You Are Love

This song started out as an effort to get my then 5 year old son to see what the Bible said about who God is. We started just pulling out descriptions of God, and then I suggested we make a song to help us remember them. He was learning memory scriptures each week at school and we found that putting them with a melody made them so much easier to memorize.

A few years later, I came up with the verses to make this catchy chorus a full praise and worship song. It is a simple song lyrically, but so full of meaning!



Good Promises

In an effort to work through the Bible in a year, I was reading books of the Bible that I usually don't find myself drawn to. But I found a gem in Joshua 21:45 and also again in 23:14. God said "Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." I was struck by the power in these two verses. God has shown us again and again over history that He keeps his promises! What an amazing and faith-building verse. It has been one I've come to many times over the last few years to remind me to stay faithful...because He is faithful!


Wash Over Me

Sometimes a song comes in a way that can only be accredited to God. "Wash Over Me" is I believe the one song on this album that God orchestrated in ways I'll never understand. Karen Michel (my co-writer) and I had both been through a tough experience that could have really thrown us down spiritually. Fortunately, with the help of good friends reminding me of God's work in us through trials, I was able to get through it. A number of years later when Karen was going through a similar experience, I was able to pass on the encouragement I once received.

Karen writes poetry and penned a poem about God's shaping us through these trials like the ocean's waves reshape our footprints in the sand. Not knowing about Karen's poem at the time, that same evening I just happened to be playing piano and came up with a melody that reminded me of the ocean. The next day she sent me her poem and suggested it could be a song. Remembering my new melody and the uncanny similarity in my own thoughts, I sat down at my piano to see if it would fit. It lined up perfectly, the lyric's rhythm and meter following what I had written musically. That became the first verse. The song only required a little more writing for a second verse and a chorus.

I am amazed how God works through us...and completely humbled. This song since has spoken to so many people's hearts...including our own!

In the Vineyard

This song also came from a poem Karen wrote after reading "Secrets of the Vine" (a study of John 15) by Bruce Wilkinson. She said that after putting the book down, she felt a deep desire to be close to God and walk through the vineyard with him, letting him shape and prune her in his own loving way.

Guy and I used to live near some vineyards in Southern Illinois and once saw a bluegrass trio who performed there regularly. They were the inspiration for the folk/acoustic arrangement. I wanted to give the song an earthy feel reflecting the imagery of the vineyard theme.

Who You'll Be

At seven months pregnant, Karen Michel sat at the kitchen table one morning drinking her tea, and contemplating this big step she and her husband were about to take having their first child.  Her thoughts turned into a poem about dreaming what your child will be like.  "Who You'll Be" was birthed from that poem written by Karen about 10 years ago.  

This was actually one of my first attempts at writing a full song.  I was not very aware of song form or meter, but everyone has to start somewhere.  I loved Karen's ideas and wanted to create a melody that would capture the feeling that only a mother can feel.  I actually love the way the production turned out in this song.  Even the unusual phrase lengths have grown on me.  

I sang this song at the Northwest Indiana Women's Centers banquet in Spring, 2004.  Two months before that I was humbly put in the position of talking a young woman out of having an abortion.  God must have put the words in my mouth, because I'm not sure what I said to change her mind.  We ended up becoming friends and I have the pleasure of seeing her beautiful daughter growing up.  A true miracle!  Now, I think of Karen's daughter, my own children, and my new friend's daughter whenever I sing this song.  I'm always amazed how God weaves our experiences together.

Child of Mine

There are lots of emotions involved in being a parent. Giving birth to a child has it’s own unique experiences and challenges, and adopting a child is no different. Getting to experience having children both through birth and adoption is something that Karen Michel (my co-writer and friend) and I both experienced.

When you adopt from China, you labor with months of paperwork only to send it off and wait, and wait, and wait. It takes much longer then 9 months, and while a much more comfortable wait, physically, it is can be harder emotionally than giving birth. You spend months wondering if you’re baby is born, what her early life is like, and if she’s well cared for. You count days. Then one day you get a package in the mail with a small 1x2 inch picture of this little face and you immediately fall in love. Karen says, "I remember looking at that picture the first time and with tears rolling down my face thinking, “There’s my daughter.” It didn’t matter that she was a half a world away – she was mine. A couple of months later, I was up late rocking Katie and as I sang her a lullaby, I realized that God had chosen the perfect little girl for our family, and that it doesn’t matter how they come to be a part of your family – whether it’s by birth or adoption.  It’s the same love."  This song is dedicated to Serena, Katie, and all the children given a forever family through adoption. 


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