Tree Hill Collective in the Studio Mia (vocals/songwriter) Adina (songwriter) Jeff McCullough (Music producer) Daniel (BGV's/guitar) One of the things that I love about my music producer, Jeff McCullough, (he's the one with the Mohawk) is that he always tells me like it is. When I sound bad, he does not hesitate to let me know it. He asks me questions and guides me in searching every emotion and truth connected with each line that comes out of my mouth. "Don't sing it if you don't believe it" he says. And he covers our sessions, recording, mixing and mastering in prayer.
On this last project he said this to me. "Mia, you owe it to the writers and the audience to be totally honest in your interpretation of the song, stop listening to the voices in your head." Recording music is a ministry. It captures my heart and is forever out there for people to hear. So I don't take it lightly. There are tears shed in each recording project through the struggle over lines, notes and songs. I tend to think of Jeff as my therapist as well. Kudos for producers that have to deal with emotionally sensitive and sometimes unstable artists. They ROCK!! THE BIG CHALLENGE HE GAVE: My producer asked me the other week "If you could do a duet with ANYONE living or dead, who would it be?" I answered him and then he said "So what is stopping you." My reply was that I didn't ask. So I followeded through, dared to ask this person and he said, "Yes!" #CRAZY. So, now my prayer is this...whatever comes out of it, I pray that it shines a light on Christ. May it be excellent and praiseworthy...... May it be my best offering to the Lord #SoliDeoGlori. What does someone need to challenge you to do today? Go Nike it! #JustDoIt #SoliDeoGlori (I don't know about you, but so much of what I do is because someone loved me enough to give me a swift kick in the butt and encourage to do it...Consider yourself kicked!!) "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James 4:2-3 PS, I am fully aware that my use of hash-tags means nothing in this blog...Can't help it!
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My father would always find the positive in any situation and so I try and model that example in my life. Sometimes it is harder than at other times, but today this is what I gleaned from a week of struggling with depression. For those that don't know, I have struggled most of my life with depression, sometimes needing medication, but in the last decade it has been completely manageable without. The bouts are shorter and the lows (for this bi-polar chick) are not as great as in years past-Praise God!
Positive #1 I lost 5 pounds. Hey I'll take. I am not advocating depression as a form of weight loss, but simply stating the fact that I lost 5 pounds which I have been trying to do for the last month through healthy food choices and exercise with no luck. Now if you know me you will know that I say this while LOL with a smile. The real joy that I saw is that, through this emotionally tough week that was filled with sadness, much weariness, trouble getting out of bed, more sleeping that normal and a great of amount of just being lethargic with many tears, is this, God is Good ALWAYS and in the midst of the struggle God still uses me to do His work, to glorify Him, to worship Him to give Him praise and to remind me that He is my only source for strength, hope, love and forgiveness. My time in the Word was powerful, His ability to work through me in my writing, recording and ministering to others does not stop because I feel a certain way. This week I was finalizing some writings that I was working on and in it, I discussed how often times we feel disqualified. There was a time in my life where I would allow my depression to disqualify me from pressing on, praising Him and getting out of bed. But today, through the brokenness, through sadness, through tears........ God's will be done. For that, I thank Him. He is my strength, my light, my hope. So today as I travel to go and minister to people through music, I know that even though there is a heaviness that I can't shake, my God is Good, My God is faithful, always present, close to the brokenhearted and so in love with me. May God work through you in any season of your life and in any situation. May glory always be given to Him the lover and comforter of our soul. Be blessed, friends. This is what the heart of David sang during his trouble. May it bless you. Psalm 6 O Lord, Deliver My Life 1 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? 4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. 5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? 6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes. 8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment. So these are a few of the titles that I carry, Worship Leader/Singer Songwriter/Public Speaker, and honestly I have very little clue about how to do any of them except that I know God has called me to glorify Him through these means. My husband and I had a wonderful night sharing our testimony of God's healing in our marriage. I loved leading worship with my Celebrate Recovery family. I loved sharing a song of encouragement that I wrote and I loved standing next to my husband and telling our story. It all went well....really well....And I am always in shock when that happens. Let me explain that..... As my husband and I talked on the way home, we both marveled at how there is really nothing that special about us, there is nothing extraordinary about my worship leading or our presentation when we give our testimony. Nothing, but the fact that we ask God to strip ourselves away and help us to present what we have without expectation and sit back and watch God's spirit move among His people. As a worship leader and speaker there is, at times, a pressure to be on, having to be so spectacular and dynamic that you move people into an amazing experience of worship. What I KNOW to be true is that I have none of that.... all I have, by God's grace, is the ability to simply go before the Lord (with a microphone in hand and people watching me) and present what I have, as simple as it is, and leave it at that. Worship leading, singing, writing and speaking is simply an offering of being present, being honest, being transparent before the Lord SO THAT He can do what He does so perfectly.....Move the hearts of his people. John the baptist had nothing great to offer physically (in fact, I'm sure people thought he was insane...and coincidentally there are times when people think I'm crazy too, but that's a different story), but He was present, submitting to the Father, testifying of the promise to come and the Spirit moved through him to prepare hearts. The apostle Paul was spoken of like this.."For some say, 'His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.'" To which the apostles Paul says "such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present." II Corinthians 10:10 There was nothing spectacular about the Apostle Paul, yet I don't think anyone will argue the impact He had on the world and spreading the gospel.....so that had to be the power of God working through a humbled man present to be used by God. This is what was said of Jesus..."He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2. Jesus was simply present in the most powerful way. He, the perfect example of being present and submitting to the Father's will. My encouragement from Christ is this. I don't have to be concerned with being spectacular, having the worlds best set, a full band, wearing just the right outfit to speak or worship lead in or a fog machine with amazing lighting (ok, the fog machine does hide wrinkles, just sayin...but, I'm not concerned). My concern is that I am humbly present before God, worshiping Him alone, speaking boldly the truth that He shares in His Word, trusting that as I put out my best and honest worship, that HE WILL show up and move the hearts of His people, because I am not the Holy Spirit, nor do I want to be. Friends, I am NOTHING and I am happy with that. My prayer this night was that God would strip away everything that I am and the only thing left was only what resembled Christ. God is faithful, God is amazing and He is amazing in and through us. That's the only reason people can look at us and say we are amazing, because of who is in us. "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" I John 4:4 May you be encouraged that God can and will use you no matter what. Come before Him and lay it all out and watch what He does with your offering and sacrifice. Sometimes you may be blessed to witness it, other times you may be blessed trusting that God is doing something EVEN IF you don't get to see it on this side of heaven. Hope Fest Arizona 2013! It happened, now the day is over, but the work continues. The work to bring hope, to serve, to love, to clothe our neighbors and so much more. I want to share just a few highlights of the day. I am going to skip over the part where I got extremely frustrated with the man who stood in a parking spot right where I wanted to unload my gear and wouldn't let me in because he had been standing there saving the spot for 15 minutes. Yes, God dealt with me on that by saying these words (which sounded a lot like my husbands voice) "Mia, do you want to be right or do you want to be righteous?" To be right would mean to argue over a parking spot to be righteous which my husband is, means to move on, forgive, love and find a different spot, even if it means a longer unloading trip. I am always amazed how sneaky my sin is when it creeps in my mind and I don't even recognize it until I've opened my mouth. Can I remind you, I am a work in progress!! After the Lord dealt with me on that issue and forgave my repentant heart, I was off and able to experience an amazing day! Walking among all the vendors, I had a great chance to talk with them and hear their hearts through their stories of faith, strength and hope. I re-connected with Monnie, who I first met when I was arranging vendors for a festival that I was involved in and she was just getting re-started and had not acquired all the supplies she needed. By God's design, my husband and I had the canopy, table and chairs that she needed and she re-launched her business. Now I got to see her at Hope Fest with an amazing booth, non stop traffic and a huge smile. She is such a great encouragement to me. I admit, I kinda felt like a Mamma who had birthed a baby and watched her grow into an amazing women! Check her out at faithwearforever.com I met up with a facebook friend (now an in face friend), Deni, who embraced me with tears as I walked by. As she shared her heart we both rejoiced that God is a God of restoration and healing. Now she sells jewelry with Compelling Creations! The jewelry was so powerful that just reading the descriptions of the designs made my heart full. There were so many other amazing vendors, it is hard to name them all. I guess you will just have to come to Prescott, AZ next year and visit them all with me again! Throughout the day, there were baptisms, prayer tents, testimonies, outreach to the homeless, free hugs and music. Lots of music. It was a blessing to see bands, that I now call friends, like Faith by Fire, Covenant 31 and Brian Weaver. A big thank you goes out to Brian for letting me bum a ride up the mountain with him, his 2 dogs, Chris the guitar player and all the gear. He wasn't kidding when he said there might not be room. So I sat in the front seat with my two bags packed between my feet and legs and a dog on my lap. Just like that, we made the trek. I have to admit it was fun cuddling with his sweet doggy! FLASHBACK MOMENT Hope Fest Eve. The night before Hope Fest, Brian Weaver played at the Celebrate Recovery at The Heights in Prescott. Always a joy to watch him and even be able to help him out with his merch table. FLASH FORWARD Not only is it great connecting with bands I know, it is a blessing to meet new musicians. My merch table was right next to a young couple that travels full time in music ministry. It was fun to talk with them, but to watch them do what God has called them to do, blew my mind. Dusty is a Hip Hop artist (AND A GOOD ONE) and his wife Krystal is a singer and paint artist. They incorporate it all in their ministry and set. LOVED IT!! My greatest compliment (at least I think it is) when I meet a hip hop artist is this "I'm not really a hip hop fan, but I LOVED that." Dusty was so kind to see my heart through that ridiculous comment as I hadn't yet mastered the art of political correctness or tact. They are so gifted, called by the Lord, sent to share their testimony and lift up the name of Christ! They are "Irregular4Christ" and ready to travel! Check them out! With all the independent artists that were there, many of us rely on help. We can't do it alone. When someone says that they are willing to drive up to Prescott, get a hotel and volunteer at your booth to watch and run your table so that you are free to sing and meet with people, there is only one answer...YES!!! I'm not sure if there are words that can adequately express how grateful I am to these two ladies. I kept saying "I don't know what I would do with out you." It was true, they were amazing, selfless and willing. They really are not volunteers, they are partners in the ministry. They are friends! Thank you Deby! Thank you Lisa! As you can see by the photo, they didn't just help me, but also Brain Weaver, Faith By Fire...all of us! With my table in good hands, I was able to go and do the main thing I came to do...SING! This is where I get blown away (again). First off, I was blessed to have Jerry sit in with me on base. He was so great. It takes great skill to play with me. A midst the wrong chords (played by me), playing the song in a different key (me again) adding or subtracting a bridge here or there (give you one guess who did that), Jerry was a pro and able to follow my every crazy move and mishap. (so thankful to Karmen for the photos, always the last thing I think about when playing) One of my favorite parts of the set, especially because this was sponsored by Celebrate Recovery, was being able to share bits of my testimony, what God has done in my life, how awesome our Lord is and the song I wrote for the Celebrate Recovery inspired Home Run Movie CD ~ "You Are Not Alone" (looking forward to recording my own version soon) I also sang a new song I wrote with Mark Snyder called Jesus Loves Me (ok, actually I haven't named it, but lets just go with that for now) I Choose To Praise You - Rags - Shelter In The Wind - Oh Lord You're Beautiful It's what happened after the set that blew my mind. The rush of people who were there waiting and had beaten me to my merchandise booth and the fact that they all waited after they bought CD's to talk and share their hearts was overwhelming. To talk with a man who received hope through the songs because he was just diagnosed with cancer that week, to hear from a man who is praying for a marriage restoration, a woman who even 20 minutes after I was done was still weeping because of what the Holy Spirit moved in her through listening to the music and words I shared on stage..... to have people come up to me in tears because the Spirit spoke to them through the songs.....a lady who was telling her friend on the way there, "I just wish some one would sing a Keith Green song" and then to hear it at the end of my set and worship to the words of that amazing man, blessed her heart and blessed my rejoicing heart as well. It overwhelms me. Story after story, hug after hug, prayer after prayer, I stand amazed at what God does when we simply obey. Amazed at what God does through broken, imperfect people who stumble and fall, but people that know the voice that lifts them back up. It is my joy to sing, to share my testimony, to be used by God as He has gifted me, but more than that it is a responsibility. When God has done an amazing thing, my response and responsibility is to go and tell. Yes, it is a joy. Yes it is a responsibility and Yes it is also an Honor. An honor that I do not take for granted or take lightly. Whatever vocation we are given, we have a story to tell. It's the beautiful story of the redemption of mankind, the story of redemption in our lives. We all have different ways of doing it, but we all are called to do it. Hope Fest Arizona answered the call. They just did it and they will continue to do it, even when the music stops playing. Hope Fest is more than a festival it is the hands and feet of Jesus serving God through broken people who celebrate all that God has done and will continue to do. It is because of the hearts of the Hope Fest team, that I count it a joy and honor to have partnered with them to share the story. ~Hope Serves~
Hopefully you made it to the end of this post, because I am saving the best for last. None of this would have happened without the Lord. The few stories and miracles that I heard of and the countless ones I did not get to hear are testimony to God's hand and providence for this event. He really was there EVERY step of the way, providing it all. A huge blessing and thanks go to these two who heard the call and gathered God's people to action. Thank you Jaye Lene and thank you David. May God's blessings continue to flow over your lives! (and thank you Monika for this beautiful picture I snagged off of FB) This picture reminds me of a period in my life about three years ago. God told me to prepare my music, assemble a band and practice. That meant a lot of practicing in the "hallway" until he opened the door. At times it got frustrating, at times it caused others to not want to hang in for the long haul. Yet, God told me to continue to practice, to continue to prepare. I didn't understand it. As I talked with a good friend, she asked me, "What if God never opens the door, will you continue to prepare?" My answer and what kept me going was my reply of "yes." Maybe what God wanted from me was to worship him in my "hallway", maybe He wanted to use the hallway as my final destination or maybe He wanted me to be still until things were prepared for me to exit. Regardless, my answer was to remain in the hallway...in my living room until He told me to wait no more. What I didn't see, what I could not have imagined was what was on the other side of that door. He did open the door, I did walk through and God blew my mind. Even if he never opens another door for me, I will remain in this hallway worshiping Him, praising Him and thanking Him for who He is regardless. |
The BlogA collection of writings from a life based on the truth that about midnight anything can happen. AuthorAs an imperfect servant of the Lord, I often feel I am fumbling my way through life, looking upward for guidance and outward to love. So, I write about it, to break up the noise in my head. Categories
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