His people will hope in His Name, for His Name is Good (Psalm 52:9)
He scatters the bones of those who attack Him (Psalm 53:5)
He puts those who attack Him to shame (Psalm 53:5)
He puts those who attack Him to shame, for He despises them (Psalm
53:5)
The giveaway?
(I hope you didn't feel I was trying to bribe you -
I'm just so, so grateful for all of your help,
I knew I'd want to be able to give you something in return,
But wasn't sure how much I'd be able to give.
If you felt bribed, you could always share now, since the giveaway's over.)
I have the computer program all ready,
But I'm not going to use it.
There were three I saw who shared,
(Or are planning to share - I saw that, Deena, and I don't want to leave you out!)
Which is more than I expected, honestly,
I just wanted to be prepared . . . just in case,
And I have plenty of CDs available.
So, if Kelli Woodford, Pam, and Deena could slip an address or an email address into the comments?
(I promise I won't publish it, and I'll delete it as soon as I copy the information)
I'll send each of you a hard copy of the CD this weekend,
And, as promised, I'll sign it if you'd like me to.
I am just so, so grateful for each of you!
Thank you all for your help!
It means so much to me!
Also, if anyone wants to share in a different way, Bandcamp has released new "for fans" accounts. (This blogger has some great thoughts about what that means for us artists and how wonderful it will be - although there are a few mildly offensive words. My apologies.) If you happened to be considering purchasing my album through Bandcamp (Or at least downloading track 2 for free), You could create a fan page for free And tell others why you like my music. Then, when people go to my page to look the album, They will see your recommendations! This could have the potential to reach a lot of people, And would be a huge, huge help to me . . . If you were thinking about it . . . If you wouldn't mind? So, so grateful for all of you!
It doesn't have to be all about how wonderful it is.
Be honest.
Be sincere.
Critique it for me.
But let people know it exists, and where they can get it.
You could write a blog post,
Or just write a few words on Facebook.
Be creative.
If you can get the link to what you've written
(And, if you post on Facebook or use another social networking site that uses brief messages, copy and paste what you wrote in addition to giving the link)
And put it into a comment,
Leave that comment on my blog by next Wednesday (January 16th),
I will put your name in for a giveaway. (My first ever!)
(If your review talks in-depth about each and every track on the album, I'll put your name in three times.
If you share about the album in more than one place, I'll put your name in once for each place you shared.)
For every ten people that share about my album,
I will randomly select (using a computer program) one person to receive a free copy of the new CD.
I will mail it to you with my eternal gratitude.
And, if you really like the CD (or if you just really believe in my potential), I'll sign it for you.
Just, please, if you would share?
We independent artists don't have fancy marketing departments working for us.
We rely on the fans,
And, right now, I honestly don't have that many.
So would you help me?
Please?
I am so grateful for each and every one of you.
(Whether you help or not.)
God bless you, friends!
Reasons 2803-2861 today, Starting this new habit of stepping out of my comfort zone,
Learning how to trust in who He is:
His
city is beautiful in its loftiness (Psalm 48:1-2)
His city is the joy of the whole earth (Psalm 48:1-2)
The New Living Translation renders the word as "masterpiece", which better captures the emotion of the word.
We're not just a work of God,
We're His poetry,
His masterpiece.
As these thoughts turned 'round and 'round in my head,
Songs came out.
My friend helped me pick ten of them.
I added two more because they were things I wanted to say.
Here they are:
1. Song That You Sing
I wrote this as I was meditating on Ann Voskamp's post that inspired the song "How Emptiness Sings" by Christa Wells, and I took away something a little different from it. So I wrote a different song. My friend Kassandra came in and played a flute part for me, which was just what the simplistic accompaniment needed to keep it simple enough for the lyrics but interesting enough to be . . . well, interesting.
2. By Name
I wrote this song meditating on the idea that different people know more about different aspects of God's character than others. In sharing our stories, we witness to those aspects of God's character, which helps others to have a better understanding of those aspects of God's character, which helps us to know God better. Obviously, the first place we should be looking for information about God is His Word, but other things testify to who He is as well, and we shouldn't ignore them.
3. The Masterpiece
This is pretty much the title track. It's based on Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) - We are God's masterpiece! So amazing!
4. Safe
This one's about my own personal struggle between a natural desire for safety and God's promise of Safety. There's so much in my life pushing me to get a college degree, get a "safe" job, have a stable income, . . . and all the while God's pushing me toward something the world would tell me is dangerous and risky. Well, who am I going to listen to? Everyone on this planet, or the God who created all of them? Still, I have a lot to learn about trusting Him with this.
5. Free (The Wave's Song)
This one was inspired by James 1:6-8 (NLT). The metaphor of people being like waves, driven and tossed by the wind, was too good for me to pass up. I wrote it during a sermon on those verses instead of paying attention.
When I read the prayer Jonah prayed in Jonah 2, how he was thanking God for saving him while he was still inside the belly of a fish, I knew I had to turn it into a song. So I did, staying as close to the text (I was reading it out of the Contemporary English Version Bible) as I could. I then decided I wanted a sort of one-word refrain, kind of like Heather Williams' "Hallelujah". I'd recently watched a song that contained various names for God and wondered if there was a Hebrew name for God that meant "God saves". The closest Google could come was "Yahushua", which, interestingly enough, is the word that the names Joshua and Jesus come from.
8. What I Love
Another one I've already written about. You can read the story here.
9. Impossible
This was inspired by a passage from Madeline L'Engle's Walking on Water. She spoke of the Transfiguration and how the things that we think are impossible really aren't impossible at all. So I wrote a song about it. Go figure.
10. You Said My Name
This was inspired by a video by the Skit Guys. They were telling Peter's story, a story of grace, how he denied Jesus and Jesus still said his name. So I had to write a song about Peter. This is one of my favorites from this album, because I need to hear Him say my name, too.
11. The Poem You Write
I wrote this after a sermon explaining that "poiema" is where we get "poem" from. As a sort of poet, I couldn't let this image of God as a Poet slip past me. It became a song.
12. With Abandon
This one was probably the most intentional of all of them. As I thought about all these things I'd been writing about, I was left with the question, "What should my response to all of this be?" And I decided the answer was to do what He's told me to do, and to do it with abandon. This one's a little more cliche than the rest of them. I couldn't think of any other way to say it. I decided to leave it on the album, though, just for that thought: I need to live with abandon.
I'm not going to post the lyrics for all of these,
Mostly because I don't have time,
But also because they're somewhere online already,
Which leads me to what I have to share with you next:
The CD will be available for one week for free on Noisetrade.
