My car radio is tuned to one of two Christian music stations: a local one in Virginia named The Journey, or the national one named KLove. It seems that no matter where I am in my spiritual journey, there is one song that really ends up matching how I’m feeling. 

A few months ago the song Build a Boat by Colton Dixon always seemed to come on whenever I was driving around. Since I work from home, there can be days where my car just stays stationary. I think that the more popular the song, the higher the probability that it will be played when I am driving. What captivated me about this song is the confidence in God that it encourages. Although in retrospect, it’s more of a preparation song. The basis of the song is building a boat in a desert with the expectation that the flood is coming and that God will see me through it. 

I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains
I will stand up in faith, I’ll do anything it takes
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I’ll build a boat in the desert place

Chorus from Build a Boat

The chorus is quite catchy and when I sing along with it, I feel like I can do anything! It’s a wonderfully uplifting song. Yet there were times when I was singing along that I thought to myself, “what happens when the rains and the flood do come? Will I be able to handle it like this song says?”

Recently life has been rather bumpy, especially from a work perspective. The song I’m hearing as I drive around now is perfectly what I need. I’ve actually started singing it in the shower! It’s a collaborative song by two artists, Benjamin William Hastings and Blessing Offor, and is named That’s The Thing About Praise.

Sometimes the only way through it is a hallelujah
Sometimes the only thing to do is just to give it to You
And though my troubles shake me
I know they will never move You
That’s why I say hallelujah

Chorus from That’s the Thing About Praise

I think of this song as the “Hallelujah” song, but I know there is an older song with that title. The verses do talk about the general difficulties in life and that sometimes the waters are not parted or the mountain is not moved. It’s these times of struggle when we need to resist the urge to feel pity for our situation and thank God for where we are and what we have. Is it hard to do? Yes. However, when we turn our focus inward on ourselves, we are no longer leaning on God to help us through, we’re looking at what we can do and look to solve our difficulties from a human perspective. Yet when we turn to God and give Him praise for even the smallest of blessings (our next breath or heartbeat), the source of our strength shifts from ourselves to God. 

These particular two songs help us to remember who needs to be our focus: God. Christian radio is filled with songs like these that can speak to whatever you’re feeling in life, bringing God into all aspects of daily life. Your Hallelujah praise song may be playing now.