Category Archives: Music

Prayerscapes create soundtracks for worship, prayer and ministry times. The albums take the listener on a journey of creative prayer, interweaving scripture readings with song, contemporary poetry and filmatic musical underscore.

What We Have Is Enough

I love the “in between” bits in life. Those very ordinary days amidst the many plans, engagements, commitments and occasions. This song sprang up in one of those moments. Believe me, I wrote what I needed to hear! “What we have is enough” was penned as I had just survived another festive season. Christmas is always a time I intend to navigate better, only to find that once again I have exhausted myself with present planning, buying, wrapping, not to mention balancing everyone’s expectations, getting the home looking right, the food correct and the all the cards sent! So I find that I need to remind myself to “be”, to “breathe” and to enjoy the small moments! To feed my heart on the “in between” times in life and relax in the calm and intimacy that is there. To be “full” instead of falling into the snares of comparison, and to be kind to myself instead of feeling like I’ve not made everything happen.

May I embrace this treasure that is freely available. I don’t need the perfect house, family, party or meal to fill me up! What I long for is peace, security, fellowship, intimacy and rest. I hope this simple song helps to calm your heart in the way that it somehow calms mine!

What We Have Is Enough

What we have is enough
All that riches and stuff it don’t mean
All we think that it does
When success is a bubble that blows
Far away as we find
That it’s drifted from sight

For what we have is enough
All the castles we build crumble down
As they’re made of mere dust
Dare to stop and you’ll find the small things
That we cherish are here
Free to all, held so dear

Dream, breathe, shine
The treasure that we seek,
Is one our hearts can find
Sing, walk, unwind
The precious jewels of life
Are hidden deep inside.

What we have is enough
All we cherish and love is like gold
Running deep within us
And the more that we share it we find
That it just multiplies
Given love grows in size

Dream, breathe, shine….
What we have is enough

“What We Have Is Enough” is out now and available on all major digital platforms. Click here to listen on Spotify or Apple Music.

I Missed The Moment

As Christians we are asked to be the “Body of Christ”. This means we are called to work in close contact with others, to be the ones who engage with humanity at every level. This is a messy calling! It is not a setting apart from life, it’s about being called into participation! Every other soul I encounter is, like me, finding a path through the wonders of this world and navigating the impact of the fall of humanity. This means that human relationships will always be the place where the legacy of Christs sacrifice, and his loving grace has the most poignancy. This is especially true in our close relationships! These are the friendships where our true colours can be seen. These are the people who are around us when life is stressful – who navigate our weaknesses, our frustrations, and our anger.

This song flowed out of me after a “missed moment”. It is still a significant one for me, as I am still learning how to express my love. I find it hard to remember to say the little things that I really want to. Sometimes I freeze, and the moment passes without me seizing it in the way I want to! As my parents grow older, I do not want to miss out on saying the important things. I know I can be so grumpy with the children; I need to remember to say and remind them that I love them. So fond greetings, treasured goodbyes, and the courage to say how I feel is an area I am working on! I really hope that if you too find you “miss the moment” that this song might help to remind you to have courage in expressing your feelings, whether it’s in apology, an encouragement or “just some words of love each day”.

I Missed The Moment

I missed the moment
And it’s a moment I can’t forget
I missed the moment
My body froze and I let it slip

So many words I throw away, so many things I’d rather say
Just one touch would save the day, instead I lost the chance
Again the moments fly so fast, I wish that I could make them last
Long enough for me to say, just some words of love each day

I’ll take each moment
For every moment brings promises
I’ll take each moment
Embrace the chance that we have to give

So I pledge to change my ways, and say the words it’s tough to say
Practise each and every day, let my feelings show be brave
So much we have to share, let you know how much I care
Take each chance, seize each day, find some words of love today

I love you so, I love you so, I love you so,
I love you so, I love you so,
So I pledge to change my ways, and say the words it’s tough to say
Practise each and every day, let my feelings show be brave
I love you so, I love you so, I love you so

I’ll take each moment
For every moment brings promises

“I Missed The Moment” is out now on all major digital platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

Freedom in Grace

We wanted to share with you the inspiration behind a track that we’ve recently released called “Freedom in Grace”. About a year and a half ago, just before the pandemic hit, I felt God was speaking to me, and to the world, through Isaiah 40 “A Comfort to God’s People”:

“Prepare the way of the LORD. Make his roads straight. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low, and the uneven will be made level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed…” (Isaiah 40:3b-5a, NHEB)

I felt that God wanted to proclaim hope and proclaim restoration to the lands and this song, this prophetic film and outpouring is a way of praying, a way of calling out and declaring that God is a God of restoration, God is a God of love and that He wants to pour out His Holy Spirit at this time to bring new blessing, new restoration into our hearts and our lives right across the world:

The landscape across the world is changing but God has chosen to work with us, not apart from us. And our prayers, petitions, actions and hearts all create landing space for the Holy Spirit to bring a new wave of restoration and healing across a broken world. We have all experienced the suffering together and our prayer is that we will all see the restoration together too.

“Freedom in Grace” is out now on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

Freedom in Grace

Singing hope across the desert
Singing healing for the broken
Singing shelter for the lonely
Singing life across the ruins
Strength to lift the weary

Singing hope, singing life
Singing freedom in grace
Singing hope, singing life
Singing freedom in grace

And the people rose to pray, hearts awakening they knelt down low each day
Hands that couldn’t touch displayed, unity to build a deeper love again
And the valleys laid with grief, filling gentle streams of grace and empathy
And the mountains toil with fear, bowing low as voices join to intercede

Singing hope, singing life…

Barren land felt gentle rain, growing soft to hold new seeds of hope again
From the ground such beauty came, rising up were Kingdom treasures free to reign
And the light shone in the dark, chasing shadows to reveal the Father’s heart
And the people rose to see, the Lord of heaven and all earth was now revealed

Singing hope, singing life…

New springs of life so fresh and full
Soak tender shoots of Kingdom truth
And rocky places smooth to lead
Creating pathways, helping heal

Singing hope, singing life…

Soar

Many of us have experienced walking with a loved one when they are going through hard times, be this through a physical battle with illness, an emotional chasm like grief, or a daily struggle with mental health issues. We are complex and fragile as people, made beautifully in the image of God, yet vunerable in so many ways as we navigate our way through a fallen world. “Soar” is about remaining beside those we love, about love holding on despite everything that happens and about trusting that hope will return. It can be an extremely hard journey to stay close when the one we care for instinctively wants to shut down or push us away. It can be challenging to speak in hope when all we see is devastation, or to faithfully pick up a friend’s broken pieces each day. Yet by God’s grace and power we can care for those who are falling apart and help in their rebuilding.

I suspect we would all remember times when others have been there in this way for us and we know we could not have made it through the hard times without them. Yet we must remember that as followers of Christ, there is an “X factor”, another ingredient to what we offer and hold out to others. Because of this our gifts have great worth, huge impact and eternal beauty! For we see each person we encounter as a child of God, wonderfully made, worthy, and unique. We see them through the Fathers eyes. So, we can faithfully love, cherish, and keep them close knowing that the Holy Spirit is in team with us. He will move within their lives, both in this life and beyond into eternity. We can be certain that there will be freedom, restoration, and new life.

Soar

If you are frozen I’ll be an ocean
Lapping at the waves of your heart
Lovingly I’ll move and impart
Ripples of new hope in the hurt
Breaking waves of love will be heard

I’ll keep you safe, I’ll keep you close
For you’re the one that I adore
And we will rest within the truth
In time will fly again and soar
In time will soar

If you are broken I’ll be a potion
Pouring out a softness that mends
Picking up the pieces my friend
Keeping safe the you that I love
I’ll restore the treasure you are
Treasure you are

I’ll keep you safe, I’ll keep you close…
You will be free, will be free, you will be free (repeated)
You will be, you will be, you will be, you will be, free.

“Soar” is out now and available on all major digital platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

Eternity Is Always Close

As followers of Christ death is not something we avoid or ignore. It is a fundamental brick on which our whole faith life is built around. This cornerstone is the death and resurrection of Jesus! The end of my life on earth, I believe, will be a continuation of the redemptive love I walk in now. It will be an extension of the restoration going on in my heart, a continuation of the bread I receive from Heaven every day.

Remarkably, I am carrying within my being a little piece of eternity! The Holy Spirit has been released into our hearts and souls, God’s redemptive seed has been sown into the lives of all those who believe. I have become overwhelmingly reliant on this truth when I have been grieving dear friends who have sadly died far too early. As I have waited to visit them, maybe for the last time, I’ve cried out with my spirit come Lord! Come through me Jesus! Be here with these beautiful hurting people. I have with a trembling heart walked beside family and friends in their suffering, wanting so desperately to rescue them and believing with a passion that they deserve so much more. I hope that as I have held their hands and spoken the only words I could find, that they may have seen Jesus not me.

“Eternity is Always Close” is out now on all major digital platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

“Eternity is Always Close” was written after the loss of a beautiful friend whom I miss dearly. It is a song of comfort, a song that reminds me of the promises before us all. So much of creation speaks to us of renewal. I think of the seed that holds everything needed to create a majestic tree, or a melody that rises to surpass the words that are within it and create a glorious connection across humanity. God’s unconditional love is the real treasure and we as his sons and daughters are living, breathing, grace filled love! We carry the promise of eternity within us and we give this hope out to others. Then as we grieve and come to terms with our loss, we can be comforted by the promise of new life. A life that awaits us all beyond death, where we will soar with freedom, leaving behind illness and isolation, united with Christ forever. I hope the words in this song might resonate with you on your journey of grief and eternal love.

Eternity is Always Close

The treasure’s safe the love and care the laughter shared
You’re so unique you make me smile
So this is not goodbye
As I know you’ll fly

I’m with you every single day my heart will pray
Your soul is woven in with mine
Into heaven’s perfect time
So I know you’ll fly, wherever you may be

Fly, wherever you may be
Fly, wherever you may be
Fly, wherever you may be, fly

Eternity is always close it’s there in every single note
It’s whispered on a gentle breeze
And every touch and in the smallest seed
So I know you’ll fly, wherever you may be

Fly, wherever you may be…

And may you soar above the cloudy skies
And open your eyes
To see the world from heaven’s gentle gaze
My songbird of praise

Sanctuary – the new prayerscapes album

Our new instrumental album, featuring many of the soundtracks used in our prayerscapes videos, is out now! “Sanctuary” is an hour of beautifully calm instrumental music ideal as a backdrop for prayer, meditation, work or study. If you’re familiar with our prayer videos, you’ll recognise the ones used as an accompaniment to “The Lord’s Prayer”, “Afternoon Prayer” and many others. Check out our trailer now:

“Sanctuary” is widely available across all major digital music platforms, as well on our site here.

Listen on Spotify

Download at iTunes

Listen on Apple Music

Download at Amazon Music

“It’s been a real pleasure to create this new album of meditative instrumental music. I love the sounds that cellos, pianos and gentle choral tones weaving together can make, and these new works seek to help us find a peaceful space, a sanctuary, amidst the turbulent times we are experiencing.”

Neil Haydock, composer of “Sanctuary”

An Inspirational Blessing Prayer

Hi, having spent many years crafting prayers, songs and films for Prayerscapes, it feels like the right time to open up and get closer to those of you who have always responded to our creative offerings. So, in these short films, we will share with you some of our journey, prayer ideas, inspiration and wisdom we have found as we have sought to reveal the love and light of Christ. If you have not yet subscribed to our Youtube channel do take a moment to do so, as there are many more inspirational videos in the pipeline that we would love you to see and experience.

When we wrote and recorded ‘May The Road Rise Up to Meet You’, we could not have imagined the ways in which it would have been received, used and cherished by others. We’ve been overwhelmed by the emails and messages we’ve had about how this song has touched people, whether it be at baby dedications, or marriages, or as a blessing at funeral of a loved one. All this made me think – why has this simple Celtic Blessing been so powerful in effecting so many people?

I think one of the reasons is that proclaiming this blessing over another is a very powerful and releasing thing! We bless others with the authority that Christ gave us as children. Blessings change, they renew, and they create security and sanctuary. In a world filled with comparison, judgement, jealousy, competition, criticism and envy, it is a wonderfully unexpected thing! This simple prayer is such an inspiring blessing which rolls out like a beautiful and holy land, ahead of loved ones, soft grace soil on which to tread.

My husband wrote this little blessing song for me when my second son was a baby. For those of you who have lived through a similar season, you’ll know it’s messy! At the time I was often walking out very early in the morning with a crying baby, so as not to wake the rest of the household! It was just one of those seasons where I felt vulnerable, I felt ashamed to be pacing the streets in the dark mornings, not to have the answers, not to be the perfect family. I often felt myself welling up with tears as I pushed my baby boy around. I just trudged on as we all do sometimes. I remember I did cry as he sang me the song and its words did hold and keep me through that time.

So, if you are in this hard place, through illness, anxiety, grief, trial or loss, I sing this to you…. allow this little song to lay a soft blessing under your feet. And then go ahead of someone else and lay this blessing for them. It will become for them a lullaby, soothing and gracious. It might be that the Holy Spirit leads you to physically be this blessing to soften someone’s walk with service, understanding or generosity. And why not say the blessing in unexpected ways? Say it behind another, soaking your thoughts and feelings for them in love. Receive this blessing, give this blessing, be this blessing, live this blessing!

Thanks for connecting with us today. And as I said earlier, we’ve lots on new videos coming soon, so if you haven’t already, do subscribe at Youtube, and we look forwards to seeing you real soon in our next film!

Prayer for Youth

When I look back on my own “youth years” I realise now what an extraordinarily difficult period it was – the explosion of hormones, the pressure to be in the “in” crowd, the stresses and expectations placed upon you – it all seemed to come together at the same time! When you are a teenager, you have no concept that this cauldron of racing thoughts, emotions and confusions will settle down. You have no idea that ahead lies easier seasons and that life is not all or nothing, “living the dream” or complete failure, but that there are many pathways and possibilities for happiness. At this age I remember how my life would see-saw between great moments of maturity and then complete meltdowns just hours later as though I was a toddler! Yet amidst all this I remember chinks of clarity, times of connection and flashes of faith forming in my soul. Nurturing and sometimes nursing a young adult through these years can be a roller coaster of a ride. As we seek to care for our in-betweeners, let’s remember the challenges of life as a teenager and extend fountains of grace to them as they navigate their way through.

The following prayer seeks to bring order and hope into this maze of teenage existence. It recalls all the different elements that bring inspiration and meaning to life and offers these beautiful things back to God in love and service. If you are a young person, use this film now as a space to hear and connect with God and his heart for your life. And if you are of an older generation, please use this video as a prayer for someone you know who is going through this period of great transition in their lives, and ask for God’s presence and voice to be with them: –

Prayer for Youth

Dear God,

Thank you for the amazing world you have made.
Help us to care for every aspect of your creation.

Thank you for the wonders of physics, medicine and astronomy.
Help us to engage with each facet of the universe.

Thank you for the power of the creative arts.
Help us to pioneer new vision and sounds in our generation.

Thank you for our incredible minds and bodies.
Help us to become all we could be as individuals.

Thank you for our family, friendships, community and relationships.
Help us to accept, nurture and forgive one another.

Thank you for all these great things in our lives.
May we play our part in bringing peace, prosperity and justice to all.

Amen.

This film can be downloaded for small sum by following this link.

Closing Prayer

I find that there is a unity that arises through worship that it is difficult to express in words. We sometimes encounter glimpses of this when we are joined together in hymns and worship songs, as we fix our eyes on eternal things and are in awe again of Jesus, our remarkable redeemer. I’m sure that the first disciples must have sensed this very powerfully when the Holy Spirit came to them at Pentecost, where we read that “they were all together in one place” and many heard them “declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (Acts 2:10, NIV)

The Holy Spirit gathers us together by being present with each believer in a personal and unique way. As we enter this inner sanctuary as the bride of Christ – the church in all its vulnerability, brokenness and fragility, we open the door for an outpouring of God’s love into our hearts. We find balance, acceptance and a place to dwell in worship. No matter how tough my life is, or how distant I feel from God, I find I always benefit from pushing closer in worship to our eternal Father.

The following closing prayer reflects this filling, this outpouring, and this transformation as we pledge ourselves to give out. We can rest in the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts and allow the love and goodness of Christ’s legacy to seep out of us into every area of our lives. It becomes a never-ending story of receiving and giving, as we become like dancers moving in time with the heart of the Father.

Closing Prayer

Lord, thank you that we are a family in Christ. Help us to share his love and legacy with everyone that we encounter this week. May we lavish Christ’s abounding goodness upon our families, friends and colleagues. Holy Spirit, come and equip us in our workplace, guide us in our school life, and inspire us in our neighbourhood. May we be your hands and feet to the needy, your words of affirmation to the oppressed and your arms of comfort to the lonely.

Thank you for choosing to use us to bring your kingdom here on earth.

Amen.

It’s possible to download this film in HD for a small sum by following this link.

Harvest Prayer

Our lives go through many seasons, and there are times when it is natural and easy to be thankful at harvest time. So, if you are in a relaxed place and able to drink in the goodness of God and his provision, it is a joyful and special time to give thanks! However, as Christians we all face times where it is harder to be overflowing with praise. Our heavenly Father knows us, and loves us just as we are in the valleys as well as on the hilltops, so allow yourself the grace to engage with this festival in the truth of your own circumstance and feelings.

What is amazing about the seeds of peace, hope and love that God plants by his Holy Spirit into our lives is that it is often in the hardest and darkest times that we reap the fruits of these seeds. For to grieve daily yet to still love is a beautiful fruit, to be hurt and broken yet to still forgive is an abundant reaping and to struggle with pain or ill health yet still to engage with others and enter into the hope in Christ is a remarkable harvest. These are kingdom blessings that shine so brightly to all around you.

Wherever you find yourself this harvest time, we hope this prayer will help you connect with your heavenly Father: –

Harvest Prayer

Father, as we celebrate this season of thanksgiving, we give thanks for the blessings of food, provision and nourishment.

Please grow in us a harvest for the world. Come sow a seed of hope within our souls Lord, that we might yield goodness, patience and kindness in abundance.

Sow a seed of peace in our lives Lord, that we might bear the fruits of forgiveness, compassion and righteousness.

Come sow a seed of love in our hearts Lord, that others would reap the blessings of family, friendship and community.

May each seed of hope, peace and love grow within us into a harvest that can be feasted on by all.

Amen.

(Prayer by Julie Palmer)

You can download and keep this film in HD for a small sum by following this link.