#ClassInSession: It’s Okay

We’re going to do something different today. Instead of going over a message, I’d like to talk about a song. Last year Chandler Moore released a solo album titled “Feelings.” Given the title I wasn’t sure what to expect but given how much I’ve enjoyed his music I knew I’d purchase the album.

Let’s do what we do….start with these 4 questions:

• Where Am I in this? 🤔

• What points spoke the loudest? 🗣

• What sparked your light bulb moment? 💡

• If you met the speaker & could ask a question, what would you ask?⁉️

Song: “It’s Okay”
Artist: Chandler Moore
Album: Feelings
Released: Friday, November 13,2020

“I won’t pretend

I’ll say what I’m feeling

I’m overwhelmed

Emotions are raging”

— Chandler Moore "It's Okay"

• 🤔Where Am I in this?

  • The reason this song resonates with me is because it’s honest. I’ve found in my faith walk, many times the expectation of believers, external or internal, is to not acknowledge their feelings. This even more so when those feelings are not “positive / hope-filled”. There is almost a pressure to deny “negative” feelings. But for me, this has always felt wrong, dishonest so to speak. When I say dishonest, I mean more so with self than I mean with others. How you feel IS how you feel. An honest acknowledgement of those feelings is not wrong & shouldn’t be “shunned” OR corrected. Having a down day or not feeling good is real, it’s human, and it’s part of life.

“It’s okay

To not be okay

I won’t try to hide Love leaves room for me to say

That I’m not okayTo every fear, every lie

I know love leaves room for me to cry

I’ma let it outAint no shame in letting go, oh

I’ma let it go now”

— Chandler Moore "It's Okay"

• 🗣What points spoke the loudest?

  • ⬅This part of the song speaks loudest to me because it’s you giving yourself to permission to not only feel but express those feelings. Let them out. For so many of us, we feel how we feel but we don’t allow ourselves to express these feelings. Not realizing that suppressing them will cause us more internal harm than just letting out a good scream or a nice cry.

• 💡What sparked your light bulb moment?

  • I’m not so sure this was a light bulb moment in the sense that I came to realize something new. This was a light bulb moment like….let me share, shed my small light on how important a song like this is. I wasn’t shocked it wasn’t played all over the radio. But in my opinion, given all that we as a world have experienced over the last year, this was the song that gave people the comfort to know that it’s okay to cry, give yourself permission to shed some tears and know that you aren’t alone in these feelings. For believers it means that’s acknowledging when your faith is in doubt and your hope is dissipating. So many of our bible stories discuss the challenge to believe in sub-optimal conditions but rarely do we believers highlight that in our walk.

• ⁉️If I could ask Chandler Moore one question about this song, what would it be?

  • Chandler, if I could ask you one question, it would be “what were you experiencing at the time you wrote this song?” In my mind, there is no way to write this without allowing yourself to feel your emotions. I recognize this could be a very personal question but a song of this level of honesty deserves an honest question.

Hey there are links to both this song as well as the album. Please take a listen. Feel, and know that God’s love is with you, even when life tries to make you believe otherwise.

#thoughtlifeco