Mark Hall turned to the Psalms in his time of need.Band leader Mark Hall started Casting Crowns as a way to engage his youth group in their faith. The success of the project lead him to expand it professionally and he has guided them to 15 Dove awards and a Grammy. However, the band has never forgotten its roots and can be heard playing the Contemporary Worship service every Sunday at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia.
When Hall was diagnosed with cancer, his faith became clouded by fear. It was through this trial that “Oh My Soul” emerged. He tells the story in an interview:
“One of my favorite scriptures is where David says “Why so downcast, oh my soul. Put your hope in God.” It’s basically David talking to himself and I identify with David in a lot of ways. He has courage, but then he’d fall on his face and he was real about it. That’s how he prayed. If he was mad, he prayed mad. If he was confused he, he prayed confused. He didn’t add anything to it, just talked about life like it was when he was talking to God.
“That’s how I’ve always prayed. In that moment in his life, he was talking to his own soul. He was like “What’s your problem? He man, pull it together. You know what’s true, You know God’s got you. Why are you letting your feelings run away with you like this? Go back to what you know. You said all this stuff, you wrote all this stuff, you believed all this stuff. It’s still real. Even though it’s happening to you now, it’s still real.” That struggle is what was going on through my head.”
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