You Don't Have to Stay Strong

Thursday, November 07, 2013

"Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it." -Ann Landers

I went to The Reset Movement the other day, and it was amazing!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, because the website didn't really give you much information about the event. I'm not really sure why that is... I guess it's so that you're surprised by it. Or perhaps because it's fairly new.

In any case, I didn't have much of an idea what I was going to be seeing. I went with my sister, her boyfriend (heeheehee), my Daddy, and another friend. The main reason we were there (and probably the only reason I ever heard about it) was because my absolute favorite band was going to be preforming. Rend Collective Experiment. (If you've never heard of them, I challenge you to go Google search them. They're amazing, and about 10x better live!) I had pretty much decided that it really didn't matter who they were touring with, if they ever came anywhere near me, I was going to be there. No matter what it took, I would find a way to get into that concert.

Back to the story, though. We got there a bit early (yay!), wandered about the church a bit, and waited. The church, may I just say, seemed to be the size of a mall. We didn't come close to seeing all of it, and even the bit we did see was ginormous. I probably wouldn't have gone anywhere for fear of getting hopelessly lost if it hadn't been for the fact that my dad wanted to see more of it. I certainly felt very small in there.

The doors opened, we went in (after a bit of juggling to make certain my Dad actually got to come in with us) and got some pretty good seats. Not so close to the front that we were right next to the speakers (a very good thing, as I was later to find out), but close enough that we could see everything really well. The doors opened about thirty minutes before the show actually started, so we watched/listened to the "pre-show" while we waited. 

I was a bit worried about the part of the concert that didn't involve Rend based on what the pre-show sounded like. It seemed very... main stream and hip-hopish. Not really my taste. And (of course) the just had to play The Harlem Shake... Really!? 

Once the show actually started, I was even less enthusiastic about the rest of the concert. The first singer was this hip-hop/rap guy, and his background music (or whatever you call it) had so much base in it that I could literally feel my clothes vibrating. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stay in there the whole time or not, it was so awful. Over half the time I couldn't understand what he was saying, the majority of the time I thought I could tell what he was saying, I knew I wasn't hearing correctly. Half of it sounded like swear words, which didn't really fit into the context of the rest of the event. I can't say I was too disappointed when he was finished...

Once he left (or, rather, stopped being the main attraction, since he was on stage pretty much the whole time), I was much happier. My clothes no longer felt as though they were going to just shake right off my body, and I was a lot happier. In fact, I actually really liked the rest of the concert. 

One of the earlier singers- a young lady who just-so-happens to be the older sister of Jamie Grace- had a song that really caught my attention. Unfortunately, it's not yet been released... So I can't let you hear it too. You'll have to be content with what I can tell you in words.

The song was called "Cry (He Hears You)". The first bit was about how people are always telling you not to cry. They always tell you to "stay strong" and "don't give up." And whatever you do, no matter what you've been through, don't let them hear you cry. Then in the last version of the chorus, just as the song is coming to a close, it switches, and says "No. It's OK to cry. He hears you." 

That spoke volumes to me. (And I'm sure it wasn't just the blaring speakers that left me with ringing ears for the next several hours afterwards!) It's alright to not have all the answers. It's alright to not be strong enough. It's alright to cry. Because God does have all of the answers. God is strong enough. And He hears you when you cry. He puts each tear in His bottle.

And you know what?

I think it's even OK to give up. To just give in and admit that you're broken. That you can't do it on your own. And maybe... Maybe that's what He wanted all along. For you to give up what little control you think you have over your life. To just let it all go... 

 (Well, I decided you don't have to Google search Rend. This is one of my favorites by them.)

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