With Jesus I Can Shake It...

Music has always been a very important part of my life. I thank my mother for this. She was always singing...ALWAYS. My Dad said if she wasn't singing, she was humming...and it drove him nuts. The humming, that is. This was back when he could actually HEAR. I bet he'd give anything to hear her now. I know I would.

So, we sing in our house, too. Jim knows that if I'm not singing, something's wrong. I'm sick, mad, sad...something. The difference between me and my mom is that she could really SING. Like, WELL.

I like lots of different kinds of music, but the main thing I listen to is Christian music. I have K-LOVE on my radio pretty much all the time...and it's a proven fact that I can go up to 5 hours in the car knowing the words (or most some of them) to every song that comes on. I will not miss a beat. I will make stuff up if I have to, but you will not stop me.

Unless you change the station to talk radio, and, honestly...if you're that desperate to shut me up, I feel for you. You must be a miserably unhappy person.

Or have a hankerin' for some really GOOD sangin'.

Back when Jim and I lived in Little Rock, there was this little old man who went to our church. I believe that his wife had died years before we got there, and he lived with another family in our church. I want to think that he was a preacher or a missionary. He would sit down front and sometimes during the service...not every service, just some services...you would hear his sweet voice singing. It would start out quiet and everyone would hush and strain to hear it...and then everyone would join in and sing along with him. And I would cry. Every.single.time. It was just so sweet.

His most favorite songs were "Every Day With Jesus," and "The Longer I Serve Him, The Sweeter He Grows."

"They" said, the family who took care of him...that in his final days, he would lay in bed, resting quietly. They would think he was asleep, or maybe unconscious...but at random times, he would quote Scripture...or sing songs of faith.

I WANT TO BE LIKE THAT.

Because how bad would it be to be in my final hours, with my friends and family gathered around my bedside, and I start singing, "I'm all about the bass, the bass, the bass...no treble."

I'M KIDDING.

All last week, I woke up with a song in my head. The first thing I do when I wake up is roll over and look at my phone. I don't have a clock on my side of the bed, so I check the time first thing. And that's when I would immediately start humming or singing one of the Christmas songs that we are working on in choir. Every.single.morning. And you know what? It helps to set my mind for the day.

This morning, we sang a song that included these words: "with Jesus I can make it...with Him I know I can stand." I sang it at home all week. Clark caught on to the basic tune of the song, but he changed the words around...so this morning, the words that came to my mind during our "pre-game" rehearsal were: "with Jesus I can shake it...with Him I know I can dance."

OH MY GOODNESS!

It's so important to hide God's word in our heart...with songs or Scriptures. It guides, protects and comforts us during the day...and during the night. It can drive away demons and fear. It can soothe...it brings peace.

"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11