It was my sister who first pointed out to me. My oldest sister, the music therapist, the one who has never met a baby she has not sung to. Emily seems to have inherited a larger portion of the rich musical heritage that comes to us through my mother. Her college professor begged her to become a music theorist, citing her near perfect ear. Her roommates used to play “how many songs will Emily sing” placing inconsequential over/under bets on the number of tunes that would flow from her mouth in a 24 hour period. They rarely went over.
Emily speaks song as her first language. She said to me once “I must be feeling overwhelmed, I keep singing songs about how God will carry my burdens.” Sometimes she says things like ” I wonder what it means. I keep singing about God breaking chains and bringing freedom.”
Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks….and sings. Em taught me that even when my brain does not recognize it, my heart knows what it needs. Before I realize that I have trapped myself in a prison of my own sin and expectations my heart will cry out “break every chain, break every chain, break every chain.”
I have learned to be aware of what my heart is singing, what manages to bypass my brain and come straight out of my mouth. When I wrote that post about selling my soul for a mocha, I had literally been singing “all who are thirsty, all who are weak” for five days straight. Come Lord Jesus come indeed (oh, and I got my mocha). The heart sings what the brain has not engaged.
My heart sings of my need for mercy even when I am not aware of it. It sings of God’s mercy already given when my mind has forgotten. It is a merciful thing to know what you need and to have a God willing to provide it. The happiest day of my teenage life was the day a doctor was able to diagnose my chronic illness. If you know what is wrong you are one step closer to being well. And this is true with the Lord and my heart. When I learn what is wrong, I am one step closer to the healing. Mercifully, the Lord often diagnoses my symptoms through song.
Tell me I am not crazy. I would love to hear about how the Lord speaks mercy to you. Anyone else receive revelation through song?
I am hanging out with Mercy Mondays again. Check some of my new friends out!
Abby Norman 
“The heart sings what the brain has not engaged”. I’m sure you’re right about that. Maybe it’s how the soul sometimes eases our minds into things we must face rationally, but hesitate to because of pain or fear. Thanks for the post.
P.S. Still musing on “Waterboarding is not mercy”. Too vivid and image not to appear in an upcoming sermon. Apologies in advance for shameless idea theft. 🙂
love love love! and not because I am mentioned quite a bit, =-), but because this is just another powerful example and reminder that we were created, every human being, to worship our creator, He made music and He made us, praise Him who sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17) and praise Him that he allows us to and intends for us to sing back, Hallelujah!!
Probably love love love because song IS your first language. Not very many childhood rules were instated because of you…but you get all the credit for “no singing at the dinner table.”
Emily,
You mentioned my most favorite Old Testament verse. What I think is the most powerful expression of God’s love in the OT.
Abby, another beautiful post. I love the idea of singing out and just see where the Spirit is leading you to praise/pray before your brain even realizes. Thank you for joining in this discussion!
love this! and it resonates so much of me right now. my mind has kept busy so the heart won’t have the chance to “feel” really. but once that one song (or two or three or four…) catches me and it gets going before my mind can even think about what’s happening, i’m gone! my heart swells up with so much emotion. but i seriously love worship songs and i am such a crybaby for them!
When I don’t know what/how to pray, I read a hymnal.
Of course you do. Where did we get this.