Song Story: OVERCOME

OVERCOME

To be completely honest, the months before I wrote this had been extremely hard. I had gone through some big disappointments with music, with a failed relationship, and I was getting very wrapped up in a self pitying and "poor me" mentality. My confidence in everything was badly shaken. My goals, dreams, and desires were in question- I wasn't even sure if it was good to set goals or have dreams because mine were such apparent failures. Sometimes we don't realize that our thought patterns are not what they could or should be, that our routines need a change, that we need a shift or a change of heart and mind. I know I can slip into feeling helpless to my circumstances and give in to a defeated attitude. 

It was during this time I came across Revelation 12:11:

 "And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb 

and the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives until death".... 

I think it was the first time in a long time I had the courage to sit at a piano and try to write something and this verse with a simple melody is what came out. I began to get outside of myself and my circumstances and see the circumstance of us- the human race, through the ages. We, as humans, have all individually and collectively faced dark times, defeat, and hopelessness. Yet, I know how the story ends- that's my divine privilege as a child of God. No, I'm not a collection of random cells, I didn't get here by some big bang. I was created, I was put here. We all were put here on purpose. My life had purpose. The story of this race of humans has a beginning, middle and end- and it's a victorious end. I love the quote "everything will be ok in the end, if it's not ok, it's not the end!"

I'm not going to say a light switched on and stayed on. The light did come on but at times it's been stronger and I've been able to see more clearly than at other times. But by declaring those words from the Bible in song "We will overcome, by the blood of the Lamb, we will overcome every darkness, with our testimony we'll give Him glory until our dying breath and we will overcome" I think something broke loose that day.

A few weeks later I got together with a friend who is extremely beautiful and humble and of course a talented songwriter, her name is Krissy Nordhoff, and she and I wrote the rest of the song. 

Words make worlds. Do you believe it? That's how the Bible says God created the earth. That is how we create our world. I've always loved Bob Dylan and Joan Baez- they were literally reshaping the world with their words from bigotry and hate to understand and acceptance. How did African Americans encourage themselves and unify themselves to stand up and overcome their circumstances in the 50's and 60's? By singing together, speaking it out, declaring, prophesying things like "We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome some day. Deep in my heart. I do believe. We shall overcome someday".

You may have just been through hell, but the good news is you're bound for heaven. You will overcome, because I do believe Jesus went through hell too- to be able to bring us back from it when He died for us on the cross. When he rose, we rose. Now by this testimony and by the testimony of what He's done in our lives- we can shake of our defeatist mentality, shake things up and declare that we as a people will overcome the darkness in the end and we each individually will overcome the darkness in our own souls and in our own circumstances.

"Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome someday"