Theme lyrics of this song is “When you live in the grace, I encounter true me.”
The song is formed by quite simple melody and the lyric is talking about important value I think for Christian life. Through the process of writing this song, my vague thought and idea came together and it was my personal revelation experience of learning the way of how to be true yourself.
Some say, “The secret to a happy life is to live your life as true yourself.” The advices we hear are, accept yourself as you are, be natural, don't compare yourself to others, live positively, and so on. However, when you have wounds in life, when you suffer from a past failure, when you are in grief, or in sickness, such methods are utterly futile. You would have already done these things if you can do it before anyone tells you. Surrounded by various tragedies in a wounded society with high pressure, living happily in true yourself seems like an unattainable ideal world. The famous Japanese singer, Yutaka Ozaki, sang, "I must continue to win in order to be who I am." But is this true? Is the life of being able to live true to yourself only for people who can continue to win?
Without God who created us, we cannot know our true selves and our original purpose of life (true design). The self-likeness that we can discover without God is a compromised version of self no matter how far we go. However, we try to find ourselves somehow without God because when we face God, we also need to face our sins.
One Sunday, pastor Nobu Toyoda of New Life Christ Church, said in his sermon, "We find our true selves as we walk the path of God's grace." This word resonated in my heart and realized that living in God's grace is essential for us to find ourselves in God. This song was born when this thought came together.
Our sins are forgiven through the redemption of Jesus on the cross. It is the grace of God given us and we do not deserve it. When we humbly receive this grace, we realize that God is loving us as we are and with this assurance and peace, we obtain freedom to be true ourselves. It doesn't matter if you are in failure, sadness, sickness, or suffering. You don't have to keep winning. God is the one who gives us grace and supports us no matter what situation we are in.
May God's blessings fill your hearts through this song.