paint & praise

There have been so many styles of music that have come into my life throughout these last 40+ years.  My parents were quite young when they married, so I kind-of grew up with them.  It didn't hurt that both of my parents were the eldest child in their perspective families.  Needless to say, I was surrounded by mostly teenagers and adults for the first five years of my life.  There were sounds of seventies pop, Black Sabbath, honky tonk, Lawrence Welk, and Mel Torme ruminating through my little head.  I can't remember hearing any hymns until we started church shopping after my brother's birth. 


title page of my journaling Bible

Organ music and a prestigious choir were part of the church I grew up in.  The sermons were lifeless and dry to me.   Like many young adults, I had to decide, for myself, that this religion thing was really for me.  God really got my attention when I met my husband.  We renewed our relationship with the Lord and began a journey to grow closer to Him.  As part of our adventure to discover God for ourselves we started attending a church with a "modern" worship service.  I had never experienced anything like it before.  At first, I wondered if this was okay to do.  For some reason, it seemed like I was breaking some kind of religious rules or was in the wrong kind of church or something.  Worship and church has never been the same since. 

We attend a different church now, but the music is still rockin' and moving.  However, praising God doesn't have to include music, but I doubt that it would be half as meaningful and Spirit filled.  Music has so many qualities that affect us all.  Psalm 71:23 is only one of so many of the verses in Psalm that tells us, "My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You; And my soul, which You have redeemed.  It's only natural that we grow closer and feel the presence of God when we are praising Him.  He says that we will spend our eternity praising Him, Rev. 4:8.   Watch Jon Egan, of Desperation Band, discuss the story behind the song "God Be Praised."

 

It's important to me for the worship songs I enjoy to relate to scripture.   Just as a sermon ought to be tested against His Word; a song that speaks to my soul, enough to make it an act of worship, should be scripturally sound.  Plus, it's fun to see exactly how the artists interpret His Word into music.  If I am lucky, then the song and verse will speak to me in another way... through my art journaling. 

Did you ever have that assignment in art class where you listened to a classical score with a huge tub of crayons and a big sheet of white paper in front of you?  Me too!  Art can be inspired by music and vice versa.  Why should it be limited to classical music?!  In the weeks and, hopefully, months to come I will highlight a song and verse that have inspired my art.  If this includes my journaling Bible, then all the better, but it is not meant to be too restrictive.  I want to challenge myself to bring art and joy back into my worship.  Music serves as a jumping point for both of these.

I would love to know what songs really inspire you!  Give me a comment below.  More information on scripture, art and songs will come your way very soon.  Be sure to subscribe by e-mail or Bloglovin' (to the right) to get the latest posts!  Blessings!