God Is in a Good Mood
Good Mood — RICHLIN
The first time I heard this song, I laughed.
The Soundtrack of My Journey
Music Is How I Talk to God
Music has been part of my journey for as long as I can remember. Sometimes a song gave me words for something I already believed. Sometimes it showed me something I had never understood before. Sometimes it simply reminded me to keep going.
These aren't merely songs I enjoy. Together, they tell part of the story of how God has spoken to me — and how I have learned to talk back to Him.
Foundational Song
If I Got Jesus
Ben Fuller
There have been times in my life when I lost things I thought I needed. Businesses, plans, relationships, money, confidence in myself — none of them proved permanent. But Jesus remained. This song brings my life back to its simplest foundation: if I have Jesus, I have everything I truly need. That does not mean life will always be easy or that loss will not hurt. It means that underneath everything else, I am still held by the One who found me when I was seventeen and has never left me.
If I have Jesus, I have everything I truly need.
Discovering the Father's Heart
Discovering the Father's Heart
For much of my life I carried a picture of God that was more fearful than true. Over the years, Jesus has been correcting that picture — showing me what the Father's heart is actually like.
Love Found Me
Love Found Me
Before I understood very much about God, His love reached me. I did not reason my way into life. Love broke through my loneliness and found me.
Discovering Joy
Discovering Joy
Life does not always give us obvious reasons to smile. But joy is not the absence of trouble — it is the discovery that trouble does not get the final word.
Grace, Redemption, and New Beginnings
Grace, Redemption, and New Beginnings
I have made mistakes and lived through failures that once filled me with shame. Those things are part of my story, but they are not my identity. God does not name me by the worst thing I have done.
Made New
Made New
Meeting Jesus was a beginning. Learning what it meant to live as someone made new would take a lifetime.
When I Just Need God
When I Just Need God
There are times when everything else becomes uncertain and faith is reduced to its simplest prayer: Jesus, I just need You.
The Prayer That Never Changes
I just need U. — TobyMac
There have been times when everything I depended upon became uncertain. Plans failed. Things I built fell apart. People could not always be what I needed, and I could not always be what they needed.
A Foundation That Does Not Move
Cornerstone — TobyMac feat. Zach Williams
I have lived through seasons when things I built fell apart. I learned that money, success, relationships, plans, and even my own understanding could not carry the full weight of my life. These songs remind me that underneath everything that changes, there is still a foundation that does not move.
The Praise That Cost Me Something
The Praise That Cost Me Something
Some praise is born in celebration. Other praise has to pass through sorrow, failure, questions, and years of learning before it can be spoken honestly.
Speak Life
Speak Life
Words do something. They can increase fear and discouragement, or they can help another person see hope. I want the words I leave behind to produce life.
Words That Help People See What Is Still Possible
Speak Life — TobyMac
The first time I heard "Speak Life," I was blown away. The idea seemed so simple and so true: speaking life is what we should do.
Real Confidence Is Trusting God Can Use Me
Confidence — Sanctus Real
"Confidence" reminds me that real confidence is not pretending I can do everything. It is trusting that God can use an imperfect and sometimes unqualified person for something worthwhile.
Facing Death Without Fear
Facing Death Without Fear
Death is real. People leave us. Bodies fail. Time moves faster than we expect. But because of Jesus, death does not get the final word.
Getting Up and Living Again
Getting Up and Living Again
Life may knock us down more than once. But God keeps giving us reasons to get up again — and sometimes He even makes us want to move.
Rediscovering Joy
Rediscovering Joy
For much of my life, faith felt heavy. But knowing God can also produce joy. Faith is allowed to feel good — and sometimes it makes you simply glad to be alive.
Living Today
Living Today
I have spent a lot of my life looking backward or forward. But today is the day God has actually given me. I cannot change yesterday or control tomorrow. I can only trust Him and live today.
Better Days Are Coming
Better Days Are Coming
Faith does not deny that life can be painful. Faith says pain does not get to write the final chapter.
Pain Does Not Get to Write the Final Chapter
Better Days Coming — MercyMe
I no longer believe that what we can see today is the whole story. I have experienced loss, but I do not believe loss is final. The bad comes to an end.
Looking Beyond What I Can Presently See
Heaven on My Mind — TobyMac
"Heaven on My Mind" reminds me to look beyond what I can presently see.
The Goodness and Joy of God
The Goodness and Joy of God
My journey with God has involved searching, struggling, studying, and rebuilding. But it has also included joy. Sometimes faith needs to be celebrated with your whole body.
What I Believe
What I Believe
My understanding has changed and deepened over the years, but the center of my faith has remained Jesus — His life, His death, His resurrection, and His continuing presence with us.
After Everything, I Still Believe It
I Believe It (The Life of Jesus) — Jon Reddick
I have spent much of my life trying to understand God. I have questioned some of the things I was taught, reconsidered some of my early conclusions, and learned that knowing Jesus is different from merely knowing religious answers.
Looking Back and Seeing God's Faithfulness
Looking Back and Seeing God's Faithfulness
I did not always see what God was doing while I was living through it. But when I look back over my life, I can see that He was present and working all along — through the confusion, the failure, the unanswered questions, and the years of learning.
The Jesus I Know Now
The Jesus I Know Now
I met Jesus when I was seventeen. It has taken me the rest of my life to begin understanding the Jesus I met that night.
Earlier Reflections
The Songs That Were Already There
These are songs from earlier seasons of life — songs that helped shape my ear for beauty, truth, and longing before I fully understood what I was listening for.
A Boy Who Believed There Was Something More
Somewhere Over the Rainbow — Judy Garland
I was maybe four or five years old. My mother had the television on in the living room and I walked in and the movie was playing. I didn't understand most of it. But when Judy Garland sang that song, something in me went completely still.
Learning to See What Was Always There
What a Wonderful World — Louis Armstrong
The first time I really heard this song I was in my early twenties and honestly not paying much attention to beauty. I was building, pushing, trying to get somewhere. Louis Armstrong's voice stopped me. Not the melody — the weight of it. The way he sang like a man who had seen a lot and still chose to notice the color of roses.
The Question I Had With the Question
Imagine — John Lennon
I was twenty-two or twenty-three. "Imagine" was everywhere. It was a complicated time culturally — Vietnam, protest, a general sense that the old structures weren't working. And here was this song asking you to picture a world without heaven or hell, without countries, without religion. Just people living for today.
The Word That Changed Everything
Amazing Grace — Traditional
I have heard this song at funerals more than anywhere else. And each time, something shifted in the room. The grief didn't disappear. But something moved through it.
The Song I Couldn't Finish Listening To
Cat's in the Cradle — Harry Chapin
I heard this song on the radio when I was in my thirties, building a business, convinced I was doing it for my family. My kids were young. I was gone a lot.
What Songs Have Helped Tell Your Story?
Most of us have songs that found us at the right moment. They gave us words when we had none, reminded us what was true, or helped us keep walking.
As I continue building this collection, I will add more of the songs and stories that have accompanied me through life. This playlist is still growing — just as my understanding of God is still growing.
Return to My Journey