Music Therapy and Hope for a Life Remade

This summer with the windows down, the sun shining down, and my daughter singing in the backseat it is hard not to feel hopeful. I feel so fortunate to be home during the summer spending time with her. She is a little performer who loves to sing and dance. One of her favorite songs to sing is Diamonds by Rihanna. Although, my favorite is listening to her sing along when we listen to KLove. Everyone's life has ups and downs and I'm looking for life remade and a heart that is healed. These songs touched my heart and hopefully will touch yours too, especially if you are going though something difficult.

I've been reading the book You Matter More than You Think by Dr. Leslie Parrott and she quoted Phillip Yancey when she wrote that "pain is the gift that no one wants." She went on to write the following.
"The pain we carry in our hearts is the continual grinding of the sea against the sea glass. It takes the sharp edges of our personalities and slowly smooths them into a person who can be tender with another's wounds. A person who can empathize without judgement. A person who can accept their own and other's failures...and go on in love. Because of pain, you make a difference. Pain will give you permission to walk into places you've never dreamed you'd enter, and it can change your relationships like nothing else. Of course, none of us would ever seek pain, but once you have been loved by another who personally identifies with your hurt, you are able to reassess its value. And loving another by empathizing with their pain can make all the difference."

Thank you to those of you that have walked along side me during my pain and I hope that I can be there for people that enter my life going through their own journey of a life remade. These songs and lyrics that Elin and I sing together in the car remind me of hope and the possibilty of that "life remade." Here are some of our favorite lyrics from this summer!