Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Reckless Love ~ Cory Asbury

I have discovered a lot of new worship music lately that I am totally sold on! I'm weird about worship music; I know that. There's not really a rhyme or reason to what I like and what I don't. But "Reckless Love" is definitely a like.

Love is a word thrown around so much in our culture. Everyone has their own definitions and we get hurt by love more often than not. With all the turmoil regarding love, it can be so easy to doubt God's love. This song reflects on the fact that God loved us before we were born and will continue to love us no matter what we do or don't do. Even when we are fighting Him, He is still loving us!

Favorite lyrics:
There's no shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
There's no wall You won't kick down
No lie You won't tear down
Coming after me

Happy Listening!

 

Friday, February 9, 2018

Matthew West Releases New Album Featuring "Never Ever Give Up"

I have been waiting for this since I heard the song during the KLOVE Fan Awards movie event. He wrote "Never Ever Give Up" for a little girl named Brooke who was battling cancer. I loved it the first time I heard it and was checking YouTube every couple months to see if he'd released an audio for it yet. I wanted to listen! He finally released it on his newest album, "All In".  

This post has been a long time coming, but album reviews take time to put together, and each time I'd come to post, I wouldn't have time. Better late than never! I'm going to review my favorite songs from the album (which may end up being the majority, we'll see :)

ALL IN
We'll start with the title track. What I like about this song is how it truly is about every single person. West sings, "we're all dying to live, but we're all scared to death". Doesn't that just about sum up everyone? This song, with its message and beat, is a great foot forward for the album.

BROKEN THINGS
You've heard this one on the radio long before the album came out. How does he do it? This song, like Mended, speaks to us when we feel useless to God. "The pages of history, they tell me it's true/ that it's never the perfect, it's always the ones with the scars that you use". The end of the chorus ties this song with the "all in" theme of the album as it says, "then here I am, Lord, I'm all yours". Wonderful, incredible song. 

THE SOUND OF A LIFE CHANGING
This is like a biography of West's life in a song! I love it. He starts off as a broke college student, attending a SCC concert (yes! :) and he hears God say, "that's gonna be you someday". How cool is that? Then it switches to him singing and "you're in the crowd, looking at me/ singing Child of the One True King" and he's thinking that any one person in that crowd could be experiencing what he did years ago. 

I love the way West is so humble about being used by God: "I'm no Billy Graham, but I come as I am, and you know that you can too". Any one moment can be the moment our life changes. 




Oooh! Here's the story of the song!





1 SONG
West has great lyrics, but he also has great music. This beat gets stuck in my head a lot. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah" :) In '1 Song' the idea is that if he could only sing one song, it would be for God, but I also think it is a good reminder that we never know when our last is, so it should all be for God. 



And the finale.... NEVER, EVER GIVE UP
As I said at the beginning of this post, this song was written for Brooke, but I think it's going to encourage a lot of people who are going through incredibly challenging seasons. My favorite aspect is the upbeat music :) I can't help but smile and want to dance a bit when I hear this song. Added to it are the lyrics which are just so encouraging. Here's the song and then the video of Matthew and Elizabeth Hasslebeck surprising Brooke with the song. It's super sweet.





I don't know that I could pick a song off this album to be my favorite. I listen to all of these almost equally. Depends on what's in my head at the time. Usually I'm singing one of them and then I want to listen to the real thing. Hope you enjoyed this!

Friday, February 2, 2018

God Of All My Days ~ Casting Crowns

Casting Crowns has been releasing some incredible songs in the last few years. These songs speak to people who are down, lost, and broken. I'm imagining that a lot of it is born out of Mark Hall's bought with cancer, but whatever the case, they really help me when I'm going through something difficult. 

The latest release to the radio is the song, "God Of All My Days". It reminds me of Psalm 77:10-12, which is the psalmist saying that in hard times, he will remember who God is. That's what this song is about. 

My seasons change, You stay the same
You're the God of all my days

Happy Listening!