Spin the Lyrics

When I'm working through the storms of my life I'm pretty stressed.  During those times nothing else seems to be able to reach me as powerfully as music.  But I don't just listen to the music.  I listen to the lyrics and my heart.  I listen for meaning and how it specifically applies to my life and the current conflict I'm trying to resolve.  Bottom line:  I'm listening for my Savior's voice in the song.  I reach for him, not just with my physical ears but with my spiritual ears.  I think I have done this ever since I was a little girl without even knowing what I was doing.  It is some kind of instinctive, spiritually genetic skill.

So it is pretty often that I spin the lyrics in a song.  I translate them to my situation, to fit my story.  For example, if it is a woman singing to a man, I might swap it to a man singing to a woman if I am in need of my Savior's confirmation, comfort, and guidance.  I listen to what he might be saying to me through these words.

Love songs are obviously singing about the relationship between a man and a woman but I spin them so that I hear the words singing about my relationship with my God.  I let the Spirit govern my translations.  Since I have had so many experiences in the past where the lyrics in a song (accompanied by that feeling of peace) have been instrumental in healing my heart, my faith in this Process is strong.

I did this one day a number of years ago when I was really struggling with an issue in my life.  I had gone on my walk around the neighborhood with my iPod on.  The following song came on (it's from my aerobics instructor playlist).  I remember I was trudging up a hill when it was like someone said, "Hey, listen."  I heard these comforting words as if they were straight from Him to me:

Superwoman
by Sonny O'Brien

[During my walk I changed this to 'Superman' and thought of Christ singing it to me]

Whenever you need me, whenever you call
whenever your world comes tumbling down, [My world was tumbling down]
I will break the fall
'cause I've got the power, to depend on
when a hero is all that it takes,
so if you need somebody [Man, I needed somebody]

I am your super[man], I'll be there for you
I am your super[man], I will care for you [I needed someone to care for me in this way]
no matter how hard, no matter how tough
I'll lift you up, and if you want it enough [the lyrics I found said something different on this line but I'm pretty sure this is what she sings in this version of this song]
I am your super[man], everyday

I'll climb any mountain, I'll swim any sea
I'll even fly to heaven and back, if you believe in me
'cause I've got the magic you can count on
when a miracle has to be done,
so if you need somebody

Repeat

I didn't just hear the words.  Something happened in my heart as I listened.  Wave after wave of peace flowed into it like waves crashing on the shores of a beach.  It was so amazingly pure and powerful.  I could feel His presence.  And I knew without a doubt that he was communicating to me.  He wanted me to know that he was enough for me.  At the time I was in despair and felt like NOTHING could resolve my conflict.  NOTHING.  I had nowhere to go.  I had no answers.  And even though he didn't give me specific answers at this time, I felt utterly and completely comforted.  I don't know why.  I usually want answers and don't feel better until I get them.  I guess it was just knowing that He was there for me.  I could FEEL he understood what I was going through.  It was like he was holding me.

In hindsight I can see that he did know exactly what was going on and why I was feeling the way I was.  I can see now that I wouldn't have been able to understand then.  I didn't have enough information.  I didn't know the full story and it couldn't be explained to me yet.  Over time I've come to understand it but in that moment on that day I didn't.  Yet this song, the words he said to me through it combined with the peace I experienced was enough.  It's not that I didn't have other people to call and talk to about how I was feeling.  I did and I'm thankful for that.  It's that what other people usually had to say to me or how I felt when I talked to them wasn't enough.  I have come to know this about myself:  I need Him.  Whatever it is that he is and he has that is different from what other caring and compassionate people have, I need it. 

I am so thankful to Sonny O'Brien for this song.  It has been a lifeline to me, a means by which I can reach heaven and it can reach me.