I usually start my blogs with a title. 

Before I write anything, I think about what I want my title to be.  I try to make it “catchy” and I try to make it pull out the main idea of what I’m going to talk about.  But how do you come up with a title about a song that has no words?

I usually start writing a song with words and music together….at the same time.  Now before I lose you, let me tell you that in the songwriting world there are strictly melody writers….the people who specialize in creating the most beautiful melodies for a song…….there are strictly lyricists…..these are the people who specialize in words; they figure out a way to say what we we are feeling, but haven’t been able to say…..and then there are people who like to do both.  I believe (but you’d have to check with the experts to know for sure), that most songwriters feel stronger in one area….they may be able to do a little of both, but eventually they will focus on what they feel they do best.  But so far in my “long career” of writing, I have been the latter….the one who writes both the words and the music to my songs.

I’m not totally sure that I know which one I do better….some days I feel like I’m mediocre at both….some days I feel that I excel at both.  Since my piano abilities are limited, I would guess that I am better at the lyrics part of the writing.  Although, creating a melody isn’t about good piano skills…it’s about creating a beautiful musical path that takes you down just the right road with the lyrics you are singing.  But still, I think I limit myself with my melodies because I stick to what are familiar paths to me on the keyboard.

All that to say, when I start writing a song I usually hear the music along with the words.  I can’t help it.  I think of some words and a tune starts forming with them.  That is how I’ve written every song, until last night.

I had actually started a little tune on Wednesday and decided to see if I could still remember it last night.  I did remember it and I liked it.  I will tell you that sometimes when I am writing the music….it is almost as if the melody is already familiar to me.  It takes me on its own journey, yet at the same time…..I instinctively know where it wants to go.  As if I’ve visited it before.  And no, it’s not that I am copying music I have already heard….and I’m thinking this is hard to explain…….but I just let the music direct me and I know when I’ve made a wrong turn and I know when I arrived at the right spot.  And usually, I am singing words at the same time that help to guide me.

So it was a little strange to be playing this neat melody and just sit there humming.  I actually tried a word or two, but didn’t like it and didn’t feel like it was time to go there.  I feel like the music needs to be developed more and then I need to come back and find what needs to be said.

I think about all those melody writers out there and wonder how they do it.  How can they have a great melody and just not worry about the lyrics that will be written later, or worry about who will write them?  I think that would drive me crazy.  But, it may be just that sort of thing that happens with this melody.  I don’t want to force lyrics that aren’t meant to be there.  In fact, if someone else is supposed to add the most amazing words to this melody, then that is great!

I’ve probably totally confused you by now, but I am actually feeling a little better.

It’s one of those moments when you know that God is totally there.  It’s one of those moments when you quit operating in humaness, and operate by the power of the Holy Spirit.  It’s the moment of intercessory prayer.

To hold hands and pray with someone and intercede on their behalf is just the most amazing thing.  It was an opportunity I had last night and we both knew that God was “on the scene.”   We had finished our ladies meeting and were asked to find a prayer partner to pray with.  I grabbed my friend who is fairly new to our church and asked if she wanted to pray together.  She is an older lady who has recently come back to the Lord after a life of addiction.   We made our way to the back of the sanctuary and found a pew where we could talk for a few minutes.  She had already mentioned a need in her life during prayer request time and I wanted to give her the chance to share more of her heart, if she needed too.  She did.

She shared of the struggles of learning to be a mom and grandmom after she had neglected her family.  She shared of her husband returning home after being “clean” from drugs, finally.  And of the struggles to reunite their marriage.  She had been so frustrated during the day that she had left her apartment to walk and talk to the Lord.  I could see on her face that she was discouraged.  I asked if she wanted to lead out in prayer first.  She didn’t want too….she was new at praying and didn’t know how to do it.  She just has a “conversation with the Lord.”  I told her that was all there was to it….but she still seemed reluctant.  I felt in my heart that she was too discouraged to pray any more and it was time to intercede for her.

What an awesome gift prayer is.  I know…..I’ve had someone pray over me at a time when I couldn’t pray.  And I cannot tell you how amazing it was to have only briefly shared a little of my burden, and then to hear this prayer that covered every area that I was dealing with!  I knew the Lord was working through this person as they prayed for me.  It was almost like a direct connection to heaven and I just sat there and wept….because that was all that I could do.

So as I prayed for my friend tonight….I held her hands and trusted the Lord to do the rest.  It is so obvious when God begins to move.  I prayed and I knew that the words I was saying were led by the Lord.  As I’m praying about one area, I begin to feel led to pray over another area and then another, and then another…..and I can sense by the “amens” and the squeeze of her hands, that my friend knows the Lord is talking to her. 

This is me….totally bragging on God.  How awesome that He loves my friend enough to whisper words in my ears to say for her as I pray.  He knows what encouragement she needs…..He knows that she needs to know that He cares.  He knows what areas are weakness to her and that she needs to be reminded to rely on Him.  He tells her all those things as we pray.  I know, because I don’t have a clue how to pray.  I’m not eloquent or special.  I’m just one broken vessel praying for another broken vessel and watching God pour through both of us. 

After we were done, I got the best hug.  One of those “hug and hold” hugs.  And she told me that she was going to get my number so that whenever she was having another one of those discouraging moments, she could call her new prayer partner.  Cool….I am a prayer partner!  I just love that God gives us this invitation to know Him through prayer.  I love prayer.  Maybe that’s why the first song I ever wrote is called “Somebody Said Pray”….cause the most amazing things happen when we do.