Funny, I used to listen to all kinds of pop music growing up, recorded oodles and oodles of songs on cassette tapes when I was 19 one summer. My cat, whom I had since I was 9, died two weeks prior to my coming home to mom for the summertime my freshman year out of college. Wasn't fair. There are a lot of things in my life that have gone on that weren't fair, I didn't think, but, looking back now, God's had a plan all along, and, what seemed unfair was just His way of moving me in a direction that was fairly obvious--looking back now---that I needed to go. The Lord leads. "...you follow Me." John 21:22
Now, I listen to Spirit 105.3 exclusively for music, if it's my choice. It's not that I don't like Madonna putting me on the 'Borderline,' or, Tiffany saying, 'I think we're alone now,' or the Heart sisters saying, 'alone' over and over in my head, or, Debbie Gibson saying, 'only in my dreams, it wasn't real as it seems, only in my dreams. Nah, only in....'
Funny, but, in 1997, I re-committed my life to Christ and nothing made much sense of the pop secular songs after that(actually, I found Spirit 105.3 in 1996 to be my choice of music ONLY, a year with God only going to church then after what'd been a dramatic tragedy in my life in 1995 where God got my attention) world, not saying there bad (a lot of them say things that are good in the lyrics) all, but there is so much of them that IS bad, subtly saying things that encourage pre-marital sex, beligerence to parents, independent thinking that is, unfortunately, independent of God, and, well, the list goes on and on and I could go on, 'my heart could go on' saying things about pop music that's not good, but it was good for me back in 1987 which was when I was put with it in my life by God to get through a tough time, the toughest for me, I LOVED my cat, slept by my head, slept above my head, slept in my arms, head-butted me when I stared at him, he was a great, long-haired black cat that God put in my life and it was not music to my ears when he died, for sure. But, God used music, pop secular music to get me through then, I guess, yeah, He did. He did. He knew. He knows everything. Scary thought ! But, yeah, what's inside you , He knows. You know ALL your inner thoughts, no one else does. Does anyone really tell ALL to their mate of their past life? Maybe. Probably not.
Anyway, I've listened to every song out there that was top 40, thanks to 1987 , the year Debbie brought out 'Only In My Dreams,' it truly IS amazing what music does to one's mind. It can be beautiful, but IF the music is NOT focusing on God in some stream then it's far less than beautiful. In fact, Scripture says, 'You cannot serve two masters. You wlll hate the one (good) and love the other (evil), or, vice versa. You, we, I can't have it both ways.
I admit, I've been a little tough on 'music' in past threads too but I start hearing talk of my past, of music, and, although it was good for me at the time, I admit, it kept me from coming to God for many years after that time, and, really, it wasn't just 1987, it was 1977, my family was heavy-going church involved and my sister, 9, and, I 11, were pretty both solid on God, but then came the VCR and movies, horror movies, like 'My Bloody Valentine, 'The Omen,' and, frankly, life changed, my God-serviing family that my dad was leader of was taken over by these movies ^^^^^^^^ and hmmm, mom took my friend and I to 'Porky's' when we were 13 and so why do I write all this. Because....
....my family fell apart when God became SECOND in it, and, music, too, was a part of that 'change' that was definitely not for the better, that ended in bitter seperation of my mom and dad when I was 15.....
Quite a 'steam,' eh :I Sad, indeed
But, God is good, and, He used those things to move me in His direction, through time, a lot of time, and, although it was not really necessary, I have so much music in my mind of that time that I CAN use it now to bring others to Christ who THINK I don't understand their time. I do understand it, in fact, I was a campus DJ for our 'Alternative' music ,grunge station for 3 years. So, I've heard it all.....
AND, now that I have (heard it all), as He leads, I will exPEL it to the 'world.' Conviction is His !!! I pray that if you've read my stream of thought this morning that you zero in on YOUR life and what you are doing NOW and thinking of how it's affecting your waking moments, your walking with God, are you being naive about what's considered good in your life that is really evil, or, consciously so doing, even worse, God says IF we are 'lukewarm' He will spit us out (Revelation 3).
So, think about the Christ who came into your life when you accepted Him as your personal saviour and Saviour. What happened ! Did you just change cuz you knew you were then able to go to be with Him after you died and not rot in someplace that Rev. 19 speaks of called the 'Lake Of Fire?' What happened? Did you become convicted just to continue in your old ways? Or, did the meeting with Jesus lead you to read the bible more, find out about His Holy Spirit and what kind of mercy, grace, and, acceptance of His will and His ways for your life really is.
Arwen, you're being toooo hard on yourself, too, just go for it, aSK God to help you become a GREAT suicide intervention hotline talker and truly follow Him. God's done some amazing things with me, regarding work, to THROW me right into the midst of work that was contrary to my nature before I accepted him (re-committed) to Him in my life in 1996-97 . Amazing work ! What a mighty God we serve ! A girl who liked me, whom I was doing things with, told me once, in 1996, 'Ed, you're too hard on yourself.' THAT was some of the best advice I'd ever heard !!
Get out there, be convicted of His Love that He instilled in you to reach the world, however He asks you, might be preaching on a street corner, might be talking to people in the grocery store line, or, might be quietly, NOW, just doinig things with God, in a convicting fashion, getting down on your knees and praying to Him for His truth spoken to you in your life, to show you as you proMise you will go forth His way for your life and your way will be gone no more.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 (Paul speaking)
"...the Gospel did not come to you by word only .but also by power, and, by the Holy Spirit, and, by deep conviction..."
God bless you all, thanks for listening to my conscious thought, have great days, led by Him !