Music and Me: Abide With Me - God's Country

Hello everyone!!

It's another beautiful Wednesday and I thank God for Wednesdays :-) 

We started the Music and Me series earlier this year and of course like every other series on the blog - Waiting and Loving It, Married and Loving It, Chronicles of Sebastian, Dear Daddy, Conversations with One.. etc, it is God-inspired... I believe that very much because the way He has taking the wheel (as with other blog-projects) is amazing!!

Since we started the series, I don't think I have published a personal one, yet when we started off, I was ready to introduce all my favourite worship songs and tell you the story(ies) behind them lol.. Alas, God had a greater and far better plan! Because, just before I put fingers to typewriter or start choosing a song in my heart, someone sends an email with their entry for the week! 

It is always a pleasure to read the AMAZING testimonies of different people (many of whom I am yet to meet), when they send their stories. A number of them have moved me to tears, not because its sad, far from it - more because I stand amazed at how awesome, amazing and oh so faithful our God is!!

I have mentioned previously that I believe that there is immense power in music.. Particular spirit-filled music - it can bring hope, it can inspire joy, it can light up a dire situation, it can bring healing, it can usher in the presence of God, it can be used as an expression of worship and it can bring comfort and strength...

... And that's what today's Music and Me post is about. I don't think I will forget this particular email in a hurry as I admire the strength and grace of this lovely lady, Adenike who shares her expression of worship with us today.... Be blessed xxxx

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I am HAPPILY married with a child. However, early 2014, we lost what would have been our second child to stillbirth at 20 weeks. I was distraught to say the least. Up until that time, my life had been a roller coaster of one testimony after another, I only just need to desire it and I would have it. I cannot put into words how lost I felt at the time and I won't even try because words will do no justice.

Fast forward to some months after that loss when I discovered I was pregnant with twins! It was a pleasant shock, as neither myself nor my husband had a history of twin gestation in our families. This was God compensating us and restoring all we had lost as He promised. Family members could not hide their joy and we all held our breath in expectation. I suffered hyperemesis gravidarum, but it was for a cause, so I bore it all.

Sadly, in the 23rd week of the pregnancy, I went into premature labour and all medical efforts to stop the labour proved abortive, prayers were said in every corner, I prayed to God and prayed some more until I became so weak. My heartbeat was practically jumping, my sisters were so scared at how they could see it.

Eventually, I had to be wheeled to the delivery room and as I laid on that couch, in distress, in terrible labour pain to deliver children whose lungs I knew were not developed enough to sustain life outside the womb, in a dire situation further compounded by the medical facility inadequacy of the country (although this particular hospital is the best I've seen here), two songs came to mind and I screamed them out. God knows I did, and the Gynaecologist looked at me in unbelief.

First one was 'Jesus in times of despair' (albeit I sang it in Yoruba) and the second one was 'Abide with me, fast falls the eventide'. They are both hymns (which I LOVE!) and I had loved the second one for a while prior to this period and you would always hear me singing it, but at that time, much more than any other time in my life, I needed God! I was afraid that the losses would affect my faith and take me away from God and whilst other things around me were falling, I still wanted that one sure foundation to remain, so I sang and cried and sang.

God abode, through all my useless utterances, through the hurt and the pain, He was there. I didn't always see Him and I wasn't always looking for me, but He was there, He gave me words of comfort, He surrounded me with people that felt the pain of the loss as much as I did, if possible. I am not totally free of the pain now, but it doesn't consume me anymore. I am standing! I am living! I am hopeful and waiting for a better tomorrow because He abode with me in my darkest hour and He will abide with me in the joyful days ahead as He has promised.

Listen to the song and find God in any situation you might be in........in 'cloud and sunshine'.

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Wow... I don't know what to say, but I can read Adenike's story many times over and it would still 'speak' to me deeply and in diverse ways.

Her testimony is quite different from the usual, yet very powerful. We have shared on the blog in the past about praising God when all is well, and when all is not quite well. We have discussed the sacrifice of praise - Praising God from a very difficult praise, yet praising anyway because He says we should and He is very deserving.

Adenike's testimony is a great example of a sacrifice of praise - when you face a huge loss and yet still desperately hold on to God. To be honest, it is easier to walk away, to call it a day, to abandon your faith because you feel so let down, so badly disappointed.

This might just be someone reading this right now.. However, like Job and like Adenike, may we encourage you to trust God, to hold on to Him even more tightly than ever before? We might not understand the reason why some things happen, but we must trust implicitly in the faithfulness and goodness of God. Even as I write, I can imagine how difficult it must be, so I don't say it lightly at all... But, God is the only sure foundation we can rest on, in and out of season.

You might have said words fuelled by anger and disappointment, or perhaps have strayed far, far away, it's never too late to come back home. God loves you sooo much and He never left you for a second. Indeed, His promise to you and I is that He would never leave nor forsake us.

For anyone whose faith is being tested or shaken, I pray that God will meet you at the point of your needs. May He show Himself faithful in your life and restore fully to you every loss. May He strengthen you and give you the grace to hold on through the storm and stand firm on His word. After all, may you come out very victorious in Jesus name.

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Would you like to share yours too? Remember it could be a song that struck something in you when you listened to it, it could be a song or worship that you used during a down-time in your life and it made a huge difference, it could be a song that takes you into the 'God-zoneee', it could be a song that helps you express what mere words cannot quite convey, it could be a song that brings a zest and zing to your heart and steps whenever it comes up!

Each song will be accompanied by a story, introduction or reason why it is the choice of the week..

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