Today, I say goodbye to one of the most influential people in my life. Gentleness and kindness sum up my Grandpa to the very core.
Back in July, when my Grandpa was busy “directing” his own funeral, we sat down and had a tender conversation in which he asked me to write a song for him, to be played at this time. He wanted the song to reflect how he had found such peace in knowing that God is right there – so close to you – and all the time, if you just reach out to him. And here it is, Grandpa’s song: ‘Closer’.
And I am so thankful that Grandpa got to hear his song in this life. Earlier this month, we were so fortunate to travel back to the UK to see him and play him his song. His response was simply, ‘It’s beautiful’. On the morning of his passing, my aunt played the song to him only once and, after a restless night, he finally passed away with his song playing in the background. And now he is at peace.
So Grandpa….
Thank you for the memories,
for listening & advising with such gentleness and love,
for your kind & giving spirit,
for your encouragement & support,
for your love & wisdom,
for your generosity & so much more.
…you have had a huge impact in shaping who I am. And I love you.
…Until we meet again… xoxo
When you live at any distance from family and friends, you really begin to treasure your time together more. Last week, we were able to head back to the UK to see some of our family and friends. I now find even greater joy in spending time with family, as I know our time together is limited. And as for our friends…well, it was just like old times – almost as if we had never left London to move to Stockholm.
I am grateful for these friendships – with both family and friends. Their support for what we are doing with our music means so much to both me and Ben.
Re-visiting the area around Wimbledon, where we used to live, was quite a strange experience but also helped us to gain a lot of perspective. Along with meaningful conversations with our afore-mentioned friends, it reminded us of the choices we have made, all that we have acheived over these last 9 months or so, and it excites me to discover the plans God has for our future.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29 v. 11
I listen to this track quite a lot as I reflect and thank God for all He is doing in our lives. It’s an instrumental track from our latest Salt of the Sound EP – if you like it, it’s available on our bandcamp store.
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Do let me know what you think of the song. What good things is God doing in your life? Maybe you face similar challenges with distant loved ones? As always, I love to hear from you!
This week, I want to share with you a new song that I have written in this short post.
‘All for you’ is about giving your life to God, accepting that we don’t know what He has in store for you or me, and being at peace with that thought.
Since actively deciding to give my life more readily to God, I have felt an inner sense of peace – even though, at times, my road hasn’t been completely clear to me. But things have also happened that I could have never have imagined and for that, and so much more, I am continually thankful.
Imperfectly I come before your throne
Longing to be more than this world I know
I lay my life down here at your feet
So you can use all of me
I don’t even know your plans for me
Strip it all aside what do you see?
Broken and in need of love so strong
I need you ‘cause you are good.
Here’s my heart, I empty it before you;
Lay it broken down.
Won’t you fill it with your love joy and compassion perfectly,
That I might be…
All for you.
Almost a year ago, we decided that we were going to move to Sweden to pursue God’s calling on our lives. So we did: we stepped out in faith & 4 months ago, we arrived on Swedish soil.
Music
This week, we released our first single as Salt of the Sound, entitled It must be hope, which is also our first release since our debut album in November 2013. We feel hugely blessed to have already received fantastic reviews, with Jesus Wired calling the song, ‘Evocative & Beautiful’.
We have also been working on a lot of brand new material, new sounds & ideas & will be bringing you an EP of all new material in late Summer 2014. All of our music is available on iTunes, Spotify & bandcamp.
Inspiration
We are also using the Salt of the Sound website to bring you the best that the Christian music scene has to offer, from Songs about Hope to a 90 minute Spotify playlist of meditative Christian music . In our latest post, we bring you The Best Worship Songs in 2014 – definitely worth checking out (if I do say so myself)!
Ministry
It has become so clear to me recently that God really does call us to where we need to be & we are excited to have recently joined the team at Immanuel International Church in Stockholm, to focus on their youth ministry program. Even in the short time we have been here, it has become clear how blessed we are to be surrounded by such a welcoming & loving new church family here in Sweden, and for that, we are ever thankful.
The unknown
We are also thankful for this time in our lives. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying everything has been rosy for us…moving countries is hard. Going from full-times jobs to working freelance & trusting that God will provide is hard. Not being a native language speaker is hard. Knowing that family & friends are going through difficult times of illness, worry & loss, when you are a thousand miles away, is really hard.
But we are taking these new experiences & running with them. We don’t know exactly how our future looks right now. We don’t even know where we are going to live after July at the moment. But I’m not worried…
“Where God guides, He provides.”
Ok…so that’s easy to say & I don’t know where you are in your life journey, but if I’m completely honest, God’s provision has been overwhelming for us at times…and the mystery of not knowing where life will take us is an adventure in itself.
So right now?
I’m ok with not knowing.
One thing I am embracing, living here in Sweden cultural differences. Even weeks before Easter Sunday, the different cultural traditions have been apparent.
It is an extremely colourful time & these feathers are everywhere. (Errr…not really sure what their about but it brightens up the place up so we’ll go with it!)
Some places try to be classy and have colour schemes for their feathers – but I’m all about the multi-colouredness!
And when I say they are everywhere – I’m not kidding – they even decorate 20+ft trees like it’s Christmas – so in Sweden we seem to have Easter trees!
Swedes often use cardboard hollow eggs and fill them with chocolates! They come in all sizes & designs and you can even buy them in second hand stores.
And they even have their own Easter drink…’Påsk must’ (which tastes suspiciously like their Christmas speciality ‘Jul must’ – well, they didn’t fool me!)
Swedish Easter food traditions? Well, I might not share in some of their choices such as pickled herring, but I think I might be able to make my peace with cured salmon, spiced Schnapps & roast lamb.
For many Swedes, Easter is more about family celebration & holiday than it is about Jesus. In fact, similarly to Halloween, the children dress up as Easter witches and will visit their neighbours’ houses, presenting them with paintings and drawings in the hope of getting sweets in return.
While I love the bright colours that come with this Easter season here in Sweden, for me, Jesus is the centre of this Easter celebration & I am looking forward to sharing this season with our new family at Immanuel International Church.
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“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
– John 16:33
