I grew up listening to soul music. The Motown sounds of Wilson Pickett, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Gladys Knight and the Pips. Honestly, I would listen to anything my little AM transistor radio would pick up. Every week, I looked forward to the American Top 40 Countdown with Casey Kasem. Years later, God would use my love of music to lead me back into the fold.
A New Kind of Soul Music
Contemporary Christian music began in the 60s with the hippie’s Jesus movement, and became more mainstream in the 90s. Listening to these songs introduced me to a different God from my childhood experience. Instead of an angry judge seeking to punish me, God was full of grace, mercy, and love. A radio commercial filled with music invited me to a local church and God met me there.
As my relationship with God grew, song lyrics, like Mark Lowry’s “Mary, Did You Know,” and Steven Curtis Chapman’s “The Great Adventure,” made Jesus so real, personal, and relatable to me.
In my life, music has always been my source of comfort, encouraging me to imagine a life full of acceptance and love. God knew how to reach beyond my mind and into my soul. Do you know someone who needs God? Keep praying. He knows just how to reach them and His timing is perfect.
Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
Psalms 89:15
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