Why I want to give Robbie Seay a hug & make Mexican food for him.

You wouldn't know these guys if you saw them on the street. Neither would I. They are collectively, The Robbie Seay Band.

In fact, before I started this post, I hadn't given much of a thought to what Robbie Seay looked like. But I want to meet him. I want to give him a hug. I want to thank him for the ways God's used his ability of song writing to bring peace and encouragement to my heart over the years. And I really might even want to make him Tex-Mex food (because that's his favorite) in return for the years of musical encouragement.

I've been listening to Robbie's music since 2005. I remember that first encounter with Robbie's writing, and musical encouragement like it was yesterday. I was driving to work one morning after a traumatic, heart breaking experience, the song started and this is what I heard:

"We hope this finds you driving in your car or wherever you are, breathe out and breathe in. Know that life is hard but it’s worth breathing. Listen to me now, for love, oh love it’s waiting for you just to say...here come better days.” {Better Days}

 From this album:

I needed that reminder that life was worth breathing. And that better days were heading my way. Yes I did. I still need that reminder regularly. I got the cd and listened to it again and again until my heart healed. To this day, the old hymn "Come Ye Sinners" by the RSB is still one of my favorites and makes me feel like I can breathe.

 The next album hit not long after and I fell in love for so many reasons. It's still probably my favorite of all of the albums that the RSB has compiled.

Whether it was the radio single, "Song of Hope" or the retooling of an old song, "Beautiful Scandalous Night," I loved every single track on this album. But this album hit at a time of great heart pain and transition in my life. 2007 was another very difficult and trying season for me. It was the year I gave up dreams, hope, and was ready to lay down and give up. But it was also the year I packed everything in my car and left the security and safety of Houston - my place of birth, comfort and the only thing I'd ever known and moved to Lynchburg, Virginia. I'll never forget at the tail end of a 21 hour drive, two hours from what would be my new home, my brother asleep in the passenger's seat, the sun rising over the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance, I popped in the cd and these lyrics hit me and I started weeping:

 “I’m gonna sing this song to let you know that you’re not alone. And if you’re like me, You need hope, coffee & melody. So sit back down, let the world keep spinning for yesterday’s gone and today is waiting for you to show your face. It might not be the prettiest thing you’ll ever see, but it’s a new day, Oh baby, it’s a new day.”

 To this day, the "Hope, coffee & Melody" line is my most tweeted/facebooked status. But this song, it was a song of hope for my transition, my new day that was coming....or is still coming. What I do know is that album has been a staple in my life on the hardest days, in the most difficult seasons because it offers me hope and shoots my focus back to the gospel.

 Last year, I walked through another traumatic heart break. It destroyed me in ways I hadn't known or expected. But again, I found hope in the 2010 release "Miracle" by Robbie Seay as I plunged into another season of significant pain.

That whole album steadied my perspective, provided a clear eye that my pain is transient, and met with an overwhelming LOVE that washes and heals a heart full of pain. "Love Invades", "Awaken My Soul" and the cover of Jon Foreman's "Your Love is Strong" all buoyed my heart. But the most arrow-like perspective giver were these lyrics:

 “When the whole world seems to turn its back on me, all alone out on the sea, I need a miracle...When life don’t seem to make sense at all, I believe You hear me when I call, I need a miracle.”

 It's not anything but a prayer - no actual answer to it, just a song of simple belief. "God, I need a miracle and I believe you're hearing this prayer." I still love that song dearly. Last fall, Robbie released the latest "Rich & Poor" and I couldn't get it right away. But I did eventually find my iTunes gift card and got it.

Here I stand a year from last year's trauma and have been dealt even greater crushing blows to a healed and restored heart. I don't know what God's been up to since that first experience in 2005. But I'm 32, staring at a life that shows me that God has been faithful and brought peace, healing and restoration to broken places and hearts again and again. I've no reason not to believe he won't do the same again. He already has begun his work in that. Today, however, as I listened to the latest RSB album, this song spoke EXACTLY into my situation and where I find my heart. And let me tell you, I'm raising my voice loud and singing His praise. I'm telling you and will continue to tell you ALL that God has done for me in and through this mess and hurt.

 

Reader, if you're still along for this ride, and listening to this song, I just want to tell you, if you haven't taken time to listen and experience the Robbie Seay Band, do it. You will not regret it, I promise. I haven't not for the last 8 years. Follow him on twitter here: Robbie Seay

Robbie, if you're reading this - if you're ever in Virginia, I'll make you & whoever is with you mexican food in massive gratitude for every word your heart has penned & offered hope over and over again to a repeatedly broken and healed heart for the last eight years. You are a brother of my heart in Christ's blood even if I've never met you. I'm forever grateful to God for your gifts, abilities & faithfulness to use them for the Body's benefit. Also, thanks for being active and personal on Twitter. I've had most fun hearing replies from you.