My New Playlist, My Brother, and Why It's Mostly the David Crowder Band

Just in case you were wondering, yes, I've added a new playlist to my blog, and yes...the majority of the songs (at the moment) are by the David Crowder Band. There's a reason for this...

Just a short year and a half ago when my husband was first beginning his newest/latest/former position as a youth pastor, my brother was gracious enough to allow us to move in with him while we were waiting to sell our old house in another city. We surely would have been living in the storage closet at the church if it weren't for his generosity toward us, because we surely could not afford to pay our mortgage with all of our current bills in addition to apartment rent with a second set of bills. Did I mention that we are youth pastors? At the time, my little boy was only 9 months old (in the beginning stages of learning to walk), and it was challenging for us not in the sense that we were living with my brother (that was great and we had a lot of fun the three months we were there), but more in the sense that we were going through another transitional period in our lives. 

My husband & I (along with my little boy and his crib) were all together with our necessary stuff in a small guest bedroom (with the rest of our stuff in two storage buildings at two different places across town...don't ask), and sleeping on a peculiar air mattress (I have a funny story about that and will probably tell it at some later point). Our new students resented us (at that time) because they were attached to their old youth pastor (totally understandable), we were trying to sell our house in another city several hours away (ick), we were in a new environment, at a new church, trying to gain new friends (although there were a few old ones we reacquainted ourselves with in our new city)...overall, we were in a very unsettled period in our lives. 

But the memory from our transitional period that stands out the most to me is so precious: At night, to help our little boy go to sleep, we would open our laptop and play a worship set list that my husband put together on iTunes . If our baby was upset, it always worked to calm him. Now, I need complete silence in order to fall asleep...my husband, on the other hand (being a drummer), likes to fall asleep listening to music (one of the first challenges we had to overcome in our now nine year marriage). 

Anyway, after doing some reading and spending some good old-fashioned time on My Space (my husband calls me the "My Space Minister"), I would crawl into bed and pray and just listen to that music....sometimes all night. I can't even explain the presence of God that was in that tiny room for those three months. But every night, I would fall asleep listening to that same music and would very often wake up in the middle of the night--several times a night--overwhelmed and in tears, so thankful for His presence and for His leading and blessings in our newfound adventure. 

As you may already know if you follow this blog, we once again find ourselves in that period of transition, growing, and faith-building. There were 15 songs on the iTunes set list my husband made, and out of those only 6 were David Crowder songs (so yes, I added those & a few others to this playlist--why not?). To my dismay, I really wanted my favorite song on the list but couldn't find the MP3 link anywhere (so please do share it with me if you find it so I can add: "O God Where Are You Now (In Pickerel Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)" by the David Crowder Band).

In any case, if you're needing some peace in your storm today, I invite you to keep the playlist open as you go about your day and let it bring you rest. 

P.S.--To my brother:  Thank you again for your generosity. We could never pay you back monetarily for allowing us to stay with you during that time. But it was during those wee hours of the night that I would pray for God to answer some very specific prayers on your behalf for blessing us with your kindness...and most recently, I believe he did.  :)  I love you!

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Are you in a place of transition, growing and faith-building in your life right now? Let me know...I'd like to hear about it.