I remember the first time I went grocery shopping alone as my marriage was disintegrating.  Grocery shopping was something we had always done together.

I was walking the aisles feeling pretty sorry for myself already when suddenly the PA system starts playing some 98 Degrees love song that sparked a memory of the beginning of our relationship. The season of it that was white-hot and whirlwind and so certainly God-and-cosmic-universe-ordained.  The part of our relationship that was nothing like what it was now.  The part when I could have never imagined I would ever be grocery shopping alone again for the rest of my life.  But here I was.

I absolutely lost it in right in aisle 9.  Right there between the butternut squash and the Bandaids was my utterly broken heart on display for the whole store to see.

Nick Lachey’s words only pointed out the stark difference of the fairytale I had signed up for and the reality in which I currently stood.  In those lyrics were broken dreams and unfulfilled longings and the end of life as I knew it.  It felt like my whole chest was being torn open with every new stanza.

That’s how powerful music is.  It stirs memories and emotions and dreams and desires.  It validates and magnifies the things we already feel, or long to feel.

You are likely being inundated with love songs this week as the clocks draws nearer to striking February 14^th.

For those of you in that dizzying, blissful, infatuated “honeymoon phase” of a relationship, you are elated.  Those of us who find ourselves in a good, healthy, solid place relationally will be pleasantly satisfied and reassured.  But, for anyone who is walking the grocery aisle alone for the first time or for the first time in a long time, this post is for you.

Using the powerful tool that music is, I want to make you a Valentine’s Day playlist.  I’m titling it, “Love Songs from A Father” and it’s filled with lyrics that let me know how loved and held and treasured and valued I was when that was the furthest from what I felt.

Take a listen and rest this week in The Arms of the One who will never, ever, ever let you go:

You Are Loved, Stars Go Dim   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YbdaR7Plac
Yours Forever, Dara Maclean   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YicZZtlB30Y
He is With You, Mandisa   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3CVlv2dz3w
Wanted, Dara Maclean   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C-povr7b6k
More Beautiful You, Jonny Diaz   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8NvU9Ah-uY
Gold, Britt Nicole   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9PjrtcHJPo
Come to Me, Jamie Grace   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbWzuMOoYw
Stronger, Mandisa    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgv-VRtMEU
All This Time, Britt Nicole   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmTGLdSW5Sw
Not for a Moment (After All), Meredith Andrews    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoh26pC2RT8
I Am Not Alone, Kari Jobe    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow4OfW4DP9s

Want More?  My Book, “Now What? A Story of Broken Dreams and the God Who Restores Them” tells more of the story from the fallout season of my divorce, and also includes a “Now What? Moment” playlist that helped me through that season.