The 30 - Topic - The Last One

30 Songs for my " Life Soundtrack"

(This will be my last installment of "The 30 Topics", since I celebrated my 30th birthday last week)

My friend at 152 Insights to My Soul sparked this idea a while back when she turned 30. The following are 30 songs (and selected lyrics) that speak about my life, about how I feel about things at this point in my life, about how I view life/the Lord/myself/the world, etc... Sometimes songs can say your feelings better than you can put into words yourself, so here are my feelings in song about my life as a 30 year old (the songs are in no particular order).

1. Things That Matter - Rascal Flatts

"Time ain’t on my side / Don’t want to leave this world / With why didn’t I? / Why didn’t I? / Yeah why didn’t I? / Sometimes I take on this world by myself / Thinking I got all the answers / Don’t need anybody’s help / Well God was right there waiting for me all along / To fall down on my knees surrender all / Things that matter / Things that don’t / Things that matter / Things that don’t"

2. Sunrise - Brandon Heath

"You wanna sound off but you can't find the words to / Nothin’ makes sense in the way that it used to / Can't find the plus in the positive thinking / The well's run dry and you're not done drinking

Holding your days like a stack of paper / Then you're chasing the wind as the pages scatter / You can save a few but you can't get ‘em all back / So get out fast with your heart in tact

All you need is a sunrise / Just a moment of dawn / If you're lost in the twilight / Close your eyes and move on / When you're tired in the waiting / Even though it's gonna take you / A little more time / Just a little more time the sun's gonna find you"

3. Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath

"Give me your eyes for just one second / Give me your eyes so I can see / Everything that I keep missing / Give me your love for humanity / Give me your arms for the broken hearted / The ones that are far beyond my reach / Give me you heart for the ones forgotten / Give me your eyes so I can see"

4. Wait and See - Brandon Heath

"Still wondering why I’m here / Still wrestling with my fear / But oh, He’s up to something / And the farther on I go / I’ve seen enough to know / That I’m, not here for nothing / He’s up to something

There is hope for me yet / Because God won’t forget / All the plans he’s made for me / I have to wait and see / He’s not finished with me yet"

5. While I'm Waiting - John Waller

"I'm waiting / I'm waiting on You, Lord / And I am hopeful / I'm waiting on You, Lord / Though it is painful / But patiently, I will wait"

6. Whatever You're Doing - Sanctus Real

"Time for a milestone / Time to begin again / Reevaluate who I really am / Am I doing everything to follow Your will / Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills / So show me what it is You want from me / I give everything I surrender...To...

Whatever You're doing inside of me / It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace / It's hard to surrender to what I can't see / but I'm giving in to something Heavenly"

7. Take My Life - Chris Tomlin

"Take my life and let it be / consecrated, Lord, to Thee. / Take my moments and my days, / let them flow in ceaseless praise. / Take my hands and let them move / at the impulse of Thy love. / Take my feet and let them be / swift and beautiful for Thee. / Take my voice and let me sing / always, only for my King. / Take my lips and let them be / filled with messages from Thee. / Take my silver and my gold / not a mite would I withhold. / Take my intellect and use / every power as You choose.

Here am I, all of me. / Take my life, it's all for Thee. / Take my will and make it Thine / it shall be no longer mine. / Take my heart it is Thine own / it shall be Thy royal throne. / Take my love, my Lord I pour / at Your feet its treasure store / Take myself and I will be / ever, only, all for Thee. / Take myself and I will be / ever, only, all for Thee. / Here am I, all of me. / Take my life, it's all for Thee."

8. Mystery - Charlie Hall

"Sweet Jesus Christ my sanity / Sweet Jesus Christ my clarity / Bread of heaven, broken for me / Cup of salvation held up to drink / Jesus the Mystery

Celebrate his death and rising / Lift your eyes, proclaim his coming / Celebrate his death and rising / Lift you eyes, lift your eyes

Christ has died and / Christ is risen,and / Christ will come again"

9. I'm Just a Girl - Deana Carter

"I've traveled 'round the world in airplanes and in cars / I've tried exotic foods and smoked some fine cigars (don't worry mom and dad, I really haven't smoked any cigars!!) / I'm just a girl, an American girl / I'm just a girl, but I'm not an ordinary girl / I'm a Chevy girl

I've strolled down Paris streets, been lost in London fog / But all I really need are the fields of Arkansas / I'm just a girl, an American girl / I'm just a girl, but I'm not an ordinary girl / I need an old Corvette with the top down / And a backseat for my friends / I need baseball and apple pie to feel alive / Gimme a Coke-a-cola sundae and a Beach Boy's serenade / I need freedom to be all around the world / I'm a Southern girl

I want an old porch swing under Montana skies / To hold a working man, looking good in his old Levi's / I'm just a girl, an American girl / I'm just a girl, but I'm not an ordinary girl / I need freedom to be all around the world / I'm daddy's girl / I've traveled 'round this world and I'm ready to go home"

10. This One's for the Girls - Martina McBride

"This is for all you girls about twenty-five / In a little apartment, just trying to get by / Living on, on dreams and spaghetti-o's / Wondering where you life is gonna go

This one's for the girls / Who've ever had a broken heart / Who've wished upon a shooting star / You're beautiful the way you are / This one's for the girls / Who love without holding back / Who dream with everything they have / All around the world / This one's for the girls"

11. Undo - Rush of Fools

"I've been here before, now here I am again / Standing at the door, / praying You'll let me back in / To label me a prodigal would be / Only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be

Turn me around pick me up / Undo what I've become / Bring me back to the place of forgiveness and grace / I need You, need Your help I can't do this myself / You're the only one who can undo What I've become"

12. Born to Fly - Sara Evans

"I've been telling my dreams to the scarecrow / About the places that I'd like to see / I say, "friend do you think I'll ever get there?" / Oh, but he just stands there smilin' back at me / So I confessed my sins to the preacher / About the love I've been prayin' to find / Is there a brown-eyed boy in my future, yeah / And he says, "girl, you've got nothin' but time.

But how do you wait for heaven? / And who has that much time? / And how do you keep your feet on the ground / When you know that you were born, / You were born to fly

My daddy he is grounded like the oak tree / My momma she is steady as the sun / Oh, you know I love my folks / But I keep starin' down the road / Just lookin' for my one chance to run / Hey, cause I will soar away like a blackbird / I will blow in the wind like a seed / I will plant my heart in the garden of my dreams / And I will grow up where I wander wild and free"

13. Reasons Why - Nickel Creek

"Where am I today? I wish that I knew / 'Cause looking around there's no sign of you / I don't remember one jump or one leap / Just quiet steps away from your lead / I'm holding my heart out but clutching it too / Feeling this short of a love that we once knew / I'm calling this home when it's not even close / Playing the role with nerves left exposed

Standing on a darkened stage, stumbling through the lines / Others have excuses, but I have my reasons why / We get distracted by dreams of our own / But nobody's happy while feeling alone / And knowing how hard it hurts when we fall / We lean another ladder against the wrong wall / And climb high to the highest rung, to shake fists at the sky / While others have excuses, I have my reasons why"

14. Hallelujah - Bethany Dillon

"Hallelujah, hallelujah / Whatever's in front of me / Help me to sing hallelujah / Hallelujah, hallelujah / Whatever's in front of me / I'll choose to sing hallelujah"

15. When The Sand Runs Out - Rascall Flatts

"I'm gonna stop lookin' back and start movin' on / And learn how to face my fears / Love with all of my heart, make my mark / I wanna leave something here / Go out on a ledge, with out any net / That's what I'm gonna be about / Yeah I wanna be runnin' / When the sand runs out'

Cause people do it everyday / Promise themselves they're gonna change / I've been there, but I'm changin' from the inside out / That was then and this is now"

16. Revelation - Third Day

"My life, / Has led me down the road that’s so uncertain / And now I am left alone and I am broken, / Trying to find my way, / Trying to find the faith that’s gone / This time, I know that you are holding all the answers / I’m tired of losing hope and taking chances, / On roads that never seem, / To be the ones that bring me home

My life, / Has led me down this path that’s ever winding / Through every twist and turn I’m always finding, / That I am lost again (I am lost again) / Tell me when this road will ever end

I don’t know where I can turn / Tell me when will I learn / Won’t You show me where I need to go / Let me follow Your lead, / I know that it’s the only way that I can get back home

Give me a revelation, / Show me what to do / Cause I’ve been trying to find my way, / I haven’t got a clue / Tell me should I stay here, / Or do I need to move / Give me a revelation / I’ve got nothing without You / I’ve got nothing without You"

17. The Motions - Matthew West

"This might hurt, it's not safe / But I know that I've gotta make a change / I don't care if I break, / At least I'll be feeling something / 'Cause just okay is not enough / Help me fight through the nothingness of life

No regrets, not this time / I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind / Let Your love make me whole / I think I'm finally feeling something / 'Cause just okay is not enough / Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions / I don't wanna go one more day / without Your all consuming passion inside of me / I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,"What if I had given everything, / instead of going through the motions?"

18. Wide Open Spaces - The Dixie Chicks

"Who doesn't know what I'm talking about / Who's never left home, who's never struck out / To find a dream and a life of their own / A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone / Many precede and many will follow / A young girl's dream no longer hollow / It takes the shape of a place out west / But what it holds for her, she hasn't yet guessed

She needs wide open spaces / Room to make her big mistakes / She needs new faces / She knows the high stakes"

19. Yearn - Shane & Shane

"Holy design / This place in time / That I might seek and find my God / My God

Lord I want to yearn for You / I want to burn with passion / Over You and only You / Lord I want to yearn"

20. Give Us Clean Hands - Chris Tomlin

"We bow our hearts / We bend our knees / Oh Spirit come make us humble / We turn our eyes / From evil things / Oh Lord we cast down our idols / So give us clean hands / and give us pure hearts / Let us not lift our souls to another / Oh give us clean hands / and give us pure hearts / Let us not lift our souls to another / Oh God let this be a generation that seeks / Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob / Oh God let us be a generation that seeks / Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob"

21. By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North

"Why are you striving these days / Why are you trying to earn grace / Why are you crying / Let me lift up your face / Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love / Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough / To where will you go child / Tell me where will you run / To where will you run

Look at these hands and my side / They swallowed the grave on that night / When I drank the world's sin / So I could carry you in / And give you life / I want to give you life

And I'll be by your side / Wherever you fall / In the dead of night / Whenever you call / And please don't fight / These hands that are holding you / My hands are holding you"

22. Made to Love - Toby Mac

"Whatever happened to a passion I could live for? / What became of the flame that made me feel more? / And when did I forget that / I was made to love You / I was made to find You / I was made just for You / Made to adore You / I was made to love / And be loved by You / You were here before me / You were waiting on me / And you said you'd keep me / Never would you leave me / I was made to love / and be loved by You"

23. I Will Rise - Chris Tomlin

"There's a peace I've come to know / Though my heart and flesh may fail / There's an anchor for my soul / I can say "It is well" / Jesus has overcome / And the grave is overwhelmed / The victory is won / He is risen from the dead

There's a day that's drawing near / When this darkness breaks to light / And the shadows disappear / And my faith shall be my eyes

And I will rise / when He calls my name / No more sorrow, no more pain / I will rise on eagles' wings / Before my God fall on my knees / And rise / I will rise"

24. The Way I Was Made - Chris Tomlin

"I want to live like there's no tomorrow / I want to dance like no one's around / I want to sing like nobody's listening / Before I lay my body down / I want to give like I have plenty / I want to love like I'm not afraid / I want to be the (wo)man I was meant to be / I want to be the way I was made / Made in Your likeness, made with Your hands / Made to discover who You are and who I am / All I've forgotten help me to find / All that You've promised let it be in my life"

25. The Valley Song - Jars of Clay

"I will sing of Your mercy / that leads me through valleys of sorrow / to rivers of joy

When death, like a gypsy / comes to steal what I love / I will still look to the heavens / I will still seek your face / but I fear You aren't listening / because there are no words / just the stillness / and the hunger / for a faith that assures

While we wait for rescue / with our eyes tightly shut / face to the ground using our hands / to cover the fatal cut / though the pain is an ocean / tossing us around, around, around / You have calmed greater waters / higher mountains have come down

I will sing of Your mercy / that leads me through valleys of sorrow / to rivers of joy"

26. Everlasting God - Chris Tomlin

"Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord / We will wait upon the Lord / We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever / Our hope, our Strong Deliverer / You are the everlasting God / The everlasting God / You do not faint / You won't grow weary"

27. God Speaking - Mandisa

"Who knows how He’ll get ahold of us? / Get our attention to prove He is enough. / He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to / To tell us, I love you. / His ways are higher / His ways are better / Though sometimes strange / But what could be stranger than God in a manger? / Who knows how He’ll get ahold of us? / Get our attention to prove He is enough. / Who knows how He’ll get ahold of you? / Get your attention to prove He is enough. / He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to, / To tell us I love you / God is speaking, I love you"

28. The Father's Song - Matt Redman

"I have heard so many songs / Listened to a thousand tongues / But there is one / That sounds above them all / The Fathers song / The Fathers love / You sung it over me and for eternity / Its written on my heart

Heavens perfect melody / The Creators symphony / You are singing over me / The Fathers song / Heavens perfect mystery / The king of love has sent for me / And now you're singing over me / The Fathers song"

29. Don't Get Comfortable - Brandon Heath

"Comfortable, don’t get comfortable / I am gonna’ move this mountain then I’m gonna move you in / Yesterday, this is not yesterday / You were standing on my shoulders now; you’re standing on the edge / You’ve been looking for a sign all this time / I am gonna show you what I mean / I am gonna love like you’ve never seen / You are gonna live like you used to dream / This is your new song So afraid but you don’t have to be afraid / Even if you make mistakes / You know that I’ll remain / You’ve been looking for a sign all this time / If you seek you’ll find me every time"

30. All The Way My Savior Leads Me - Chris Tomlin

"All the way my Savior leads me / Who have I to ask beside / How could I doubt His tender mercy / Who through life has been my guide

All the way my Savior leads me / Cheers each winding path I tread / Gives me grace for every trial / Feeds me with the living Bread / You lead me and keep me from falling / You carry me close to Your heart / And surely Your goodness and mercy will follow me

All the way my Savior leads me / O, the fullness of His love / O, the sureness of His promise / In the triumph of His blood / And when my spirit clothed immortal / Wings its flight to realms of day / This my song through endless ages / Jesus led me all the way / Jesus led me all the way / All the way my Savior leads me / All the way my Savior leads me"