After Church Diaries is a lifestyle column by Danielle Wallace, founder of The Virtuous Creative, covering personal style, home, culture, faith, and creating a full life beyond business.
I asked women on Threads which worship song they play when they need a reset. I expected to pick up a few new recommendations. Instead, the post received 250 replies filled with contemporary worship, gospel classics, and songs women have returned to during difficult seasons.
Responses reminded me how personal a reset can be. One woman may want a joyful song she can play while driving with the windows down. Someone else needs a song grounded in trust. Another person returns to the gospel music she heard years ago because its message still reaches her.
A reset may begin with joy
Several women recommended songs with enough energy to change the mood in a room. Margaret Jean chose “Good Day” by Forrest Frank and said it instantly makes her feel better. Naomi Raine’s “Be Glad” also appeared among the responses.
Both songs bring a brighter sound to a playlist that could’ve easily leaned toward slower music. A difficult week doesn’t always leave us wanting to sit quietly with our thoughts. Some days call for music that helps us get up, move around, and remember our current frustration isn’t the only thing happening in our lives.
An upbeat worship song works well during the ordinary parts of a day too. I could play one while getting dressed, cleaning the house, driving to an appointment, or trying to finish work without carrying my mood into every task. The circumstances may remain unchanged by the end of the song, yet my attention has somewhere better to go.
“Good Day” and “Be Glad” also make room for happiness without asking us to pretend every part of life is going well. Joy and frustration often exist in the same week. Sometimes they show up before lunch on the same day.
Songs that bring trust back into the conversation
“More Than Able,” “Trust in God,” and “Trust in Him” were also recommended. Even the titles point toward what many women seek from worship during a difficult week. We want to remember God’s character when our own thoughts have become loud, anxious, or overly focused on what could go wrong.
Business adds its own collection of reasons to need a reset. A client may cancel. An invoice may remain unpaid. A launch may fall short of expectations. One disappointing email could have you mentally revising your entire future before you’ve finished reading it.
Worship gives those thoughts somewhere to go. Playing a song centered on God’s ability and faithfulness helps move my attention away from the outcome I’m trying to control. I may not have an answer by the final chorus, but I’m less likely to keep replaying the problem as though the 47th mental review will reveal something new.
Trust also sounds different when it’s sung. Words I know from Scripture or have heard in church for years may reach me differently through a melody. Singing along turns the reminder into something I’m participating in rather than another piece of advice I’m trying to remember.
Gospel songs women continue returning to
Replies didn’t stop with newer worship music. Women also recommended “Hold On” by John P. Kee, “Trust in Him” by Twinkie Clark, and “Nobody but Jesus” by Vanessa Bell Armstrong. Commissioned earned several mentions, including “Cry On” and “Crucified.”
Seeing these songs in the conversation made the playlist richer. Current worship music has its place, but older gospel songs often carry history with them. A song may remind someone of her childhood church, a family member who played it around the house, or an earlier season when its words helped her keep going.
Certain songs also stay in rotation because women know where to reach when life gets heavy. They’ve heard the message before, sung the chorus before, and probably added a few unofficial background vocals of their own. Familiarity doesn’t make the song less meaningful. It gives the listener a place to return.
Recommendations from John P. Kee, Twinkie Clark, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and Commissioned also gave the conversation a wider view of what worship sounds like. Women weren’t limited to one style, decade, or type of church music. Their choices moved from joyful contemporary songs to worship anthems and gospel records with roots stretching back several decades.
Turning 250 replies into one playlist
Once the recommendations began piling up, leaving them scattered across a Threads post didn’t seem useful. I started gathering songs into a Spotify playlist so women could return to the conversation in a form they could actually play.
Creating the playlist also gave every recommendation a shared purpose. Someone could turn it on during a morning routine, listen between client calls, or play it while winding down at home. Skipping a song is always allowed. Spotify won’t file a complaint.
Listening becomes a way of receiving what another woman found helpful, even without knowing her full story.
Sometimes worship is the reset
A reset doesn’t always require a weekend away, a detailed routine, or a complete overhaul of the week. It may begin with pressing play before our thoughts have another opportunity to run the meeting.
Music won’t remove every difficult circumstance. Worship does help us pause, turn our attention toward God, and remember what stress pushed to the background. A song may give us language for a prayer we haven’t figured out how to say. Another may bring enough joy to help us move through the rest of the day without carrying the earlier frustration into everything.
My original Threads question gave me plenty of new music, but the responses offered something else too. Women of faith already have songs woven into the way they handle hard days. Some reach for upbeat music. Some want a reminder to trust God. Others return to gospel songs that have walked with them for years.
Now those recommendations have a place to live together.
