Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name, praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- Psalm 103:1-5
I set this verse to music over a decade ago. I had been trying to memorize it for a few months. I love the promises that it reminds me of, but I was struggling to keep all of it in my head and heart. I’ll never forget being in a hotel room down in TX visiting family over Thanksgiving break when I started singing this melody. What a gift to sing a song that carries SO many reasons to be grateful. It’s a gift to sing a song that tells your soul what to do! “Praise the Lord. Forget not.” God knows it’s good for us to remember, to be grateful, to give thanks, and so there are hundreds of references and instructions throughout scripture that instruct us to sing, to praise, to give thanks, and to remember. This is the work my weary and forgetful heart needs to do most days, and this precious verse from Psalm 103 has helped me sing my heart into the warmth and hope of remembering God’s love. This song’s on my first record, Magnolia, and I sang it again for my children’s record Sing: Remembering Songs. It’s a refrain that reminds me I’m loved. I hope it reminds you today as well. There’s good news! Don’t forget it. Don’t forget His love. I pray this season of Thanksgiving is marked with thousands of remembrances of how you are deeply LOVED by God.