depression – Song Dive

Me on Your Mind

The next entry for my Blog is Me on Your Mind, which was written by Matthew West, Jeff Pardo, and Anne Wilson. It was first released February 18, 2022. A link to Matthew West singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

I’ve read the words in red
How You leave the 99
To find the one missing
Feels like that was written
With me on Your mind

And the prodigal son who ran, leaving his home behind
The part where the father came running to meet him
Did You say that with me on Your mind?

Who am I that the King of the world
Would give one single thought about my broken heart?
Who am I that the God of all grace
Wipes the tears from my face and says, “Come as you are”?
You paid the price, You took the cross
You gave Your life and You did it all with me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
Me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)

Just knowing You’re mindful of me
Just knowing You call me Your child
It’s flooding my soul with unspeakable hope
Thank You, Lord, that it’s me on Your mind

I’ve read the words in red of a heavenly home on high
You’re preparing a place where the sorrow’s erased
And when I stand before You, I’ll find
All along, it was me on Your mind

Who am I that the King of the world
Would give one single thought about my broken heart?
And who am I that the God of all grace
Wipes the tears from my face and says, “Come as you are”?
You paid the price, You took the cross
You gave Your life and You did it all with me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
With me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)

Woah (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
It was me on Your mind

I believe we all have times in our life when we feel all alone and we often get down and out and feeling sorry for ourselves. Unfortunately, many people have this feeling way too many times and they lead very sad lives. Maybe our friends and our families try to encourage us, but they really don’t understand. The words of encouragement and friendly hugs and prayers may be there, but your heart is still hurting and sad. Some people, such as our Christian friends, may encourage us to read our bibles and read about the promises of God in hopes that it brings us out of our depression. Have you ever been in this situation before? If so; didn’t you feel completely hopeless? It seems even more distressing when you are in a group of people and everything in life seems perfect with them.

The writers of the song refer to the text in the bible that is written in red. These red letters are words that came from Jesus, the son of the almighty God. Not every bible has these letters, but the red-letter editions always put the words of Jesus in red. There is a story in the bible that Jesus shared in the book of Matthew 18:12-14, which tells us just how much Jesus loves us and views each of us as his children. “If a shepherd has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” We are the lost sheep until we acknowledge Jesus as our savior and God as our father. No matter how far we wander away from God, he will be there with us. Yes, the 99 sheep are still as important to him as they have always been, but for that moment in time; he is focused on getting us into the flock and becoming part of his eternal family. When I reflect on the scripture above, it does seem as if I was the lost sheep Jesus came after and the red letters I had been reading were referring to me. It is so important to know that none of us are ever alone and we can never hide from the eyes of God.

The writers of the song also tell us about a family member who ran away from home with the dreams of getting everything he wanted in life. His father gave him his share of the inheritance and he went and squandered it all within a short time. This parable is found in the book of Luke 15:11-22, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes every single day. We say things we don’t mean and do things we don’t really mean to do. God loves me when I hold him close to my heart and God still loves me when I wander away. So maybe this story fits all of us in some way.

The chorus of the song is so powerful as it describes how the king of this entire world with its billions of people, still loves me and watches out for me every single day. Why am I so special that he wipes the tears from my eyes, heals the hurts in my heart, and loves me unconditionally? It is because each of us are his children and no matter how bad we act, he loves us unconditionally. He allowed his only son to suffer a brutal death on the cross, so that we could spend eternity with him. He wants us to come to him as we are and find comfort in his love. I don’t know if I will ever be able to comprehend the depth of God’s love, but I do know he always has me on his mind and in his heart. One day I will join him in the heavenly home he has prepared just for me and he has a special home for everyone who accepts him as their father and Jesus as their savior. The day Jesus died, you and I were on his mind.

Click to Hear Matthew West Sing Me on Your Mind

That’s Enough

The next entry for my Blog is That’s Enough, which was written by Brandon Heath, Mallary Hope, and Molly Reed. It was first released April 22, 2022. A link to Brandon Heath singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

That’s Enough

Mind if I tell you a secret
A few simple truths about me
Might be hard to believe
Guess I’m just trying to come clean

Sometimes I don’t know where I’m going
It’s hard to admit where I’ve been
When I come to the end of myself
This is where I begin, again

I am here
I am loved
God is good
And that’s enough

I don’t know your situation
What kind of story you’re in
If you’re high on that mountain
Or down in the valley again

You might be holding your baby
You might be holding a drink
You might be holding a secret
That’s getting harder to keep

But you are here
You are loved
God is good
And that’s enough

And I am here
I am loved
God is good
And that’s enough

It’s okay if I don’t have the answers
It’s okay to be right where you are
It was patience and kindness and love
That got us this far

You are here
And you are loved
God is good

And I am here
I am loved
God is good
And that’s enough

He is here
He is love
God is good
And that’s enough

How many of us have secrets? My guess is that all of us have something deep inside of us that we have never shared or have only shared with a select few people. Sometimes, we just need to share one or more of these closely guarded secrets because they are tearing us apart inside. People who are close to us and people who are casual acquaintances may know us only by our exterior persona, but they have no idea what we may be struggling with deep inside. My wife accuses me of hiding things in various vaults in my head, where they can never be found. With all of this being said, most of us reach a time where we just need to bare our soul regarding some of the things going on in our lives and our past that we have been reluctant to share.

In this song, I believe the singer has reached the point where he just has to talk to someone, because it is tearing him up on the inside and has been hidden by that façade we many times hide behind. I believe all of us are in this situation and the time comes where we just need to come clean. Maybe you invite someone or a few friends to grab a cup or coffee or a drink with you. As you sit there, you start to explain how you are not the person you appear to be. The person or people you are talking to have always viewed you as someone who has it all together. Perhaps you are the one seemingly always loving life, with everything going your way. Perhaps it is your demeanor, maybe it is how many friends you have, your successful career, how much money you appear to have, or perhaps your perfect family. As you start to tell your true story, the people with you become speechless as they hear what has really been going on inside of you. They start to understand that maybe your entire life has been a trainwreck and you have kept it hidden behind a well-developed façade. Your best friends start hearing about your childhood as part of a broken family, how your marriages have failed, how you are deep in debt, and that your entire life has been a failure. For you, success has been temporary and fleeting as your inner secrets continue to take over your mind and distract from the life you want to live. It is almost as if you have been hanging off of a cliff, were able to pull yourself back up; and then start hanging off a different cliff as life beats you down again. I realize I have painted a picture of gloom and doom, but I truly believe there is a little bit of this in all of us and a lot of this in many of us. I believe that the people who just heard you bear your soul were handpicked by God for this point of time in your life.

It is in our weakest moments when we turn to the only place where we have unconditional love and this is from God and his son Jesus; he never leaves our side. In our darkest moments as we reach out to him, he is with us. He tells us this in Matthew 28:20, “And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” As the singer of this song tells his sad sad story, God stops him and says “I am here”, you are never alone. Note that God does not say he is there for a period of time, he says he will be there always. The bible also tells in the book of John 3:16, “that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to die for us.” How much more can someone love you, than to give up their only child for you? Yes, God is good and he has made sacrifices for us and promises to us that will last for eternity. God has to remind us sometimes that he is here, that he loves us, and that we will care for us. With God saying he is with us always and then he gave the life of his son for us, I say that’s enough.

We never know or even completely understand someone else’s story or situation, but I believe everyone has their own personal challenges in life. All of us probably get on that mountain top from time to time, only to slide back down into the valley; but God is always there with his hand out ready to pick us up yet one more time. We all have something to hide, maybe it is something associated with your family, maybe you have a problem with drinking or drugs, you can never keep a job, or maybe you just feel as if your entire life is coming unraveled and your secrets are becoming more and more difficult to keep within your façade. The real question the song seems to ask, is where does God fit into your life? The answer is to let him into your heart, he is waiting for you to invite him in. Once you allow God into your life, you start to put your trust in him since you should know that he holds the future. We don’t have to always understand why things have happened to us, but God only focuses on our future; he is not concerned about our past. Once we accept his son Jesus as our personal savior, our past is forgotten and we become white as snow on the inside. We may never understand why we have had these challenges in our life, but it is important to understand that God puts the right people by our side at various stages in our life for a purpose. These are people we can talk to about our burdens and maybe help us to find our way out of the darkness. He is simply waiting for us to reach out our hand and place it into his and feel his power, his glory, and peace that only he can bring.

It is really ok not to know all of the answers and God will be with us regardless of where we go in our lives. The song says it is God’s patience, kindness, and love that has gotten us this far. God is good, God is here, and that is enough.

Click to Hear Brandon Heath Sing That’s Enough

Come As You Are – Entry #4 of 5

Today I will focus on the following portion of the song,

All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

Are you broken? What does it even mean to be broken? These are difficult questions, but the reality is we are all broken. How we are broken differs for each of us. A person who is broken is someone who feels as if they are not worthy, they are undeserving, they have lost their way in life, and perhaps as if they are alone in a cold dark world. Maybe our brokenness comes from actual or perceived failures in our lives, the way others have treated us, where we live, or just the general environment around us. It is easy for the broken person to fall into a state of depression as they feel they loneliness and failure seeping in. I also believe we sometimes become broken due to a tragedy in our lives, such as a loss of a loved one. Not that we have done anything wrong, but there is now a hole in our heart that we are not sure how to mend.

With a defeated and broken spirit, we hang our heads, our demeanor changes, and the way we carry ourselves reflects how we feel. We essentially have a broken spirit and have given up on our life, we have become the prodigal son that the bible tells us about in Luke 15:11-32. It is during these times, in our darkest hours, that we need to lift up our hearts and faces to God. In this time of our greatest need, he alone can heal the pain and loneliness we are feeling. Psalms 34:18 reminds us that God is always there to take care of us: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

He feels our pain and he asks us to feel his love and open our hearts to his peace and his will for your life. He heals the brokenness and reminds us we are his children and nothing can take away his love for us or the plans he has for us. It doesn’t matter if we have wandered away from God and that we have not been opening our hearts to him as we should, he still loves us and has his hand open to us at all times. Yes it might be challenging for us to hold our head up again, to admit our failures, confess our sins, and admit how we have turned away from him. We just need to come back to him and put our pain, suffering, and brokenness at his feet. As he reaches out to us, we will feel his warm, his love, and I am sure a look of compassion and a smile would be on his face if we could see it.

All we need to do, is to humble ourselves before God and give him all our suffering and our pain and he will heal our broken heart and our broken spirit. We only need to come as we are.