Last night I was up in the wee morning hours composing the 5^th song since producing Hold On (to Love) in February of this year.  I think I’m beginning to understand the need songwriters have to write, no matter what the condition.  This new song is called It’s Life and I can’t wait to get it recorded!  The story behind this one is that when Jesus was in the garden, praying before he was betrayed, he experienced a moment of fear.  In that moment, Jesus, the son of the living God, Savior of the world, felt fear and desperation so badly that the Bible says he sweated blood!  He even asks the Father if the cup can be removed from him.  When Jesus chose to follow the will of the Father, not his own, I believe the Spirit descended upon him with a peace and even a joy that lasted until his last breath.  In that moment, God the Father, reiterated His plan to Jesus, but even Jesus had to come to the end of himself…to face his fear of the cross and say out loud in his prayers to the Father what he was feeling.  I believe it’s no coincidences that at the moment that I was asked to face some of my darkest fears that God has given me new purpose.  It was only after I went into my “lion’s den” and dealt with some of the hardest things of my past that I was allowed the opportunity to go and record Hold On (to Love) in Nashville.  Since then, I’ve been writing steadily, between naptime and playtime, new songs about life, love, and faith.  I hope for the opportunity to share them with others in the same format as Hold On, but not for long, they’re unrecorded.  This song, It’s Life, was written in a fury of about two hours when I couldn’t sleep because I had a song in my head that needed to come out.  As I was writing the verse about facing my own fears, God whispered to me that there were others who’d need this song of encouragement.  I felt him say to me that I’d really only begun to plumb the depths of what he’d put inside me to write about.  As I begin this road to promote Hold On (to Love), I know that it’s a song of hope that will touch many, but I can now see a clearer view of the road to come.  More songs, more studio time, more opportunities to grow and share the lessons I’ve learned…to be a donkey shining a light in the dark!  I’ve always asked the Lord what it was he wanted me to do with the gift of song that he gave me, and I think I’m beginning to understand!  He’s not only given me the voice to use, but songs to sing!  Songs of hope, encouragement, love, and faithfulness!  It is my prayer that the music he puts inside of me will prick the hearts of people and turn them toward his plan, his love, his guiding hands!