I was proud of myself for figuring out:
a) What NIMBIT OMT is
b) How to set up my own Merch Table with NIMBIT OMT
c) How to apply that store on my Blog, Facebook and Myspace so that
d) I can begin to digitally distribute my music
Yes...I am a technological genius.
*Blatant Ad*
"Undefiled Worship" is available as an mp3 download from my OMT for $0.99...contact me directly for a chord chart if you're interested.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
New Songs Up on Myspace
Just wanted to let bloggers know that I have 2 new songs up on Myspace: Undefiled Worship and Source of Life. Undefiled Worship isn't mastered yet, but I was excited about sharing it. I'll have the final mastered edition next week-ish. I talked a little about Undefiled Worship in my last post. I just wrote Source of Life a couple of weeks ago. Since I happen to have a great guitarist, * ahem* Michael David Chapman, living in my attic, I was able to have him record it a few days ago. I'll still mix it more, but I thought I'd throw it up on Myspace to see if there's any feedback.
I love both songs, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for checking them out!
I love both songs, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for checking them out!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
M is for Missions....M is for Music
I was praying with one of my 2 fabulous prayer partners this morning, and she said something exceptionally encouraging as she was praying for me....but, let me back up.
Many months ago, I felt the Lord showed me that He would use the music I write to impact His Kingdom by affecting the un-churched. As any truly, highly spiritual person would do, I immediately responded with "Yes, Lord...thank you."
.....Well, actually, what I said was "Huh? There's no way that people in the secular world will listen to my music! I don't know how you're planning to do that, Lord." Thankfully, the Lord is infinitely patient with His doubting daughter, and He continued to re-affirm that He would use it to impact the lost.
Some months later I wrote a song called "Undefiled Worship" based on the passage in James 1 which talks about true and undefiled religion (worship) being caring for widows and orphans and remaining unstained by the world. It was a catchy tune, and it caught on enough that several churches and ministry groups wanted to begin to use it. Since it seemed like a song that could go somewhere, I decided to record it professionally, as the Lord had already given me a creative marketing plan to be able to raise funds to record. That involved writing and arranging and recording an instrumental worship cd, "Be Still", which I released last year at Christmas. It is intended as a quiet and worshipful backdrop for personal prayer and bible study time etc. I sold several hundred of those cds, and all of the proceeds were put toward recording "Undefiled Worship" in a great studio downstate, Innercircle Productions. The song Undefiled Worship will be ready for release in the next week or two (it's sounding great!)
As I've gotten feedback about Undefiled Worship, I realized that, though it is a song intended for the church, it can impact the lost by inspiring believers to live out James 1:27 lives...seeing the entirety of their lives as an opportunity to purely worship the Lord by loving and serving the people in need of His love. This excited me and confirmed what I had felt the Lord had shown me many months before.
But then it got even better. I saw that the Lord had shown Himself faithful to His promise to use this music to affect the lost...but then I saw Him do more.
Last week I was invited to include one of my acoustic songs, "Surrender is Sweet" on a New England Christian Acoustic compilation album produced by Quickstar Productions. Excitingly, a fairly large portion of the proceeds from this album, "Unified by Grace", goes directly to a medical mission clinic in Uganda, specifically to purchase malaria medication for the patients there. One of the Production Company owners was burdened for the clinic he has done short-term mission work in, and the Lord laid out a plan for how he can continue to help the clinic by doing compilation albums like this one and directing the proceeds that way. I will have the "United By Grace" compilation album ready to sell in the new year.
Talk about exciting! I can again see the Lord directly using this music to affect the lost! Praise HIM!
And so, back to my prayer partner (who is headed out on a month-long medical mission herself tomorrow morning). As she prayed she said,
"Father, I thank You that You are going to be providing medical resources for children on the other side of this world because Elizabeth sat at her piano and worshiped you." Huh....wow.
Now, I realize that the Lord is not helping those children because of me. Rather, He is helping them because He loves them, and He is letting me see Him do it because He loves me. The Lord works all things together for good for those who are in Christ Jesus. It is in Him that all things are held together! I will continue to sit at my piano and worship Him, and write for Him, and pray for Him to use the music to affect His Kingdom. Not my glory, Lord, but YOURS alone!
If you are a worship pastor, and you are interested in hearing and using "Undefiled Worship" for your church, please be in touch and we'll work together to encourage our congregations to live James 1:27 lives. "Undefiled Worship" will be available soon on my myspace as well.
At all times thankful,
Elizabeth
Many months ago, I felt the Lord showed me that He would use the music I write to impact His Kingdom by affecting the un-churched. As any truly, highly spiritual person would do, I immediately responded with "Yes, Lord...thank you."
.....Well, actually, what I said was "Huh? There's no way that people in the secular world will listen to my music! I don't know how you're planning to do that, Lord." Thankfully, the Lord is infinitely patient with His doubting daughter, and He continued to re-affirm that He would use it to impact the lost.
Some months later I wrote a song called "Undefiled Worship" based on the passage in James 1 which talks about true and undefiled religion (worship) being caring for widows and orphans and remaining unstained by the world. It was a catchy tune, and it caught on enough that several churches and ministry groups wanted to begin to use it. Since it seemed like a song that could go somewhere, I decided to record it professionally, as the Lord had already given me a creative marketing plan to be able to raise funds to record. That involved writing and arranging and recording an instrumental worship cd, "Be Still", which I released last year at Christmas. It is intended as a quiet and worshipful backdrop for personal prayer and bible study time etc. I sold several hundred of those cds, and all of the proceeds were put toward recording "Undefiled Worship" in a great studio downstate, Innercircle Productions. The song Undefiled Worship will be ready for release in the next week or two (it's sounding great!)
As I've gotten feedback about Undefiled Worship, I realized that, though it is a song intended for the church, it can impact the lost by inspiring believers to live out James 1:27 lives...seeing the entirety of their lives as an opportunity to purely worship the Lord by loving and serving the people in need of His love. This excited me and confirmed what I had felt the Lord had shown me many months before.
But then it got even better. I saw that the Lord had shown Himself faithful to His promise to use this music to affect the lost...but then I saw Him do more.
Last week I was invited to include one of my acoustic songs, "Surrender is Sweet" on a New England Christian Acoustic compilation album produced by Quickstar Productions. Excitingly, a fairly large portion of the proceeds from this album, "Unified by Grace", goes directly to a medical mission clinic in Uganda, specifically to purchase malaria medication for the patients there. One of the Production Company owners was burdened for the clinic he has done short-term mission work in, and the Lord laid out a plan for how he can continue to help the clinic by doing compilation albums like this one and directing the proceeds that way. I will have the "United By Grace" compilation album ready to sell in the new year.
Talk about exciting! I can again see the Lord directly using this music to affect the lost! Praise HIM!
And so, back to my prayer partner (who is headed out on a month-long medical mission herself tomorrow morning). As she prayed she said,
"Father, I thank You that You are going to be providing medical resources for children on the other side of this world because Elizabeth sat at her piano and worshiped you." Huh....wow.
Now, I realize that the Lord is not helping those children because of me. Rather, He is helping them because He loves them, and He is letting me see Him do it because He loves me. The Lord works all things together for good for those who are in Christ Jesus. It is in Him that all things are held together! I will continue to sit at my piano and worship Him, and write for Him, and pray for Him to use the music to affect His Kingdom. Not my glory, Lord, but YOURS alone!
If you are a worship pastor, and you are interested in hearing and using "Undefiled Worship" for your church, please be in touch and we'll work together to encourage our congregations to live James 1:27 lives. "Undefiled Worship" will be available soon on my myspace as well.
At all times thankful,
Elizabeth
Sunday, October 12, 2008
If you have a baby (-ies), you may not want to read this...
Parenting is THE single most difficult thing I have ever done, and I need to confess something: When my children were babies/toddlers, and people whose children were older than mine spoke to me about how easy I had it compared to them, I thought they were CRAZY. Surely, they had just forgotten how difficult it is to raise babies and toddlers. Surely, since their kids had grown up a little more, they just were being selective in what they remembered about those most difficult years...right?
WRONG. Boy was I wrong. I can't tell you how often I reminisce and almost wish that my 9, 7 & 5 year olds were 4, 2 & 0 again. How often do I long for those days back when the craziness fluctuated between diapers, spit-up, potty-training and wiping sweet potatoes off of the wall. Goodness, throw 100+ girls in 3 dorms and all of the craziness that brings on top of all of that, and many days I'd still take it back in an instant!
But those days are gone for me now, and I have three children, all in school, all finding their way in this crazy life we have. Throw in a ministry that is thriving and 2 parents' hearts that long to live life with His people and to pour oil and wine on the hurting, and you have....well, our life.
But here's where it's hardest. Our kids' craziness is no longer spit-up, wakeful nights, toilet training and remembering to stock the diaper bag. Even the sweet potatoes on the wall has settled down slightly. But now it's self-esteem, bullies at school, social studies tests and questions about God and Heaven so deep they send me running to the Word over and over. It's self-discovery, sibling squabbles, unique personalities and learning styles. It's knee-bending, heart-wrenching, persistent prayer about their sweet souls, relying solely on the Lord to soften their hearts and grab hold of them early. It's early morning petitions, mid-day interventions, and late-night head-shaking and "how will we do this again tomorrow, God?"
It's utter submission to the Lord's direction. It's sheer dependence on Him for sanity and strength. It's "God, help them...shape them, keep them, preserve them this day. Shield them from the darts of the enemy. Remind them you're there with them when they feel lonely. Fill their minds with encouragement even when their teacher is yelling at the class again. Protect their little hearts. God help me help them. Holy Spirit, fill my mouth to speak Your Word to them...I can't do this without You!"
How do people who don't know the Lord and have His joy as their strength raise children without going off the deep end?? Seriously...how do they do it?
Parenting children: It's chasing down lies with Truth. It's crying over their hurt feelings. It's reminder after reminder that God never leaves them nor forsakes them. Over and over it's placing them back in the Lord's hands.
It's thanking God over and over for the delight that they are, the unique gifts they have, and the roadmap He gave us in His Word for how to train them up. It's calling out the gifts that God has made in them. It's steering them with those gifts. It's repeatedly relinquishing control while maintaining their parameters.
It's not looking another 4 years down the road, and simply trusting the Lord to give is the strength, courage, wisdom, peace and patience to make it through today.
It's hard...it's harder than I ever imagined. But there's nothing like hearing your 9 year old say, "I can't wait to talk to King David someday. And Paul...I really want to talk to Paul when I get to Heaven." It's not beating your head against the wall when his very next statement has something to do with hating his brother!
Oh Lord...how I need your wisdom and your strength. Help me never to trust in my own capabilities. Help me never take any of these difficult, crazy and wonderful moments for granted. They're Yours....help me love them the way that you do.
WRONG. Boy was I wrong. I can't tell you how often I reminisce and almost wish that my 9, 7 & 5 year olds were 4, 2 & 0 again. How often do I long for those days back when the craziness fluctuated between diapers, spit-up, potty-training and wiping sweet potatoes off of the wall. Goodness, throw 100+ girls in 3 dorms and all of the craziness that brings on top of all of that, and many days I'd still take it back in an instant!
But those days are gone for me now, and I have three children, all in school, all finding their way in this crazy life we have. Throw in a ministry that is thriving and 2 parents' hearts that long to live life with His people and to pour oil and wine on the hurting, and you have....well, our life.
But here's where it's hardest. Our kids' craziness is no longer spit-up, wakeful nights, toilet training and remembering to stock the diaper bag. Even the sweet potatoes on the wall has settled down slightly. But now it's self-esteem, bullies at school, social studies tests and questions about God and Heaven so deep they send me running to the Word over and over. It's self-discovery, sibling squabbles, unique personalities and learning styles. It's knee-bending, heart-wrenching, persistent prayer about their sweet souls, relying solely on the Lord to soften their hearts and grab hold of them early. It's early morning petitions, mid-day interventions, and late-night head-shaking and "how will we do this again tomorrow, God?"
It's utter submission to the Lord's direction. It's sheer dependence on Him for sanity and strength. It's "God, help them...shape them, keep them, preserve them this day. Shield them from the darts of the enemy. Remind them you're there with them when they feel lonely. Fill their minds with encouragement even when their teacher is yelling at the class again. Protect their little hearts. God help me help them. Holy Spirit, fill my mouth to speak Your Word to them...I can't do this without You!"
How do people who don't know the Lord and have His joy as their strength raise children without going off the deep end?? Seriously...how do they do it?
Parenting children: It's chasing down lies with Truth. It's crying over their hurt feelings. It's reminder after reminder that God never leaves them nor forsakes them. Over and over it's placing them back in the Lord's hands.
It's thanking God over and over for the delight that they are, the unique gifts they have, and the roadmap He gave us in His Word for how to train them up. It's calling out the gifts that God has made in them. It's steering them with those gifts. It's repeatedly relinquishing control while maintaining their parameters.
It's not looking another 4 years down the road, and simply trusting the Lord to give is the strength, courage, wisdom, peace and patience to make it through today.
It's hard...it's harder than I ever imagined. But there's nothing like hearing your 9 year old say, "I can't wait to talk to King David someday. And Paul...I really want to talk to Paul when I get to Heaven." It's not beating your head against the wall when his very next statement has something to do with hating his brother!
Oh Lord...how I need your wisdom and your strength. Help me never to trust in my own capabilities. Help me never take any of these difficult, crazy and wonderful moments for granted. They're Yours....help me love them the way that you do.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Things I'm Learning As I Grow Up
- I am not yet grown up.
- In fact, I often act a lot like a toddler.
- God has a remarkable amount of patience.
- Mistakes are opportunities for something new and beautiful to begin.
- It's easy to miss the extraordinary moments that are inside of ordinary moments.
- God is in each ordinary moment.
- My life is like a grand puzzle.
- It puzzles me, when I can't see how the pieces fit together.
- When pieces DO fit together, my perspective enlarges.
- There is nothing like butterfly kisses from your little girl.
- There is also nothing like a running-leap bear hug from your little boy.
- I bet this is how God feels when we just come to Him to love Him, and not ask for something.
- God wants me to pray.
- When I'm praying, He directs my thoughts and requests.
- God really, actually answers prayer.
- He really does.
- I am not yet grown up.
- In fact, I often act a lot like a toddler.
- God has a remarkable amount of patience.
- In fact, I often act a lot like a toddler.
- God has a remarkable amount of patience.
- Mistakes are opportunities for something new and beautiful to begin.
- It's easy to miss the extraordinary moments that are inside of ordinary moments.
- God is in each ordinary moment.
- My life is like a grand puzzle.
- It puzzles me, when I can't see how the pieces fit together.
- When pieces DO fit together, my perspective enlarges.
- There is nothing like butterfly kisses from your little girl.
- There is also nothing like a running-leap bear hug from your little boy.
- I bet this is how God feels when we just come to Him to love Him, and not ask for something.
- God wants me to pray.
- When I'm praying, He directs my thoughts and requests.
- God really, actually answers prayer.
- He really does.
- I am not yet grown up.
- In fact, I often act a lot like a toddler.
- God has a remarkable amount of patience.
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