With all this free time (and that 10 albums challenge I've been tagged in on Facebook) I've been going back to some old music that I used to listen to. Flyleaf was one of my favourite bands for a while when I was about 15 and quite sad. I discovered them because I was searching for "screamo Christian music", sounds weird, I know. But I wanted to listen to music that reflected my Christian world view, that wasn't offensive or inappropriate, but also was raw and emotional and comforting. At that time I found a lot of Christian music to be too jolly, annoyingly happy clappy, and I couldn't connect with it.
I ended up with a long list of bands to try out, one by one crossing them off when I didn't like their music or their message, or both. Until I found Flyleaf. The first song I listened to was All Around Me which I immediately enjoyed, and I was intrigued by the very cool looking lead singer Lacey Sturm. I went on to watch countless videos of her sharing her amazing testimony about how God rescued her from suicide at the age of 16 and from then on I didn't look back. This was a kind of music I never knew existed! Heavy and rock-y but with a heart that beats for Jesus, passionately sharing a message of hope in the darkness. Their music got me excited about the Bible too, I used to highlight passages and annotate them with the Flyleaf song which I recognised them from.
"Sitting closer than my pain, He knew each tear before it came"
This particular song Sorrow is one that brings back memories of a sad time in my life but I'm so glad that I could find comfort in music that pointed me to Jesus rather than allowing me to wallow in the gloom. That line at the end: "JOY WILL COME", was such an encouragement to me and somehow it felt more real being screamed. Life is different now, I'm definitely not in that place anymore but I suppose during this pandemic the message reminds us that we do have a hope and this situation will end. Also it's just a great song.
P.S. I would recommend Lacey's book The Reason if you want to read her story.