Let Yourself Sing

Photo copyright Cindy Costello.

God has done it again. He has used the songs of Matt Maher to ravish my heart and let it break into song. I've loved music and singing all my life, but have at times, not allowed myself to sing. Maybe it's a control thing. To sing, you need to let go of control. You need to let something move you...let Someone move you.

In his new album called Saints and Sinners, Matt Maher's music reaches into the depths of the places where my heart is broken, and brings the Light of Christ. Healing somehow happens when I acknowledge where I'm hurting, find that I'm not alone, and embrace the cross and the pain as a way to get closer to God.

In a holy hour last week, in a small chapel alone with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I knelt down, played Matt's song called Deliverer, and let myself sing! It was so joyful and freeing!

I was a drifter, I had nowhere to go
I was hanging by threads of dust and bone
Every angel I knew was singing son come home
But the melody was hard to sing along...

...You let go of the brokenness within
Well there’s only One who can ever stand and win

...My God, from the flood and from the fire
You brought me out, I am alive
With a faith, just like a child
I’m not afraid, I’m running wild
For everything that will be done
I am yours and you are my
Deliverer

Oh God, You’re my deliverer
The One, the One who carries us

In a very real way, I knew God's presence. I allowed myself to hope that every cross I carry will have a resurrection, every fear I have will turn to faith. Everything really is grace, as Matt reminds me in another song. If I dare to praise Him "whatever comes my way," I will begin to grow in the confidence that He is enough, even when the wait it long.

This weekend we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast that St John Paul II gave to the Church to remind us that God's Will is Love and Mercy itself. He wants us to run wild with this Love, to be not afraid, and to sing! Picture the child who knows no fear, and runs wildly uninhibited into the arms of someone he loves. God the Father sent us His only Son our Savior who has brought us out of the tombs of depression, rolled away the heavy stones of discouragement, and delivered us from evil! We can run with reckless abandon into the arms of the Father who loves us. And we can sing our hearts out, as we go!

This Easter Season, I pray your heart can sing out loud "Alleluias" of confident joy and praise. I pray you will be delivered from whatever controls you or holds you back from the full and open song. And I pray you know the joy of resting in the Father's arms- the arms of "the One who carries us."

Thank you, God for Matt Maher. Bless him, Lord as he offers, with such humility, his uninhibited gift of song.

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