Yep - you read that correctly. Jesus + Sarah McLachlan!
Jesus has a habit of speaking to me through the arts - music, movies, books. Recently, I was revisiting some good 'ole '90s Sarah McLachlan for the first time in ages. And when a particular song came on, playing for the first time from my playlist, Jesus immediately spoke through its lyrics in a very powerful way.
And the message wasn't just for me. It was for all of you, too. The women I serve with this podcast.
What did Jesus say? Join me, sister, as I break it down verse by verse. Prepare to be overwhelmed by Jesus' love. (It may be prudent to break out the tissues!)
P.S. You can listen to the Sarah McLachlan song here: https://youtu.be/B51hO8McLbs
Show Notes:
Intro
So, I’m fairly sure I’m creating a new type of podcast episode here. Christian woman shares how Jesus spoke to her through a secular song. Somewhere out there, some highly religious folks are having a coronary.
But the truth is, Jesus (and God) can use anything they choose to communicate with us. And He knows better than anyone how He’s created and wired us, right?
And since I’m highly creative, and you’re probably creative too in your own way, I think it’s important to share these types of things. So there’s probably going to be more episodes like this one in the future. I already have two other ideas that are top-of-mind, actually.
Anyway...back to today’s focus - which is on Jesus and a Sarah McLachlan song. My teenage years were the 90s, so I listened to Sarah a lot back then. I think I actually attended a Lilith Fair concert, too.
I hadn’t listened to Sarah in a long time, though - and music in general, really. It’s one of these things that I really enjoy, but always gets pushed to the sidelines because of life, and what’s going on, and because I get overstimulated very, very quickly.
But recently I decided to pick music back up, and I added all of Sarah’s albums to my music app, and when a certain song came on for the first time, as Sarah sang the lyrics, it was like Jesus was speaking directly to my heart. And also to other women as well - particularly those that He’s calling me to serve. And of course, since that initial time, I’ve played it over, and over, and over again.
Now, before I share what happened, I want to mention two very quick things.
One, because I want to honor Sarah’s copyright ownership of her song, I can’t actually play the song on this episode. I use Anchor to create and distribute my podcast - which is now owned by Spotify. And because of that, they now offer the ability to add songs to your episodes.
However, I also distribute my podcast to iTunes and Google Play which aren’t covered under that agreement. So I will go through the lyrics and break down what Jesus told me line by line, and I will include a link in the show notes to Sarah’s YouTube so that you can listen to the song on her own channel.
Two, I just want to make it clear that I don’t know anything about Sarah’s religious beliefs. In addition, I’m not saying she’s Christian or not Christian, etc. Again, Jesus can speak to us through anything. (And one of the great things about being a creator is that whatever you create can have different meanings to different people.)
All that to say, my focus here today is on what Jesus said to me through a song - not on Sarah’s belief system. Or what her meaning is behind the song - which I haven’t looked into at all. I just wanted to make that clear and ensure we’re all respecting Sarah, too.
Alright! So now that we’ve covered that, let’s dive into the good and very heartwarming stuff - to the point where you may want to hit “pause” right now and grab some tissues.
The Sarah McLachlan song that I am speaking about is “I Will Remember You.”
Ladies, I am not kidding you right now. Jesus made this song such a love letter to me - and to us - when this came on. And as you’ll see as I go through the verses, He presented it as a conversation between Himself and each of us.
And when the song started with the first verse, Jesus was like, “This is me speaking. These are my words.” And the verse goes like this:
“I will remember you, will you remember me? / Don't let your life pass you by / Weep not for the memories”
Three little lines...but so much packed in here.
First, we have “I will remember you, will you remember me.” Jesus was saying, and is saying, “I will always, always, always remember you. I’m never, ever going to forget you. … But are you going to remember me?”
In other words, Jesus is always there wanting to be in our lives. To have a relationship with us. To welcome us with open arms. But are we going to remember Him in a similar way? Are we going to return to Him after drifting away from Him? Are we going to turn to Him instead of vices or the world? Are we going to embrace Him in relationship?”
The next line then goes: “Don’t let your life pass you by.”
Now, when I listened to the song, I thought I heard the word “love” instead of “life.” And actually, I saw the word “love” with a capital “L.” Because I felt like God was saying, “Don’t let your Love [with a capital L] pass you by.” In other words, “I’m here. Don’t let your ultimate Love pass you by.” Don’t let it not exist. Our ultimate Love is there, patiently waiting, and He doesn’t want us to pass Him up.
Then we have the final line of verse which is: “Weep not for the memories.” And with this, Jesus is acknowledging that we’re carrying things like pain, sorrow, hurt, and tears. But He doesn’t want us to be stuck in those things - in the past. Not that we should ignore them, or not heal from them. Just the opposite - that with His help, and through our relationship with Him, we can stop weeping over them.
Now we come to the next verse where we move from Jesus speaking to us speaking. The women, like me and like yourself, that Jesus is targeting with this take on the song. So in the first verse, Jesus speaks. In this verse, the woman (who could be you or I) replies:
“I'm so tired but I can't sleep / Standin' on the edge of something much too deep / It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word / Though we are screaming inside, but can't be heard”
Our verse here is stemming from our pain. Our exhaustion. The reality of not being listened to or heard. The pain.
“I’m so tired but I can’t sleep / Standin’ on the edge of something much too deep.” We’re tired, but our minds and bodies can’t find rest. We can’t turn off our thinking. We’re processing too much. Because we’re in a crisis; we’re in pain; we’re in survival mode waiting for the bottom to drop out from under us; we’re facing something that just seems endless and dark and bleak.
“It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word / Though we are screaming inside, but can't be heard” We know what this is like, right? We feel a lot. We’re dealing with a lot. But maybe we can’t find the words to share it with anyone. Or, maybe we’ve been sharing and no one is listening. As women, we’re so often ignored or dismissed. In our culture at large - in our church cultures at times.
There’s so much going on inside of us...we’re screaming inside...maybe we’ve been shouting on the outside...and no one hears us.
So in the first verse, Jesus is saying, “I’m here. Always. Will you remember me? Will you come to me? So I can bring you out of your past or what we’re currently dealing with?”
And in the second verse, the woman replies, “I’m so tired. I’ve been stuck in something that seems endless. Bottomless. And no one is listening. I’m screaming and no one is listening.”
And then the first verse repeats (which perhaps I should call the chorus?). And so Jesus is replying, saying again, driving it home, not giving up on the woman:
“I will remember you, will you remember me? / Don't let your life pass you by / Weep not for the memories”
Jesus is repeating the invitation. And what I love about this is that after this, there is a short musical interlude where there’s just music - no singing for a while. And it’s as if the woman has time to think about this.
Jesus spoke to her, invited her; she replied by crying out; Jesus repeated the invitation; and now after a pause the woman replies in the next verse:
“I’m so afraid to love you / But more afraid to lose / Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose / Once there was a darkness / Deep and endless night / You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life”
This is where things start to shift. First, the woman is real and honest: “I’m so afraid to love you / But more afraid to lose.”
Friend, you and I both know that when you come from a religious background (where God is portrayed as this unruly taskmaster who’s watching your every move); when you come from an abusive childhood; when you come from a toxic relationship...loving Jesus, or allowing Him to love you, is not easy. It’s not simple. It’s not inherent or second nature.
It can be really scary. Opening yourself up and being vulnerable to Jesus? To God? Someone who sees and knows all? That’s a whole ‘nother level. Forget about opening up friends or a new romantic partner...this is God. This is a big ask.
So she’s communicating her fear here - and Jesus gets that. (Which is one of the many reasons why He was speaking to me through this specific song.)
But then she goes on. She says: “I’m so afraid to love you / But more afraid to lose.” She’s scared of opening her heart to Jesus...but even more than that, she doesn’t want to lose out on this relationship with Him. On what it could mean. For her. For the Kingdom. For the world. Her ultimate Love has issued an invitation and she doesn’t want to pass it up.
She goes on: “Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose.” Boy, doesn’t that sound familiar. A past that doesn’t let me choose. That abusive childhood. That toxic relationship. That survival situation. That death. That illness. That heartbreak. Maybe a combination of things - the perfect storm. Whatever it is that feels like it will never be behind us. Will never stop chasing us. Will never not affect who we are and the decisions we make.
So she’s scared. But she doesn’t want to lose out on what’s in store for her - having that relationship with Jesus. She doesn’t want to be stuck to that thing.
She goes on: “Once there was a darkness / Deep and endless night / You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life.”
This is where she starts to really turn. That last line “You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life” … I felt like Jesus was referring to the cross. ‘Cause Jesus gave everything - He gave His life. He died a very brutal life to be the ultimate sacrifice and change everything.
So when she says: “Once there was a darkness / Deep and endless night / You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life” … she’s acknowledging who Jesus is. What He did. What He can do.
And then Jesus replies, again, twice:
“I will remember you, will you remember me? / Don't let your life pass you by / Weep not for the memories”
You have to listen to the song to really take in the music and vocals at this point...to really, really feel it.
But I love how Jesus is saying the same exact words...and repeating the same invitation...but now it has a slightly different meaning. I mean, this verse (or chorus) has remained exactly the same throughout the song.
But at this point, I felt like Jesus felt more heart behind it. He’s bringing her home now. Driving the points in these words home. He’s not pointing out sins or mistakes on her part. He’s not telling her how she could’ve done better.
He simply says, again, twice: “I will remember you, will you remember me? / Don't let your life pass you by / Weep not for the memories.”
He’s bringing her home sweetly, gently, but without any doubt on her part as to Him being her ultimate Love. Or that this always stands. This invite, this promise, is good today...tomorrow...24/7/365.
And the way Sarah ends the song...with the final time of “Weep not for the memories” … where the music fades and the way her vocals are … it brought tears to my eyes. Still does, every time I listen to it.
And while I usually end every episode with a prayer, I think in this instance the song - with this message from Jesus - is the prayer. So I’m just going to end here and let you click on the link in the show notes and listen to Jesus and Sarah McLachlan.
And while you will most likely weep...weep not for the memories. Weep for how sweet our amazing, ultimate Love is.