Reflections on the last semester:
My private lessons were amazing this semester. I learned so much, and was able to apply most of it in my ensembles. It is an incredible thing to receive regular, one-on-one instruction from some of the most talented musicians around. It pushed me a lot and made me practice HARD. My challenge this summer will be to continue that intense practice even when I don't have teachers to make sure I'm doing it.
The people here have been a blessing to my life. This semester, I met a lot of new people and built deeper relationships with friends I made last semester. Even though this is a public college, God has brought a lot of really strong Christians to this campus, especially in the commercial music department. Many of our teachers and a lot of the students are openly Christian, making it a joy to get to know them better. As I got plugged in to our church, the Baptist Student Ministries here on campus, and just starting random conversations with people in our school, I connected with some amazing Godly people. It is bittersweet to say good-bye.
Earlier this month, I got to walk in my first Relay for Life since I've been a cancer survivor. I connected almost immediately with the coordinator of the survivor activities, and hopefully will be able to help more with next years Relay. It was really special to walk the Survivor's Lap with other people who have gone through similar battles with cancer. Please remember to keep those still battling in your prayers. There is a lot of hurt in this world, and God is the only one who can truly bring healing.
God has taught me a lot of things and stretched me outside of my comfort zone a lot this semester as well. He continuously asks me to trust Him more, to trust Him with all of my being, with everything in my life. There are a lot of unknowns in my life right now. I'm not even sure what I'm going to be doing this summer, let alone a year or 5 years from now. It is easy to worry and become afraid, but I know in my heart that my God has a plan and He will show me the way day by day. Following Christ is a radical move and our world rarely understands it. I have oft' been reminded this semester that the wisdom of man is foolishness to God and the wisdom of God is foolishness to man. I guess either way I go, someone will think me a fool... I'd rather be a fool to man!
There is a lot more I could say, but packing is calling. I'll try to post semi-regularly this summer to keep you up-to-date with everything in my life. Thanks for checking in.
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( 3.1 / 180 )Jeremiah 20, especially verse 9 has been on my heart lately. Jeremiah is crying out to God, complaining about the torture he has been enduring because of what God's been telling him to tell the people. Then he says:
I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.
Is God's Word so engrained in us that we can't keep it from coming out? Are we that dedicated to reading the Scriptures and hiding them in our hearts? Or do we know the Word and are now growing weary in trying to keep it from coming out? Are we so frustrated with the way the world responds to the Gospel that we give up on sharing it?
I am encouraged that a man of faith like Jeremiah struggled with these things. I'm also convicted to be more like him... to become so in love with Jesus that I cannot help but tell other people about Him. I want to openly and honestly live out my faith wherever I am. I want to be recognized as a Christ-follower, even if that means I will face the contempt of some people. I want God's Word to be like a burning fire in my heart. During this Easter season, I am reminded again of the tremendous sacrifice God made for me and I'm challenged to lay down my life-- my dreams, desires, and passions-- to serve Him with my whole heart.
Matthew 16:24- "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Happy Easter!
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( 3 / 205 )I'm finally sitting down to put my thoughts in writing on this little blog. I had great intentions of getting to this much sooner, but I kept waiting until I had "time" to really write out all the things on my heart. Now it has been such a long time since I last posted that I hardly know where to start. I suppose I shall begin with a brief synopsis of the events of February and important up-coming events this month, and then move into the things the Lord has been teaching me lately.
February was filled with lots of travelling and business work for Scenic Roots and March is shaping up to be very similar.
-Feb 6-7 I taught at the Colorado Dulcimer Festival. There are a few pictures posted HERE
-Feb 14 I launched the first ever Scenic Roots email newsletter. If you would like to join the mailing list, please use the "Contact Me" link on the right side of the page to send me a message. Make sure you include your email address and "Add me to the email list" in your message.
-Feb 20-21 Amber & I attended the MidWinter Bluegrass Festival in Denver, CO with two of our classmates. The highlight of the trip was when we had the priviledge of eating dinner with Jason Thomas (fiddler for the Claire Lynch Band) and got to ask him a few questions about life as a professional musician. He was very encouraging and kind to share some of his time with us.
-Feb 27-March 1 Amber & I put together 50 promo packages to send to various bluegrass festivals and venues around the country.
-March 1 Amber & I did a special program at the First Baptist Church in Levelland. I had missed sharing in churches, so it was really refreshing for me.
March 6-8 Amber & I, along with "Uncle Lester" (classmate) flew to Dallas to attend the Argyle Bluegrass Festival. Mom & Dad drove down from Kansas, so we all got to enjoy a festival together. Highlights were seeing Tony Rice for the first time, and the shows by Michael Cleveland and Mountain Heart.
-Today Amber & I are home for Spring break. Amber's best friend gets married tomorrow, so she's busy doing Maid of Honor duties today. Our friend Kasey is coming to spend part of the week with us and we have a few small shows throughout the week.
-Sunday, March 15 at 3pm, we're giving a Celebration of Life Concert at the Concordia Brown Grand Theater. This is a free concert (donations will be accepted). The Lord has brought our family through a lot of difficult days in the last couple of years. Now, we want to celebrate the gift of music, life, and health, and we want you to be there!
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Now, for the matters of the heart. God has been hard at work in my life over the last month. I want to share with you some of the things He has been teaching me in the hopes that you will be encouraged and challenged by them too.
-Sometimes God drops things into your lap without you having to work for them at all. Other times, He gives you a vision and asks you to take some steps of faith to make it happen. Thus far, my music career has been a lot about waiting for God open doors in front of me and then push me through them. Lately, though, He's been challenging me to step out and start knocking on a lot of doors. It think there are often opportunities awaiting us, but we miss them because we are too afraid to walk up to that door and knock.
-Looking ahead to the future is not an easy thing for me. Even as I began trying to walk in my calling and start knocking on those doors, I became terrified of planning too far in advance. As a cancer survivor, I learned in a very real way to take one day at a time and trust God to provide for my needs each day. I also learned that you never know what the future may hold and your life can change drastically in just a moment. I am now learning to trust God not just for today, but for all of my tomorrows too, to trust Him to fulfill the promises He has given me. I have spent a LOT of time crying out to God to give me the courage to look ahead a year or more as I think about finishing college and entering the "real world" as an independant musician.
-Praying for other people's specific needs is really important. I have been very convicted recently to ask people more openly how I can be praying for them. And then to pause right then and actually pray for them and with them. To simply say "I'l pray for you" does no one any good; there must be follow-through. Through this exercise of asking people how I can pray for them, I have discovered that we rarely know how to answer that question. Unless we are in the middle of an illness or grieving the loss of someone special or going through some traumatic life experience, we don't tend to think about asking people to pray for us. Even so, we can all use a prayer covering all the time. I challenge you to ask your friends how you can pray for them, and then think of specific needs in your life too.
-God loves to surprise His children with unexpected blessings. Two weeks ago, my dear friend Justin Keith asked me out to dinner-- on a date! Scheduling conflicts prevented me from being able to go, but we had a nice long walk and "define the relationship" talk on Sunday, March 1st. He shared his intent to get to know me better and I accepted. I am new to this whole "relationship" thing-- I nearly made it 22 years without a boyfriend
-- and it is a bit awkward at times, but I feel very blessed! Justin & I are both dedicated to doing this relationship God's way and seeking Him for every step of the journey. Little Sister is not overly excited about letting a BOY in on Big Sister's life, but we've had a few long talks about things and she is okay with it. I'm excited to see where the Lord will lead us, and I covet your prayers for us as we seek the Lord together.That's the news for now. I really hope to do better about giving short updates more frequently instead of these LONG posts irregularly, but I make no promises. May God bless each of you. Thanks for reading!
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( 3 / 216 )Amber and I are headed to Ft. Collins, CO this weekend, where I will be teaching mountain dulcimer workshops at the 6th Annual Colorado Dulcimer Festival. We drove part way last night and spent the night with Kasey's family in Folsom, NM. We'll be leaving in a few minutes to drive the rest of the way.
I'm teaching four workshops, leading two jams, and Amber & I are performing on Saturday night. My buddy, Aaron O'Rourke, is the other mountain dulcimer teacher. I haven't seen him for 4 years, so I'm really excited to see him again. He's an incredible musician. We will undoubtedly be picking late into the night and getting very little sleep! It should be a great weekend!!
~Enjoy Life~
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( 2.9 / 172 )I love music. All kinds of music, really. It has the power to touch people's lives like nothing else. Music can prompt someone to get up and dance, or fall on their knees in tears. Being a musician is a really big responsibility. There are times when you hold the audience in the palm of your hand-- what you do with them is then up to you. Will I use this powerful gift of music for good or for harm? Of course, I choose good, but am I always successful? This week has been a reminder of the responsibility I have to share my music with as many people as the Lord puts in my path, and to use it for His glory.
The first reminder was through my classes here at South Plains College. I have three ensembles: bluegrass, Irish, and jazz; four lessons: piano, Irish dulcimer, music theory, and voice; and three classes: Audio 1, Computer Music Notation, and Marketing/Merchandising. It's been good to get back into the groove of things, and to have random jams in the hallway with other musicians who just happen to be there. My responsibility for right now is to learn as much as I can, and to be a light for Christ up and down the hallways of the music building. I am really excited about what I am learning and will learn this semester, as well as for the opportunities I anticipate having to share my testimony through my music.
The second reminder came from a lunch-time conversation with our "Uncle Lester". We were in Amarillo for a bluegrass jam, along with our roommate Kasey. Kasey had a date with her "beau", so Kirk took Amber & I out for lunch. We talked extensively about our music, how to promote it, logistics of being touring musicians, and of the power music has. He was so encouraging to us, pushing and prodding us to do the leg-work to get hired at bigger and bigger venues and festivals. Sometimes I feel so inadequate to be doing what I dream of, but "Uncle Lester" inspired me to keep working towards that goal. I realized that sometimes God gives us a dream and a vision, and then asks us to take the steps to see that dream become reality. We have to step out in faith, trusting that the Lord has put that dream in our hearts and will, therefore, bless our endeavors towards that end.
The next reminder was of the power music has to really touch people's lives. It came about through our gig at the "Cactus Theater" in Lubbock. It was gospel night there, and we were invited to play four songs-- two in the first half and two in the second half. All of the groups gathered together before the show to pray over the concert, which was a really good reminder that we are playing for the Lord, not for ourselves or anyone else. Even so, God often uses music to reach into people's hearts. During intermission, a lady came up to us and told us that our performance of "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" had made her cry. I thought to myself, "that isn't even a tear-jerker song; it's rather lively, in fact." Yet, something in it touched her. That's a God-thing! Then, we did "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing", I shared a bit of my testimony, and we played "Green Pastures". By the end, you could hear sniffling throughout the theater. That's powerful, friends!
Finally, I was reminded that God often throws incredible opportunities into your lap when you are regularly seeking Him. After our show at the "Cactus Theater", we were rather hungry so we started thinking of places to eat at 10pm. "Uncle Lester" suggested a place called Stella's that often has live music. When we walked in the door, we were delighted to discover that one of our professors, Mark Wallney, and his band were performing. We greeted them, then sat down to order our food. Before long, they say to us, "go get your instruments and play a song with us". We (Kasey & I, as Amber had crashed by then)ended up playing two songs with them, then they had us do two songs by ourselves. It was such an honor to be asked by one of my teachers to join him for a public performance, off the cuff! How cool, and definitely a God-thing!
I got kind of long-winded, but I'm really excited about my music and where God is taking me with it!
~Enjoy Life~
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