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"
I love these flight path screens on the plane - it's so neat to watch what you are flying over. 
Random British man on the Tube (Subway) 
We got lost as soon as we came off the Subway...here we are wandering around. 
We finally made it to our hotel 
This is the lounge area in the hotel - posh! 
There was also a computer so we could check e-mail and communicate with friends and family back home 
Here's the door to our room 
We had a nice view of the courtyard behind our hotel 
Our RV-sized bathroom....literally. 
Here's a closer-up
This awesome canal runs through the downtown area
