Hey friends! Hope you are doing well. As I sit and type this blog, I am very much trying to focus on THIS, and not on the big welt-sized mosquito bites on my legs, ankles, shoulders... aaaagh. Gotta love summer! And living by a creek! :)

Anyway. The new record is coming out soon! So surreal and crazy. 1) I can't believe it's June, and 2) I can't believe all the songs are written, recorded, and I finally get to talk about them and share them. I'm sure it's the same with anything else, but every time I've gone to write for a new record, I am seized with this (temporarily) crippling fear that maybe... I can't write anymore songs. Or... the ones that will come out won't be any good. I'm sure in a lot of circumstances, it's spiritual attack - and in many others, pure insecurity mixed with pride. But THEN! Then, there's always the part in the story where songs just start... happening... I mean, I sit down and take time to write, but I seem to always not notice that while I'M panicked and afraid nothing's going to come out, songs are being finished right under my nose! Then, I'm sitting in the car in the driveway, listening to new mixes, and completely overwhelmed by His faithfulness once again. And let me tell you, if there has ever been a season in my life where I've experienced that humbling faithfulness, it's been this one! 

I had written a few songs when this past February had rolled around... but I had more ideas FOR songs that actual finished songs. And, since it's the nature of the beast, and since I'm more of a 5-minute-long, ballady, introspective song writer, there's a time when I get a phone call that goes something like this...

"Beth... I think we may need to start thinking about radio songs."

Oh, right! :) I always seem to forget about those! Ha! 

And, the same as it is with most of us, there are parts of our jobs that we enjoy, and then other parts that... let's just say... don't come as naturally. But it was definitely a fun thought to think about getting in the studio again with Mr. Ed Cash for a writing session, so it was put on the calendar, and my insecure/prideful/worried mind started reeling again. 

What if nothing happens?

What if we leave with an unfinished song?

What if there isn't any inspiration?

Should I come in with an idea?

The good part of it was, though, that having known Ed for almost seven years now, the anxiety that could be there over trying to write a song with a complete stranger wasn't in the slightest bit in my mind. So, to make a long-ish story a bit longer, we had a great day of writing, chilling, catching up, finishing a song I had started and couldn't finish ("I Am Yours" - slowly becoming one of my favorites on the record), Ed brought up maybe trying to get another song together before the end of the day. It was about 2pm. I knew I had to leave around 6pm, so I agreed, maybe we should just try and see what came of it. (At this point, my confidence and enjoyment was a ton better! Having something accomplished scares away crippling writer's block like nothing else.) He started to play some melody ideas he had recorded on his phone ... and let me tell you, there is a TREASURE chest right there! You know that part in Elf where the team of writers find the "little black book" of that famous author's children's book ideas? Yeah. That's how I would feel if Ed's phone "accidentally" made its way into my possession. Okay... so off of creepy kleptomaniac rabbit trail... 

We listened through a few ideas. All really, really good, but nothing was jumping out at me. 

Then... there was this piano song he played. Whoa! I immediately connected with it and loved it. He had a chorus that just said "I want everyone to know, everyone to know, I want to tell the world about Your love." 

How GOOD is the Lord? Seriously! I had been smack in the middle of learning what it means to truly, truly be a minister of the Gospel. There had been a few conversations on planes with people who either were believers and felt like they had wasted their life on being silent, or with unbelievers who really wanted to have this Jesus stuff explained in a sincere way to them. And I will be honest, it is a terrifying place to be in walking with the Lord! Especially for a people pleaser. I can come up with a lengthy list of reasons why I don't feel "wired" to share the love of Christ with someone (don't we love to say that it just isn't 'cool'? Maybe with fancier words, but that's always what I mean!), but when I step back and look at all my excuses, none of them drown out His call for obedience, and for it to be fueled by our thankful, satisfied love for Him. So, to say the least, those lines-- although they were simple and few-- were a very big confirmation of what He had been speaking to my heart.

So, out came this song over the next four hours... a call to those who are chasing after things that won't satisfy their souls. Stuck in the emptiness of their life. Sharing in a three-and-a-half-minute format how my heart (because it's HIS heart) is for ALL to be led to repentance and salvation in Jesus; our very, very merciful High Priest!

I'm so glad this is the first song to be let out of the "vault". :) I'm SO ready for you to hear the rest, but this is such a meaningful one to share with you before anything else. I hope you enjoy, and are encouraged to move past insecurity, self-consciousness, people-pleasing, and to feel the urgency of His return, and His heart to water and plant through YOU... whether it's through your words, your servant's heart, your friendship... so HE might give the growth, and cause the miraculous to happen! That a cold, dead heart of stone would be replaced with a heart of flesh. I'm so excited that we get to be a part of that!

See you all soon :) Beth