music (2)

There are just certain songs that hit you at just the right moment.

Our family had just spent several years in the military.
We were completely on the opposite side of the country from family.

This time in my life could only be defined by the word “challenging.”
Ok, so that is an extremely tame word for it.

War.
Deployments.
Fear.
Loneliness.
Challenging.

As in many times in my life, the most challenging times have the potential for the most substantial growth.

It’s not always the case.

But it was definitely the case during this time.

I was my bravest, strongest ‘self.’
My faith was solid.
I grew as a wife and mother.
I was a totally different person than my pre military-wife self.
A much stronger person.

We had just decided to get out of the military.
It was the end of February.
The weather was gorgeous, so I decided to go for a walk.
I was listening to my music.
It was sunny.
Really sunny.

The sun was actually quite warm.
(For those of you from the North, you know how unusual this is.)
As I was walking, I noticed how warm the sun was on my face.

At the exact moment I noticed the sun,
The line
“Feel the sunlight on my face…”

Wait.
What?
Did it just say that?

The very next line
“YOU have brought me through this place.”

I stopped walking.

Where I stopped overlooked the city we lived in.
I was looking out at a river.
And crying.

I must have listened to that song a dozen more times before I walked home.

“Do YOU see just what YOU’ve done in my life?
YOU gave me more than I hoped for…”

In that moment that song described so very perfectly my experience over the past several years.

It was such a hard time.
Like really hard.
But it was amazing.

Because of what God did in me during that time.

It was far more than I had ever hoped for.

Far more.