Kelsey Lea-Williams Ballerini
Okay guys, who listens to country music? Any Kelsey Ballerini fans out there? I mean... I cannot. CANNOT. get enough of her. I don't need to write. She says it all. I listen to her songs, and it's like one after another that literally puts words to different experiences in my life that have been extremely formative, for better or worse. Artists who get it and reflect truth in their art are definitely demonstration of working toward the New Heaven and New Earth, to wax theological here. N.T. Wright would agree me on this I believe. His book Surprised by Hope has been a game changer for me as of recent. Everything matters. All of this matters, whether it's easy or hard, complex or simple. It all matters. The glory in the moments merely because they exist as a part of God's larger plan serve meaning. I don't mean to say it's all good. Certainly not. Some of it is worse than I'm going to attempt to put in word. Sometimes less is more, ya' know? The point is this... this life can get better. That's what is true because of Jesus. I don't know when it will, how it will, all the details, but I do know what I have seen. I have seen miracle, and I don't mean the supernatural growth of limbs in front of me because I prayed emotionally and full of confidence or something. I mean I have made it through years with seasons of darkness that threatened to take it all. But light can't be overtaken by darkness. Jesus conquered the grave. (To wax evangelical). And the importance of that isn't just so that we can believe in him and get saved for heaven, but so that we can be the change that HE initiated, that Kingdom, the new creation now to others, to ourselves, in this world. The creation longs and groans for such terrible wrongs to be righted. I groan with them, as does Kelsey Ballerini, with the truth of her lyrics, as do all musicians who right honestly and with the motivation to serve and heal and give back from that which has been given to them.
Music is something people in churches will debate until no one wants to come to their church or listen to anything they think about anything because of how obnoxious and over-dramatic and NOT the point these types of conversations (and their debaters) can become. The point is that the incarnation, our faith tells us, brought God to this world, and God inaugurated the Kingdom of God on earth through Jesus Christ, the first one-of-a-kind of a new kind, those who act out of love, grace, and mercy- that's the good news, and good news admits reality, regardless how dark and painful it is. Good news admits it, deals with it, reconciles it, somehow, someway- it does. All the not good worked together toward good- and the good will be, some day, some way. We see glimmers now. Already, but not quite yet.
I won't post any specific songs of Ballerini because then it could be interpreted that I'm trying to send a message or something through posting a song. Instead, you can use your imagination, but seriously- this woman. I mean, listen to her testimony here. HELLO???!!!! Is. that. not. me?!?!? "I GOT BACK TO THE 12 YEAR OLD GIRL THAT JUST A LOT OF FEELINGS THAT SHE NEEDED TO SORT OUT." I identify with so much she shares.
Praise Jesus. The glory. God redeeming pain. Kelsey's an incredibly honest and gifted artist, and it encourages me and strengthens me to be honest and work toward the new creation as well. "How does that make sense? When I think about it, it never did" is a line from one of her songs. One of the most incredible parts of this entire process that has been the past few of my years is how much I have grown as a human being. I am so proud of myself and how much God has grown me. That is not bragging. That is praising God. Stuff happened, and it was probably the most difficult time of my life the last few years, and honestly, I have slayed it. I can't even believe what all I've made it through, but then I can. The human soul is incredibly resilient. And as I've said before, much worse things to have happened to people FAR better than me. This world is broken, but God has created builders... and God is remaking so many things.
Anyway, Kelsie definitely She makes it onto many of my playlists, a lot. Here's one I've been crafting the past 6 months. I haven't perfected it yet, but I'm working it out. Seems like that is the case with a lot of things these days. :)
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