Elastic Heart by Sia, The Weeknd, Diplo from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Soundtrack

This hot track comes to you straight off the highly anticipated new Hunger Games: Catching Fire. If this song is any indication, the soundtrack to Catching Fire might be as good, if not better than, the movie itself.

*Update: You can listen to the entire Catching Fire soundtrack for free before the album is released, click here to listen.

Brokenness Aside by All Sons and Daughters

This track has been one of my favorites for about two weeks now. The melody is right in line with what I love, and the lyrics couldn't be more scriptural and descriptive of not only myself, but really humanity's struggle with Christ as a whole. This morning, I was inspired through this song to pray a prayer that I had never prayed before, which was "Jesus, in your grace, will you make my story of brokenness into a beautiful one?" There are two mistakes that Christians can make in regards to their brokenness. One is to completely disregard it, view it as 'no big deal' and stay unchanged in light of their relationship with Jesus, and the other is to focus too much on it and lose sight of the work of Christ in their lives. I wholeheartedly fall in the latter category. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself poring over mistakes I made in relationships years ago, rethinking and regretting sins from the past that I know Christ has forgiven me for, and getting angry at myself for struggling in general. Through Godly relationships and great mentoring, I've learned to move into a healthy place in regards to my brokenness. I'm learning that we are all inwardly bent away from God and towards ourselves, and because of sin, we all struggle to mirror Christ like we were meant to. I'm learning that as Christians, we must have a healthy view of sin and ourselves, but our focus through it all must remain on Jesus and His lordship over all things, because truthfully, our perfectionist tendencies won't make me perfect like Christ, and neither will our blatant disregard of sin.

Real Good Hands by Gregory Porter

 Today's song draws inspiration from a recent article posted by Relevant Magazine titled 'What Men Want in a Godly Woman.' It is important to note that this article is part 2 of a series of which you can find the second article here. Working within the context of what the writer describes as a 'Godly man', i find her list pretty accurate. I would encourage you to read the whole series, but i think it can all be summed as "Christ is the source of all life, mirror Him daily." As I grow further in my walk with God, and away from the world's definition of spirituality, truth, and beauty, what I look for in women has changed. Now more than ever, I look for a woman who mirrors Christ to me with the best of her ability.
In the article, she writes "To real men, beauty and attraction are defined by so much more than physical appearance.. They are looking for a woman who resonates with the beauty of kindness, compassion, humor, strength, love, joy and gentleness." Do you guys notice anything here? The majority of that list are fruits of the spirit (not including humor, but lets be honest, God has THE BEST sense of humor and it only follows that his children should too). One of the things that i find incredibly beautiful is when i'm in church, the pastor's preaching, and I see a woman taking notes for (i presume) later study. Do you know how rare that is? When I see that, I'm truly amazed that in our generation, someone my age is sitting there with a pen and paper, writing down bible verses and quotes so they can study it later! its truly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and its much more attractive to me than any outfit she could ever wear because unlike clothes, habits like that speak to a woman's true character. This is something that is very specific to me, and i'm sure not all men look for it as a sign of a woman's worth, but it goes to show that as men mature in Christ, their definition of beauty switches from being dominated by the purely physical, to a bigger emphasis on a woman's character, and more specifically, a woman's character that mirrors Christ. This includes things like (as mentioned in the article) Realness, confidence, beauty, and passion, but also purity, faith, honesty, and vulnerability. Theoretically, these are great but we must also remember that we are deeply flawed and that no one mirrors Christ perfectly, but we must strive daily, and when a woman strives after God, a man who is also intent on pursuing God's heart will recognize the true beauty in her. Like my mentor once told me, "The greatest gift you could ever give your significant other is to love Christ, and love Him well."

Forgiving Myself by Amy Stroup and Trent Dabbs

 There seems to be a lot of talk going on about marriage these days and exactly what it means. As a single guy in my 20's, I can't even claim to fully understand the purpose and transforming process of marriage, but what I can do is read what others like myself who are currently married or have been married have to say about it. One of my favorite artists of all time, Scott Erickson, recently posted an article in commemoration of his 8 year marriage anniversary on some things he has learned about marriage, and while i would encourage you to read the whole thing, I'm going to post one of my favorite excerpts from the article below, Enjoy!

  "Here’s the truth about all our lives… we are going to fail. And not just fail in baking directions or getting the wrong lightbulbs. I’m talking about a deep deep failure. A deep failure of character. A deep failure of faith. A deep failure of being able to “make something of yourself”. And in those moments, we experience great fear… because the brokeness in us believes that we are only deserving of love if we are deserving of love. This is why vulnerability is scary… because we all believe that we won’t be loved when we are deeply seen for who we are. This is why most of us dismiss God or faith or anything like that. It’s not so much of the unbelievableness of it all, but the unbelievableness of a God that would love us as we are now. We aren’t interested in any spiritual pursuit because we don’t know how to be good enough for those beliefs. This also can happen in love between each other too… because I guarantee you that you will find out things about each other and yourself that you may not have enough love for. That’s the scariest thing about marriage… is that you really don’t have enough love on your own to make it happen. But here’s what happens. When you reach those places where you reach the end of yourself, but you hold onto the commitment you are making right now in front of all your friends and family to never leave…. to never leave… you’ll find there is more love and grace available to you. There is more love for you to give and receive. This is when you get to experience miracles because this is where the divine enters in and shows you the Love that you’ve always believed in but never have experienced. And that’s what we are all looking for… a place to fully belong. I’m not saying this is easy. I’m thankful to be on the receiving end of this. This hasn’t been my best year. I’ve been covered under a blanket of depression for a long time…. and i didn’t have it within me to pull up my bootstraps and be worthy of love. But my wife loved saw me where I was at… and she still loved me…. and being loved in your bottom moments is the way to rise again."

I Was a Fool by Tegan and Sara

Today's pick comes from canadian folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara. I Was A Fool is an upbeat, albeit somber take on the foolish things we do for love. Listen and enjoy!

P.s. I recently stumbled upon this article from a closet optimist like myself, read with wisdom as he's writing from a general standpoint, but i love his heart.