A Year In The Making

From start to finish, this project has been a year-long labor of love and a process that has demanded that I grow not only musically, but spiritually and emotionally as well. I know, sounds like quite a process, huh?

This past year has been a year full of change, transition, adjusting and has even been sprinkled with some hurts and disappointments. (anyone else?) Very often I would find myself asking the Lord about my status. Not in the formal meaning of the word, as in my social, professional or standing in life. And not my Facebook status. No. My status. In this journey. In this time and space where I took a step of faith and hopped right out of the boat, confident in what He had spoken to me. I can recall so many moments where I would just feel overwhelmed and so uncomfortable and from the deepest part of my heart I would whisper, “Lord, am I okay? Am I doing the right thing? Is this all worth it? Am I okay, Lord?” And immediately I would have to pull myself in and go back to the Words He had spoken to me. Back to The Word and remind myself that He is faithful and I was in fact “okay” and would continue to move forward and walk in the fullness of all He has called me to. The Lord is so very gracious to prepare us when a season of change is upon us, and He had so gently and succinctly given me Words to step out on and I knew what I was supposed to do. We don’t always see the big picture and His Word has to be enough for us. I had to learn to keep my eyes on Him and stand firmly on what He had spoken. And then the next day do the same. And the next day, and the next. That is the life of faith, right? The Lord spoke to me that this was a season of trust. A season of totally and completely relying on Him for everything. Really learning how to look to Him for what I need, and not to man. He also said this was a season of enlarging my vision. I think sometimes we can get stuck in what we think our lives are supposed to look like, and we forget that God may just have a lot more in store for us than we can see at the moment. Thank You Father! I love the scripture in Ephesians that says He is able to do exceedingly abundantly far above all we can ask or think! I know in my life and especially recently, there are areas that I don’t even know what to ask the Lord for, but He is able to do all that and more! I am grateful that He has enlarged my vision and given me specific things to believe Him for. I believe that God, as the Master Creator is not just inviting us but calling on us to dream and to dream big! He is always doing something new and I know that He wants us to contend for those dreams and visions He has placed in our hearts. You know those things you’ve been holding onto since the time you were little and they’ve never gone away? Those things that in your mind’s eye you can see yourself doing? Hold on to them! Pray over them! Follow the Lord’s direction and boldly walk them out! Those are usually seeds that the Lord has planted inside of you, and they are waiting to spring up!

The actual writing process for this EP was a lot of fun. I typically will get a phrase or a melody line that I start off with and will go from there. Sometimes I’ll be in the car and will try to record a voice memo so I don’t forget the melody line or the lyrics. I also get a lot of phrases and melodies while I’m out running. I got a full song during a run one morning, and my pace was really fast getting home so I could write it out. I had it written in about 20 minutes. It’s been tweaked a bit here and there, but for the most part, that whole song came together really quickly that one morning. You’ll know that song as Always Good on my new EP. I know just enough on the piano that I can write down the chords I am hearing in my head. For this EP I enlisted the help of a friend to help me get the songs in a format that made it easier for the producer to do his job. I love collaborating with people and gaining from their wisdom and their gifts. Something the Lord has really been ministering to me as of late is that the Body of Christ is in fact that, THE BODY OF CHRIST and that we are all in this together. So I love teaming up with other parts of the body and learning from them.

It is a very special moment when, as a writer, a song that you have heard only internally takes on new life and meaning with instruments and vocals and all the magical stuff that happens in a producers hands. I was so blessed to work with a team that I really trusted, not only to share my thoughts and ideas with, but trusted them to speak into this project and bring to life what the Lord had spoken to me. I have written songs since I was a young child, but have only ever shared a handful of them. (this is the part where I had to grow up in ALL AREAS.) I have always been very insecure in the area of song writing, and always felt that I was never good enough and had nothing to offer. I always had this idea in my head of how songwriting should happen and how the “good writers” came up with songs. To place any song out in the open for others to hear is intimidating and makes me uncomfortable. But the Lord hasn’t called us to comfort. He has called us to step out and walk in our divine destiny. I had to get to the point that I was either going to obey the Lord and step out or I wasn’t. Part of my obedience to the Lord is in the writing, sharing, and testifying of His goodness and faithfulness. My prayer for you is that whatever He has called you to, whatever is in your heart to do, that you do it, even when it’s intimidating and uncomfortable. Step out! He’s waiting for you!