Recovery and healing are rarely as quick and clear as they are in movies or television shows, where the main character makes a single commitment and comes out the other end much better than before.
Jump ahead to these sections:
- Worship or Christian Songs About Healing
- Pop Songs About Healing
- Country Songs About Healing
- Gospel Songs About Healing
In real life, you may find that healing is a long road, and recovery looks different than you might have hoped. In the moments when recovery or healing is feeling tough, having a variety of songs that explore the complexities of these processes can be comforting.
Whether it's a Christian song related to your faith or a pop song to lift your spirits, consider some of these songs and their messages of hope for the path to healing. You can even consider putting together a playlist and sharing it along with a Spotify gift card for a unique, personalized gift.
Worship or Christian Songs About Healing
Turning to one’s religion can be a powerful source of hope when working through a recovery process. If you're helping a loved one through the process, you can also show your support with an encouraging card or comforting gift basket.
1. "Come As You Are” by Crowder
Recovery requires acknowledgment that time is needed for the process. Crowder’s Christian song encourages people to see themselves as worthy of healing.
2. "Cry Out to Jesus” by Third Day
Third Day expresses a variety of examples of people who feel like they’ve lost hope or don’t know what to do next. It gives a Christianity-focused solution of prayer for healing and restoration.
3. "You Say” by Lauren Daigle
Daigle’s famous radio hit discusses reframing how you talk to yourself, from focusing on one’s negative self-talk to seeing yourself the way a loving God sees you. It can be a positive reframing, even if you switch the perspective to how a friend or how a parent sees you.
4. "O Come to the Altar” by Elevation Worship
This song, focused on the acceptance and kindness of God, points out that you don’t have to be a perfect person to choose a spiritual path. Instead, it encourages you to focus on healing and recovery without self-judgment.
5. "The Motions” by Matthew West
This song, all about complacency, can be heartening for anyone who feels like they are in a rut and want to break out of it. The healing and recovery processes are often longer than expected, and this song can be helpful in the journey.
6. "So Long Self” by Mercy Me
This upbeat, fun song conceals a serious message: deciding to live in the service of others rather than living selfishly. This shift in perspective helps when you feel like a period of healing and recovery has isolated you from those around you.
Pop Songs About Healing
Recognizable songs from the radio may brighten your day or remind you that others are going through the same things you are as you recover or heal.
7. "In Repair” by John Mayer
Mayer discusses how his recovery, in this case from a heartbreak, isn’t easy or quick. This hopeful song acknowledges that recovery takes time, and that “I’m not together, but I’m getting there.”
8. "Be Okay” by Ingrid Michaelson
This beautiful and earnest song discusses how much Michaelson longs to feel okay in the moment, and many who are going through something tough or in healing will empathize with her journey and her wish for a day-to-day okay feeling.
9. "Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine
While this song is metaphorical and includes many references, the bridge is clear: “in the Spring, I’ll shed my skin, and it will blow away with the changing wind.” Her vocals point to the possibility of things changing after a long and difficult winter, much as those in healing and recovery must find transition points.
10. "Fix You” by Coldplay
This lilting song offers a simple message that one person wants to be part of another’s progress, hoping to be their inspiration. While no one person can “fix” another, moments in the song may resonate with someone in a healing process.
11. "Swim” by Jack’s Mannequin
This song encourages people to keep going even when things are hard, to “just keep swimming” through the tough parts of healing and recovery.
12. "Breathe” by Anna Nalick
Nalick’s song discusses how many people who are in the midst of something very difficult may benefit from focusing on the moment. Breathing and recognizing that continuing on a hard road is better than turning around to where one has been before.
Country Songs About Healing
If country is your genre of choice, here are a few heartfelt additions to healing and recovery songs from the country music world.
13. “Recovery” by James Arthur
Arthur’s personal experiences imbue this song with power and meaning for those who are recovering. Songs from the perspective of someone who has struggled can offer a lot of hope.
14. "I Could Use a Love Song’ by Maren Morris
Morris’s song conveys how missing someone after a heartbreak can feel like a kind of addiction. This may be a familiar feeling for those recovering from past experiences. Recognizing that the end of a relationship prompts a season of healing can help you give space for your feelings.
15. “It Don't Hurt Like It Used To” by Billy Currington
This song, more about recovering from heartbreak than about physical recovery from hurt or addiction, focuses on how pain goes away over time. Some recovery, after all, is from past relationships.
16. "Doing Fine” by Lauren Alaina
This emotionally vulnerable song reminds us all to accept that there is hurt and brokenness in the world, including inside us all. She encourages people to keep opening themselves up to relationships and love anyway, even if it makes one fear pain and hurt.
17. "Just As I Am" by Brantley Gilbert
A powerful song of someone changing their ways, this song also encourages people to make a change in their lives from whatever place they are in. You don’t have to pretend to be someone you aren’t to enter a new pattern of healing and recovery.
18. "Humble and Kind” by Tim McGraw
This song, focused on understanding that others are going through as much or more than you are, reminds us to be kind to those who are healing and in recovery, including ourselves. Humility, in particular, is a lesson many of us are taught when we experience a setback and need to heal.
Gospel Songs About Healing
Continuing the faith-tradition theme from earlier, these gospel songs express the combination of sorrow and hope that can be a powerful reminder that others have walked difficult roads before you and made it through to the other side.
19. "His Eye Is on the Sparrow” by Sandi Patty
This classic is about how God cares for all beings, from simple birds up to our complex human lives, and that we will get through what is happening to us. Feeling cared for can bring comfort during a healing process.
20. "Don’t Cry” by Kirk Franklin
This gospel song is about changing our perspective to focus on rejoicing in God’s goodness rather than focusing on the difficulties of our circumstances. Gospel music often reorients us toward the good in the world, including the background of the faith itself.
21. "I’ll Fly Away” by Albert Brumley
This song, while focused on the afterlife, can be an incredibly hopeful song for those who are in the process of healing and want peace about an uncertain future. Recognizing that one can be at peace even in the face of a long road to healing can be very comforting.
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22. "With Hope” by Steven Curtis Chapman
This song is all about the confusion and difficulty of life’s unexpected twists and turns, and how we can be hopeful about the future. Not expecting a setback can throw us off, but faith can offer hope and a path forward.
23. "Down to the River to Pray” by Alison Kraus
This cyclical gospel song repeatedly asks for peace and direction in life, saying “Good Lord, show me the way.” It has a very soothing tone for those who like gospel music.
24. "Victory in Jesus” by Dynamic Praise
Many experiences of healing and recovery are framed as battles or wars, and this song about how having your faith can feel like a victory may bring some comfort and strength.
Using Songs to Process Healing and Recovery
We don’t quite know why songs we sing and music we can listen to affects us so much deeper than mere words. Some music about healing and recovery can be a surprising and hopeful addition to your routine. It can offer you some pithy phrases to hold onto during the hardest moments of recovery.
Many people also find psalms for healing and prayers for healing to be powerful additions to their routines during a season of change.
If you cannot share music, sending well wishes can be a way to show that you're thinking of someone you care about and wish them all the best.