I remember very clearly the day Rachel Barrentine and I started writing the song, Cleansing Waters Flow
We were writing a project for Celebrate Recovery, a 12-step recovery program like Al-Anon and AA but based on Jesus Christ as our Higher Power. We both were performing at Celebrate Recovery's across the country, and Rachel approached me about writing a song for each of the steps, which I thought was brilliant. I instantly said yes!
I had been involved with Al-Anon, so I have a heart for recovery programs.
The writing was going extremely well, until we got to Step 4, the “down and dirty” step. Step 4 says, “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” This is where you have to get very real and honest about who you are, shortcomings and all.
I immediately said to Rachel, “How are we possibly going to make this song positive? This step is HARD!”
I remember very clearly yet today going through Step 4 for the first time in my 20’s when I was in Al-Anon. It was brutal. It was exhausting. It was hard to look at all the ways I had let God and myself down and write my deep, dark secrets on a piece of paper. How could we find a way to write a song that would encourage others to expose themselves in this manner?
We did what we did before we started writing the song for each of the steps, we read the step and the Bible verse that went with it, and then we prayed, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us.
As we sat there and started talking through different ideas, we began to get a beautiful image. We started visualizing a river and God inviting us to come to that river so He could wash all our junk away.
A place to be cleansed!
The whole point of the cross is so that each of us can come to the river with all our shortcomings, all our mistakes, all the things we wish we could take back, all the lapses in judgment, all our acts of rebellion, all our skeletons, and let the cleansing waters of God’s love and grace wash them ALL away. As we ran with this image and started writing the song, what had become so intimidating suddenly became something very beautiful!
A beautiful, inviting river where we are made clean, that’s what grace is all about!
And the cool thing is, the dirtier we are, the better that cleansing water looks and feels like in our souls!
The more honest we are about our sin, the more clearly we see the beauty of the cross. The more we see our sin, the more the sacrifice Jesus made for us becomes absolutely astounding.
When I got done with Step 4 back in my 20’s and I sat there with my brokenness laying exposed before me, I remember feeling a deep longing build up inside me to get to know this Jesus better and stay near to Him. I needed that grace as much as I needed the air I was breathing at that moment because I felt my brokenness so deeply.
Step 4 is hard. Step 4 is intimidating. But Step 4 is cleansing and it leads to true freedom!
If you’ve never been real with yourself and taken a moral inventory, I challenge you to do it now! I mean NOW! It will be hard, it will be brutal, but I guarantee you will see the beauty of the cross in a whole new way when you are more aware of exactly how much you need it!
I’ve included a link to the song and lyric video below so you can let the words wash over you. Just click on the “Play Song Here” button. And by the way, this song became one of my absolute favorites on the whole CD!
As you read these words and listen to the music, I hope it will encourage you to get real and come to the river.
Choose to be cleansed!
God’s grace is waiting!
Hugs and love,
Jill
Cleansing Waters Flow Words and music by Jill Miller and Rachel Barrentine ©2016
I’ve been hiding behind a mask My inner darkness chains me to my past Trying to cover all these wretched scars But these secrets starve my thirsty heart
My sin hits me like a desert storm I’m buried under the guilt I can’t ignore But then you whisper, child, come to me Come to the river where you can be redeemed
I bring my mess, my brokenness You wash away all my shame With your blood that makes me whole I come to the river where your cleansing waters flow
I feel the rushing water on my skin Your healing current gives me life again The heaviness I’ve carried drifts away I’m underneath the fountain of your grace
I bring my mess, my brokenness You wash away all my shame With your blood that makes me whole I come to the river where your cleansing waters flow
Cleansing waters flow, cleansing waters flow Cleansing waters flow, cleansing waters flow
I bring my mess, my brokenness You wash away all my shame With your blood that makes me whole I come to the river where your cleansing waters flow I come to the river where your cleansing waters flow Cleansing waters flow Come to the river