Jerry L. Woodbridge
Grief has been described as love with no place to go. I concur. When I lost my beloved husband, I missed him terribly for me and my children. He was our stabilizer in the family. Yet, when we believe our loved one is with Jesus, we can release them into His loving care. What better place to be than with Jesus?
I have selected three songs for this section on tunes that trade sorrow for joy: Darryl Evans’ I’m Trading My Sorrows for the Joy of the Lord, Scars in Heaven by Casting Crowns, and Rhett Butler’s Ain’t nothing like a Gospel Song.
We shed tears for the HOLE our lost loved one in our lives, but we can also receive JOY unspeakable that can heal us and make us WHOLE again. In full disclosure, I had heard this song prior to losing my husband but I had already experienced loss in other ways. I loved the upbeat tempo that made me want to dance. I embraced the lyrics of trading my sorrow for the joy of the Lord because it was the Lord’s redemptive plan.
Casting Crowns – Scars in Heaven
We are human. We make choices every day. When we lose a loved one, we often have regrets of things we did not do or did not say. They tell us time will heal all our wounds. Yet, we do not realize our loved one’s wounds are all healed because there is no sickness in heaven. I love this line of the lyric, “But I know you’re in a place where all your wounds have been erased. And knowing yours has been healed are healing mine.” The premise of the song is that the only scars in heaven belong to Jesus.
Rhett Walker – Ain’t Nothing Like a Gospel Song
When we only think about our grief and our own problems, we forget the one who can solve them. The gospel represents the message of Jesus Christ to everyone in the world. Gospel music is sung in the best of times and the worst of times to remind us we serve a loving savior that wants us to free us from the cares of this world. There “Ain’t Nothing like a Gospel Song to uplift our spirits whether stressed, mourning, or challenged with everyday life.
I pray you are feeling encouraged by the tunes that lift us up out of despair and grief and provides peace, joy, and hope.
My Faith Playlist 