In times of worship, isn’t it amazing what can happen to your soul in the midst of singing one song?  Some Sunday mornings, I enter harried from ushering three dressed and fed children into the building.  Other days, I enter breathing deeply from a morning sinning in anger.  Still other days I enter weak, feeling totally inadequate in all God is calling me to do.  Yet I have experienced priceless moments when I’ve quieted my heart long enough to start singing a song that reminds me of truth and places all my circumstances into proper perspective.  God has such power to change the state of my heart in a matter of minutes!

I think everyone probably has a couple songs that just always seem to “getcha.”  You know the songs I am referring to–the ones that are full of just the right words and flow to just the right sound (as if the writer was thinking of you when creating it).  Then there are the songs that surprise you and just hit you here and there at just the right time.  I have recently been reminded through other people just how affective music is in ministering to God’s people.

As my husband Doug embarks on his journey in songwriting, it can honestly be tempting to me at times.  You can probably imagine that it takes a considerable amount of time to write all the lyrics and the music, and then there is the “refining stage,” and the “starting over stage,” and the “that sounds like another song stage.”  AAHHHH!  Though songwriting is a tough discipline, it has proven to bring much joy to Doug in the process of meeting with God and pouring over the project to get it just right.  I know others who are aware of what songwriting entails and just how much humility has to go into it.  Imagine creating something you love only to have it dissected and torn apart.  Doug is so extremely humble in his songwriting.  He loves to use his gifts for the good of God’s people.  He goes after other musicians to critique his work constantly.  Doug so respects the other musicians and pastors in his life that he doesn’t hesitate to make changes based on their input, which means laying down his own preferences.  He is always amazed when the church is able to use a song that God helped him create.  God has helped him.

I, like Aron Osborne, love Doug’s songs.  I’m so proud of how he has walked with grace in an area where selfish ambition is knocking on his door, but not entering.  In a manner of a few weeks Sovereign Grace Ministries is putting out a new CD on the psalms, and guess who’s on there . . . ?