faith friday ...

here's this week's cue from Journey of Faith Friday at Amber's Articles ~

*How has a specific song impacted your faith journey? How did God use the lyrics of a song to speak directly to your heart when you most needed it.*

judging by the extended list of music 'likes' in my profile and music vids on my blogs, you'll know this post will not be a chore!  surprisingly it hasn't been difficult either as there's one particlar song that remains uppermost in my mind and i'll not diverge from its insistence ...

years and more years ago, i'd followed God's call to move to a very small island.  not having lived in smallness before, i was unexpecting and unprepared for small world views.  my arrival was not a thing of welcome.  hospitality was something extended to friends, not strangers.  not that that is what God thought.  or wanted.  or taught in His recorded Word.  or lived by The Word.  even though they claimed to be God followers.  they had rules to follow rather than the Person they claimed to follow.

just as my arrival went unwelcomed, my presence was not only unwelcomed it was resisted.  from various directions and in various situations.  to the point where it began to take it's toll mentally and emotionally.  which of course is not where it stops.  as in Jewish thought, we are one.  not compartmented.  not divided.  physical damage results along with the mental and emotional assaults.  being weakened on all fronts i was in need of saving.  of a Saviour.  in need of the One who'd called me to this place.

not being One who abandons, my cries were not unheard.  being One who has promised to never leave nor relax His hold on me, to be my everpresent Help in times such as this, to raise up a banner on my behalf, He proved His Word one lonely tearstained autumn night.

unsuspecting, i stoked up a favourite.  ashley cleveland.  'power of love'.  'land of the living'.  'faith like a little child'.  all working the soil of my heart.  preparing me for the healing that was to come.  Kenny Greenberg's guitar licks lit up the intro.  'riding with the king'.  music soaking surface.  softening.  ashley begins to sing.  words of worth.  needed words.  words Divinely directed.  don't you know we're ridin' with the King?  saturating the dry ground...  i didn't know.  not from this perspective.  in my head but not my heart.  but suddenly my heart began to hear.  began to respond.  i began to know.  ashley began to quote 'blessed are you when people revile you and say all manner of evil against you .. for you shall see God.'  'don't you know you're ridin' with The King?'   the logos became rhema.  i was riding with the King!  i was riding with The King!  i was riding with the King!   that was the reality.  that was my reality.  not alone, i was riding with The King. pain encrusted layers washed away as these words, this Truth, quenched the parched soil of my heart.  spoke Life to my spirit.  the Words of Life i so desperately needed to hear.  that God knew i needed to hear.  that God knew how to speak when i needed to hear.  how i would hear.  through music.

and i would hear the Truth and the Truth would set me free.  which it did.  free from the pain.  the falsity. the lies.  the deceptions.  free to live.  Life spoken, Life received.  the Life that we're told is in the power of our very tongues.  our speech.  the Words of Life we can choose to speak.  or not to speak.  whether that speaking is through attitudes, actions, words or music ...

here's a clip of kenny and ashley performing 'riding with the king' live.  it doesn't include matthew 5.10-12
as does the 'second skin' album version.  it rather includes a bit of ashley's story.  worth including for you.  for all you r & b lovers.  blessings ~

Ashley Cleveland with hubby Kenny Greenberg