This is an answer to the Q&A blog. Feel free to ask more!
Answer:
If I had to put together a soundtrack of all the songs played most frequently on the race, it would look like this:
Left my fear beside the road, I hear you speak
You won’t let go. I fall to my knees as I lift my hands to pray,
all I need is You…
I listened to this song on repeat throughout the year whenever
I felt discouraged/lost/messy/afraid.
White Blank Page by Mumford & Sons
And can you kneel before the King and say “I’m clean”?
Now tell me now where was my fault, in loving you with my whole heart…
In Bolivia, I would listen to this song almost every time I turned my ipod on.
I would go to the roof and look at the twinkling lights of Cochabamba.
So peaceful.
Beautiful Things by Gungor
You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of us.
You make me new, You are making me new…
This song was a huge comfort to me when I shaved my head.
I listened to it to remind myself almost every day after I shaved my head that
His plans are good! and letting go of my hair was part of my transformation.
If You Want Me To by Ginny Owens
Cause I’m not who I was when I took my first step,
and I’m clinging to the promise You’re not through with me yet.
So if all of these trials bring me closer to You,
I will go through the fire if You want me to….
I listened to this song a lot when I didn’t meet my final financial deadline
and came very close to going home.
God came through for me in a huge way, but in the moments where I was scared,
I would curl up in my bunk and play this on repeat until I felt better.
Fall by He Is We
All I do is ache and I can’t find some peace of mind.
Break it off, God, He knows I’m trying.
Shake it off, no more crying.
I’m done, I’m done, I’m done
you won’t win this time….
This was a song I listened to fairly regularly throughout the entire race.
This was my go-to whenever I was angry or frustrated about something,
and wanted the enemy to know that he wouldn’t win next time.
You Are My Passion by Jesus Culture
I want my life to bring glory to You, King.
God of victory, You are my passion.
In Mozambique, I learned a lot about desires and passions.
I learned that “if it matters to me, it matters to God”, and
for the first time I realized that Jesus really is my only passion.
Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO
Girl, look at that body
I-I-I work out…
My first team, Team Lamplighters, this was our theme song.
We would work out to this song, would would walk to ministry singing this song, etc.
It was ALWAYS playing, haha. And if I HAD to put a spiritual spin on it,
I guess we could say it reminded us that we are beautiful creations….?
Something Beautiful by Needtobreathe
In your ocean I’m ankle-deep. I feel the waves crashing on my feet.
It’s like I know where I need to be, but I can’t figure out just how much air
I will need to breathe, when your tide rushes over me…
I woke up to my teammate Jenna playing this song every single day in Peru.
Can’t say I minded.
Man Down by Rihanna
Cause I didn’t mean to hurt him, could’ve been somebodies son,
and I took his heart when I pulled out that gun.
Rumpupupum Rumpupupummm…
This song played at least nine times every meal in the cafeteria in Albania.
All the students would put it on a million times just in case we forgot how it went.
Shake It Out by Florence + The Machine
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out.
It’s hard to dance with a devil on your back so shake him out.
Whenever I woke up and pulling weeds/shoveling/teaching/construction was the last
thing on earth I wanted to do, I would play this song as loud as my eardrums could handle
until I convinced myself that it wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought it would be.
And it never was.
Freedom Reigns by Michael Larson
If you’re tired and thirsty, there is freedom.
Freedom reigns in this place, showers of mercy and grace
falling on every face, there is freedom…
I would never be able to count the amount of times my teammate Olivia and
I sang this. Between the both of us, we sang this song obsessively
for about 4 months straight.
Calgary By Bon Iver
Open ears and open eyes
Wake up to your starboard bride
Who goes in and then stays inside
Oh the demons come, they can subside
Whenever I felt homesick, I would turn on this song.
And even though it doesn’t really say much of my beloved home,
comfort was found in the name alone.
Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie
The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flatlands to your door have been silenced forever more.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row,
It seems farther than ever before.
I need you so much closer….
I really like listening to songs and making them about Jesus,
even they clearly are not, so I would always sing this song whenever God felt far away.
So that’s it!
This is my soundtrack for the race.
It’s not perfect, and I’m sure I could add about 30 more songs,
but this is a little taste of what I was jamming to this year.
