I took a leap of faith...

Just over a year ago I bought a beautiful Avalon guitar. I couldn't play guitar to save myself - but I figured that I would never learn if I didn't at least own a guitar - and since it's one of the things I want to do before I'm 40 - I took the plunge.

As I've struggled with a new instrument, there have been times that I've wondered what on earth I was thinking buying a guitar - but that's exactly what has kept me at it!! Sometimes you need a little commitment to take you from where you are to where you would like to be.... for me, the commitment was spending money on something, and knowing that my husband wouldn't quite find me as attractive as before if I didn't use it ;)

For the last couple of weeks I've known that I'm nearly there in terms of being able to lead with it - but that was scaring the life out of me - because everyone in our church knows me, and they all know that I've never led on guitar before!! It's funny how self conscious you feel when you are taking the leap into something new, especially in front of people you know. But, if you're ever going to become the person you would like to be, there comes a point where you have to walk away from what you've always known and into the new - regardless of how you look, or feel!

Today I did it :)

I led a song with guitar right at the start of the worship - and it worked :) Now, I just need to keep practicing, until I can lead a whole set with guitar too - I'll keep you posted with how I get on!!!!

I started writing songs again today

I started writing again today for the new album! I LOVE writing songs :) I think the longer I've been doing this, the more I've started to feel comfortable in my own skin.

When I first started writing worship songs 10 years ago I was so completely new at writing for congregations. I was just starting to learn the craft - and, as with anything new, I felt pretty shaky at it!

As time goes on, there are certain things that come more naturally - maybe a little like learning to drive a car - at first all your energy is spent on actually making the car move forward (or stop!!! :) But, as you learn to drive, you can start to enjoy the journey and not think so much about the 'how to drive' part.

That's where I find myself at the minute - and the view is great!

Brian Doerksen used to teach us to write many songs, sing some of them in our churches, and record just a few. I love the freedom in that!

And so, I'm just writing - some of these songs will be for the Lord's ears only - and some of them will end up on next year's project.... that doesn't really matter right now - the point is simply to write and see what comes out.

November tour

I'm still in that in between stage of the autumn - with one daughter back at school, and my littlest waiting patiently to begin next week.

SO, I feel like I'm juggling a little more than usual - trying to get as much done as I can in the quieter moments of the day - those of you know Emily Joy (my youngest) though, will be aware that there aren't too many of those moments when she is around :)

One of the things I'm just starting to think through is the November tour with Brian Doerksen. I'm really, really looking forward to doing this!!! It's going to be across Canada, and then finish up with the CMS event in Seattle, WA.

As soon as I know the 'where's and the when's' I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I hope you're all doing great - and that the rhythm of this time of year is starting to take hold...

new live album!!!

I just got the art work this week for a new live album - and I'm starting to feel pretty excited about it :)

In June this year I had the privilege of leading worship at a ladies' event in Belfast called 'Focusfest'. There were about 2000 girls there - and we had the most wonderful times of worship and teaching together. Rebecca Manley Pippert was the main speaker - and she was outstanding!!!! She's the lady who wrote 'Out of the Salt Shaker' some years ago now - what a lady, and what a communicator! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her and getting to listen to what she taught!

The other cool thing about the conference was that the worship was recorded :) I've done live recordings before where the whole point of the evening was to record an album... some of you might have been at some of them :) What I haven't done before is go to lead worship at a conference where a recording is happening, but it's not what the event is about - it's a different kettle of fish! For a start, you can't stop in the middle of a song when you get it wrong and go from the top to get it right... which you sometimes have to in a live recording! SO, this album has a wonderful feel about it - with just a couple of warts (provided by me mostly!!!! :)

Actually, I really think that if you love worship you'll enjoy this album - it has more of a worship experience feel about it than the studio stuff I've done (although I love that too :)

If you buy it when it comes out, I would love to hear your thoughts - even if you don't like it :)

p.s. you can listen to some bits of it on the integrity website to give you an idea...