There are certain songs that become more than songs.

They become lifelines.

For me, two of those songs have been “Just Breathe” by Jonny Diaz and “Heaven Help Me” by Zach Williams. They are songs I have carried with me through some unsettling seasons—songs that reminded me to breathe, to keep going, and to remember that I wasn’t carrying everything on my own.

There was a time when these songs meant something very specific to me.

At my former church, there were many Sundays and Wednesdays when I would sit through the “sermons” and sing these songs in my head.

I couldn’t always control what was happening around me. I couldn’t always make sense of what I was hearing, and there were moments when simply sitting there felt unsettling.

So I would retreat into the songs I knew.

In my head, I would sing.

Just breathe.

Heaven, help me.

Sometimes I would go through an entire song in my mind. Other times, just one line would repeat over and over. Whatever I needed in that moment, the words were there.

“Just Breathe” reminded me that I didn’t have to figure everything out right then. I could slow down, take the next breath, and remember that God was still there.

“Heaven Help Me” gave words to emotions I couldn’t always express.

Those songs became a quiet place for me during a season when I didn’t always feel like I had one.

That’s one of the beautiful things about music. Sometimes a song says what we can’t. Sometimes God uses a song to remind us of something we already know but desperately need to hear again.

For me, these songs weren’t just playing in the background. They were playing in my head while I sat in a room trying to get through something that felt unsettling.

They helped me make it through Sunday.

And years later, I can still hear those songs and remember exactly what they meant to me.

But now, I’m in a different season.

Ever since moving closer to my sisters and attending a new church, it has been refreshing to my soul.

There is something about being in a place where I can simply worship, listen, and be present without needing to escape into a song in my head just to get through the service.

I’m grateful for that.

I’m grateful for the songs that carried me through those unsettling times, but I’m also grateful that I’m no longer in that same place.

Maybe you have songs like that, too.

Songs attached to a particular season.

Songs you listened to when you were hurting.

Songs you sang in your head when you couldn’t say what you were feeling out loud.

Songs that somehow carried you through.

I’m grateful for those songs.

I’m grateful for the words I needed when I didn’t have my own.

And I’m especially grateful that even in unsettling places, God could meet me through something as simple as a song.

Sometimes getting through isn’t about having everything figured out.

Sometimes it’s just about taking another breath and whispering,

“Heaven, help me.”

And then taking the next breath.

And the next one.

And the next.