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God is good.

I am short on time tonight and so I thought I would just share with you one of the most inspirational things I have ever read.
It is such a great piece of wisdom.

Enjoy

God is Good.
Cindy

Our Deepest Fear

by Marianne Williamson

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God is good.

We are on spring break with our two girls, (Savannah and Olivia) and my husband’s parent’s. Yesterday we traveled from Las Vegas through the desert to reach our little sunny spot in a small community in Arizona.

It is spring in Arizona and apparently, there has been some glorious rainfall because on each roadside stop we made, there were flowers blooming in the desert. The most beautiful blossoms you have ever seen. We picked a precious few along the way to remind us that even in the desert flowers bloom.

I always find powerful messages from God in nature.

I have a friend who has just gone through a tremendous health battle, a desert journey, if you will.  At every turn there seemed to be bad news and more bad news. She struggled through every moment to press on, keeping the faith and trusting as God tells us, not to worry and to trust that He has every detail of our life in his control.  I would call some days and she would just cry. Other days she would sound hopeful. Other days, still, we would speak the promises of God to each other. She struggled, she persevered, the tide turned, and the battle was won. You should notice that I said battle, because the War is another thing all together.

If anything is certain, it is that our lives are full of change and more change. One day, we’re flying high, nothing but good news, good health. The next day we are trying to sleep through the night…. hoping we are able to pay the mortgage and the grocery bills or waiting for test results.

Worry. We worry.
Or.
We trust. We trust.

This morning the girls were having their orange juice and vanilla yogurt. The picture was so serene… right outside the patio screen door was a small grove of Orange and Grapefruit trees... the sun was gently shining on their bare feet and freckled faces, they were still in their p.j.’s,  with green wet grass between their toes from running through the lawn to climb the trees and pluck fruit from the vine.

It is our tradition on most mornings for me to read them a bible story as they have breakfast. This morning we read the story of Jesus as He sat on the mountainside speaking to the people…. A picture of serenity as the people sat on the grassy hill over looking the sea of Galilee as the boats sailed to shore from a long night of fishing. You can imagine that Jesus would have used things in view to drive his point home… look at the birds… they don’t worry about what they will eat, or where they will sleep… look at the flowers.. clothed so beautifully… the father knows what they need. He watches over even the tiniest of sparrows. He is watching over you. Don’t Worry. Trust. Don’t worry. He is watching over you.

I know how hard it is to give up control and trust. It is my greatest and most consistent battle… to trust. Maybe because someone in my life made me think I couldn’t. Whatever the reason, God has shown me again and again that He is worthy of my trust. Even when it looks like God has turned away, He hasn’t.

As we drove through the desert, I was amazed at one of the flowers we found there… the tops of the petals were pure white but underneath, each pedal had a faint and precise stripe of pink on each petal. The plan was so precise.

It makes me think that God does his most beautiful work in our lives…. in the desert.

When we think it will never rain and we will never rest again.  But the truth is that the strength comes in the desert and so does the beauty…

It is in the desert that we learn to cherish the rain and the sunshine.

It is in the desert that we learn to trust that He is carving out His perfect plan for our lives.

I don’t like the desert… I don’t like the heat, how thirsty I am., how I don’t sleep well. But I can see in my life that it has been in the  desert of hard times that I have grown stronger…. Stronger for the next battle that waits around the corner.

Even when it looks like he isn’t there… if you look closely in that rocky desert sand, His footprints are plain for us to see.

I pray that you know that in your heart today. I pray that I will too.

God Bless you wherever you are and whatever you’re going through.

God is good.

Cindy

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God is good.

I have decided that for a while I want to begin and end these journal entries with this statement. Maybe because sometimes we feel the truth of this statement in it’s fullness and it overflows out of our fingertips. Other times, we don’t feel it at all and just need to remember it.

I am so glad you are here and have taken an interest in what’s going on in my life and the music that owns such a large part of my heart. Thank you.

As some of you may know, I’m not a new comer to music. I did my first record years ago for Word records in the dance music days- Those records ( Real Life, A Reason to Live, and Under the Waterfall) were produced by my good friend Mark Hammond who taught me so much about singing and being a good human being (as he is one of the best human beings I know). Then my next 3 records were produced by Brent Bourgeious (Listen, Loving Kind, and Elementary), Brent taught me more than I could ever write here but the biggest thing was trusting my instincts and being true to the voice that God has placed inside. I miss him so much and loved making records with him...I’m not sure if I would still be making records if not for him. Thank you Brent.

After doing Elementary, I decided to take a break for touring and recording and grow myself as a songwriter. I wrote for a lot of other artists and wanted to branch outside of Christian music so I moved to LA with my husband and 1 yr old daughter in tow and learned much about writing from so many great people in that sunny and crazy place. But alas the southern bells rang in my ears and songs burned in my heart and I came back to do another record with Provident on Reunion records with someone who I would most definitely qualify to be the president of his fan club... Wayne Kirkpatrick. This record was Postcards.

So here I am in the studio and I find myself in an unusual position... something I have felt I needed and wanted to do for a while. To produce my own record. Can you say scary? Not without a great deal of help and guidance on many fronts from my friend, engineer and co-producer Stephen Leiweke.

So we have set off and have been cruising along working on this record. I am being very slow and deliberate as I am wanting to make sure that the sounds in my head and feelings in my heart all make it successfully and cohesively on tape. I am having so much fun. I must say, I could never have attempted to do this without what I have learned and absorbed all these years from Mark, Brent and Wayne.

This record is a mixture of all the things about music that I love the most. I admire country songwriters so much because I believe them to be the most gifted poets on the planet... story songs, getting lost in a scene... I love it. This is the major approach for the lyrics on the record. Musically my main instruments is still piano but I have started writing on guitar and dulcimer. I am playing a little of those on the record as well.

Basically, I am making a club sandwich of pop, symphonic, with bluegrass overtones with a little tent revival thrown in here and there and I can’t remember having more fun making music. Pray for me that it all makes sense in the end.

So that’s what I’m up to on the music side.

I look forward to sharing bits of songs with you soon. Check it out and thanks ahead of time for taking the time to give it a listen. Blessings on you wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

God is Good.

Cindy

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