be shaken. We will not be moved.” David walked the same ground. In Psalm 40:2–3 he wrote, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” Look at what follows the rescue. A song, and it’s the kind of song that is meant to be heard. Shumie believes testimonies work in the same manner. Your story of God’s faithfulness is not private property. A weary nei...

Jesus knows your pain before you speak it. Lauren Gruwell knows what it is when Jesus feels unreachable. Trauma in her childhood left her with deep sorrow, and for years Jesus seemed too far away. She didn’t think she was good enough to come near Him. Are you also familiar with that feeling? Do you sit in the dark, tears falling, and wonder: “… no one knows but if they did, would they care?” Lauren shares: “It wasn’t until He changed me, that I realized that HE has felt all the pain I’ve ever felt, and that He loves me regardless.” The Savior that she thought she couldn’t approach had already walked her road. This song, “Man of Sorrows”, grew from that discovery, and it carries a promise for anyone who hurts: “And all of my hurt, He felt it first…” . Jesus hurts right beside you. In Isaiah 53:3, we read that He was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Then comes the line that changes everything: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Our griefs. Our sorrow...

Freedom begins when you hand it over. Greg Rider Farrell doesn’t dress up his past. In “All Of My Sins,” he describes a younger man gripped by whiskey, cocaine, and “scandalous women” who “became my new disease.” He felt “so far down the road” that rescue seemed impossible. Then His voice broke through: “Oh Son, give me all your sins.” Have you ever believed that you were too far gone? Greg did. He writes, “It’s hard to climb the mountain when you can’t leave your past behind.” Guilt and shame did most of the talking, and Greg kept listening. Then he gave his life to Christ. That surrender to Christ broke the grip of his addictions and set him free. That same invitation is for you, too. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God doesn’t forgive grudgingly. Christ already paid the price, so your honest confession meets a settled answer. What does that look like for you today? Name the thi...

You can ask God the hard questions. Dan Read doesn’t tiptoe around hard questions. His song, “My Side”, opens with a whole bunch of questions: “Where is the rudder that keeps me afloat?” “Where is the anchor when I know I shouldn’t go?” “Where is the sail that guides me home?” Have you ever asked God something that blunt? Dan also admits what he can’t see. “I don’t know what the future holds.” “I don’t know why we hurt sometimes.” No tidy answers follow. Every one of these questions lands in the same place: “I look to the heavens.” Notice what he does with his doubt. He lifts it instead of hiding it. The writer of the book of Hebrews (we don’t know who the author was) gives that habit a solid footing: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” In other words, waves still roll, and our Anchor holds anyway. The song makes this personal. Dan sings that he has “heard stories about the peace that you bring” and heard of God’s power in the songs we sing. But seeing it ...

Does God’s silence mean God’s absence? Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. Jesus stayed where He was for two more days, and in the meantime Lazarus passed away. Alex Young and Friends wrote “Martha’s Song” from inside that silence. The song was written at the request of a friend, and inspired by John chapter 11. The first line of the song sets the tone: “In my little world, from my point of view, it can seem like God isn’t coming through.” Have you ever prayed hard and heard nothing back? The lyrics name things like “chronic pain” and “crippling grief.” No neat answer follows, only a question: “What if our sorrow, what if our suffering are part of Your purpose, part of Your story?” Jesus answers that question in John 11:4: “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” He did not stay away because He didn’t care. He walked to Bethany and stood at the tomb. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). He we...