We had just moved into our new place and were unpacking. I wiped the film of dust off one of the boxes, cracked open the seam of tattered tape and, to my surprise, noticed inside were a variety of mementos from my childhood. After searching through childhood drawings, friendship bracelets, class yearbooks, and random knickknacks, I noticed a pile of old writing journals. Immediately a smile formed on my face as I sighed deeply and picked up the first journal.

Inside this journal was a list of songs and poems I had written when I was in middle school. As I turned the pages, I could feel a surge of emotions well up inside of me, bringing me back to the exact moment I wrote those words. It was on the floor of my childhood bedroom, with my guitar beside me and my Bible open. During this season of life, I walked through a time of deep depression and suicidal thoughts. Middle school was a difficult time for me, and the only place I found true peace and joy was in that room with my journals and in the presence of the Lord.

To me writing has always been a safe place, a place of healing. During that season, as I began to write, I began to heal. I would write lines about freedom, breakthrough, and about how good the Lord was to walk with me and be with me, even in my darkness. These songs were from a deep place in my heart and truly developed in me a desire to sing and make music to the Lord. Something beautiful in my life began to take place as I exchanged my depression for God’s peace. As I wrote line by line, and poured out my own song to the Lord, I felt that darkness lift and light begin to shine in.

Ephesians 5:19-20 puts it perfectly: Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (NIV).

When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are invited into a deep fellowship with Him. One in which we can lift not just any song, but our unique life song to the Lord. A song from our heart. A song that is personal. A song that is our story, our hurt, our pain, and our healing. God already knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) as He is omniscient, and Scripture tells us He knows our deepest moments of pain and captures them in His bottle (Psalm 56:8). When we invite Him into our story and our journey, lifting our personal offering, it changes something.

Corporate worship will always have a place in the body of Christ. It is important that we go to church, and we sing worship songs together in community. But it is equally important that we have a life song, a life story that is our song we lift to the Lord. He loves to hear us sing our unique song to His. Psalm 96:1 says, Sing to the Lord a new song.

Today, take a moment to survey the song of your life. What does it look like? What does it sound like? You don’t have to have an angelic voice or perfect pitch to lift this song, either. Are you walking through a season of pain? Lift your cry to the Lord. Are you walking through a season of joy? Lift your song of thanks to the Lord. Whether it is a song of lament, or a song of praise, lifting your offering to Christ cultivates your relationship with Him and also serves as a remembrance of what He has brought you to and through.

Ask yourself this question with me today: What type of offering can you lift to Him today? Let it be a song, an offering that only you can bring.

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Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.