Sunday Encouragement

Happy Sunday to you! I recently found this song on youtube from Gateway Worship. I am always a sucker for new worship songs, especially ones that declare the greatness and truth about my glorious God!

The challenge, of course, is that these types of songs are so inspirational and uplifting that you can walk away from them feeling like you are in the clouds and closer to God. But the real deal is how it affects my spiritual walk. My desire is to hear these beautiful, inspiring songs and walk away from them with my walk changed and my mind renewed, not just a good feeling.

God bless you this coming week!

Adriel

What's New?

How is your week going? Mine has gone really well! I survived my third 9am women's Bible study. Getting up at 7:30am is a HUGE accomplishment for me... please, no applause is necessary.

   In all seriousness though, I have really been so blessed by this Bible study. My only regret is that I don't have more time to talk to the other gals about what we're learning and gleaning from God's word... time just seems to fly away when we're together. I am just so thankful to be able to even go. I could not have imagined I would be able to be part of something like this a few months ago. What a blessing! =)

   We've been doing an inductive study from Precept Ministries on 2nd Peter. Wow! It's been awesome already and we're only three weeks into it. I am just loving it!!

   The second week, we were going around taking prayer requests and one woman's words just echoed in my heart over and over that day. She said that we are not our own. It was just so profound to me and caught my attention. Of course, I've known that, but for some reason, her saying it that day just really stuck out to me. And lo and behold, I think it was the next day or day after that God gave me another song highlighting those very words. No wonder those words were so important.

   My brother let me know yesterday that he has another arrangement for one of my favorite songs, "Song in the Night", just about ready. I can't wait to share that one with you! It will be a little while... I still have to do the vocals for it. Suspense!!

   And lastly, I thought you'd like to take a peak at what my journal looked like a couple of weeks ago when I was writing two songs at the same time. It was crazy! I don't know if God has ever given me two songs at the same time before like that. Twins! You can see how messy it was.

   I hope you've been having a wonderful week and even if you haven't, remember that God is good and He is always faithful. Speak it to your soul!

As always, all glory to Jesus!

Adriel

"You Deserve" - Story Behind the Song

  Journal entry from 3/18/05: "Lord, You deserve nothing short of my best. You deserve an offering that is complete, not partial. You deserve the highest place in my heart, not somewhere in the middle. Lord, give me the willingness to give You everything."

  I actually wrote some of this song on a trip I took with my husband for our wedding anniversary in Flagstaff. It was somewhat snowy when we went and there was this massive mountain that just stood out to me. The words for the song just flowed out of the beauty around me.

  The comparisons between the Lord reigning above the earth and Him reigning in my heart; of the heavens declaring His glory and my life declaring His glory; these are not by accident. The earth, the heavens - they don't have free will or choice. But I do. I choose to give God the throne in my heart. I choose to allow His life to flow out of me so He can be glorified. He deserves everything that I can give (and more).

  I need to believe this truth and make the choice to walk in it each day. God's power is inside of us who are born again believers in Christ, ready to make us into His image, ready to glorify Him, but we make the choice to believe it is true and to have faith and walk in that truth. Let us choose to give what is already His!

  You can listen to this song and download it for free HERE on SoundCloud (sign up is easy and free) and view the lyrics HERE.

  Hope you're having a great weekend!

All glory to Jesus,

Adriel

"Keep Me" - Story Behind the Song

  During the summer of 2004, my husband began looking into starting our own business. After praying and finding the Lord's peace in this new venture, we decided on a franchise and began looking for a location. We found a spot and began the lease negotiations.

  In the process of the negotiations, my husband felt led by the Lord to be closed on Sunday. This was kind of a scary step of faith, as we had already paid the franchise fee and this closure had to be approved by corporate in addition to being approved by the landlord, not to mention the closure of that day taking a bite out of our total income. If anyone said "no", the whole venture was going to end for us, regardless of the money we had already invested.

  The Lord gave me this song during this time of uncertainty and wondering what was going to happen. My journal entry that goes along with this song says, "We still haven't found out for sure if the landlord is okay with us being closed on Sunday, but we will find out soon. Even so, it is so good to be resting in the Lord and trusting Him. Sometimes we can get ahead of God and lose the peace and it's so good to just stop and see where we lost it."

  Everything ended up going through fine with those critical negotiations and decisions. Actually, we didn't even end up opening up our store in that first location, but at a different location three years later, in February of 2007. And wouldn't you know it, that location was in a more corporate business area, so being closed on Sunday was no big deal, even income-wise. It was pretty dead around that area on the weekends.

  That whole experience of owning and operating our own business is another story in itself. I'll just say for now that we ended up selling it almost four years after we opened.

  It's kind of interesting to look back to those times which, at the time, seemed to be desperate and urgent, as if our very lives were hanging on by what happened or didn't happen. Now, that whole "drama" seems somewhat insignificant, especially when I compare it to things we would later face in our lives. But that's just part of the journey. Growing up and maturing in the Lord. It begins with the small things. And staying with God, right where He is, is so important - more than I can say.

  You can listen to this song and download it for free HERE on SoundCloud (you may have to register, but it's simple and free), and you can view the lyrics HERE. Enjoy!

All glory to Jesus,

Adriel

Sunday Encouragement

Happy Sunday! I hope you're having a nice day and that your weekend is going well. We enjoyed the service today with a great worship service and encouraging message. 

Yesterday, my family and I went to an apple orchard and picked around 100 pounds of apples. We weren't able to go last year, so it was a blessing to be able to go this year.

Today we are busy peeling, coring and slicing the apples for applesauce and freezing. I'm at my parents' today, so I don't have access to my song files, but I decided to share a song with you from SoundCloud that I've enjoyed recently. I hope it blesses you, too. =)

The song is called "Celebrate" by Dan James and is a great worship song with the truth of the gospel woven in beautifully. Hope you enjoy it! Click HERE to listen.

All glory to Jesus,

Adriel

"Speak to Me" - Story Behind the Song

If you don't like long stories, scroll to the bottom!

The year 1996 became the spring board that literally propelled me into songwriting. God first began working in me through songwriting during this year of my life. Two monumental things happened that year that impacted me greatly. I was about 15 at the time, so they may not seem so monumental to you, but they were to me at the time.

The first "monumental" event was that I gave up playing the violin, something I had been doing for 10 years. This was a really hard decision for me to make, but since playing was causing the beginnings of (probable) tendonitis in my wrist and also giving me neck pain, my parents and I both felt that quitting was the best thing. Music was a very important part of my life, of me, really. Out of desperation, I began playing around on the piano and my mom taught me the basics of chords. I couldn't have thought at the time that God had a very special plan for me that could on occur by taking away my ability to play the violin. It seemed to me, at the time, to be a tremendous loss and an incredible waste of so much time and effort. However, the piano opened up a door in my heart that led me to the secret place where the Lord makes music and inspires new songs. I didn't see it then, but it's crystal clear now. {smile}

  The second "monumental" even that impacted my life greatly later in my 15th year was my grandma being diagnosed with cancer, the prognosis not hopeful. I was very close to her and she was a special person in my life. Knowing she would die within a year or two was hard to accept and caused great pain in my heart. When you're 15, things like this really shake up your world. This news and revelation certainly did that for me.  

The Lord gave me this song during that time of wrestling with my grandma's suffering and impending death, which gave me great encouragement and comfort during this time. Right before my Grandma passed away, a friend of my family's made it possible for me to make a recording of this song and I was able to share the finished product with her. How sweet that God gave me that special opportunity!

  So, that is the story behind "Speak to Me" and the Lord has continued giving me songs ever since! And wouldn't you know it, that song is how my husband became interested in me. Kind of a silly thing, I know, but God used it for a variety of purposes - good purposes! =)

I hope that no matter what you are walking through or the turmoil going on inside of you, that you will pray these simple words:

"God, speak to me in my heart, calm the storm raging in my mind. Give me peace, just speak it to my soul. Speak to me, speak to me, Jesus."

You can listen to and download "Speak to Me" for free HERE and view the lyrics HERE.

All glory to Jesus,
Adriel

"Whom Shall I Fear" - Story Behind the Song

  

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"

Psalm 27:1

  
This familiar passage was a source of comfort to me through a difficult and painful time in my life in regard to a relationship, watching someone very dear to me make bad decisions that brought pain to others close to me. The Lord was constantly reminding me not to get side-tracked with this situation, but there were many times when my emotions took over and got me away from my Goal.

  These were the times of struggle, the storms of life, the waves of doubt that I talk about in this song. Life is always going to be throwing wild cards at us. Painful experiences, unexpected situations and changes, hardships we are not prepared for.

  But thanks be to God that the shadow of His wings covers and hides us, that the light of our salvation can penetrate through the lies and the fears, declaring to us that the nature of God has not changed, regardless of what we are passing through and that He is and always will be our refuge amidst the many things we pass through in this life.

  You can listen to and download "Whom Shall I Fear" for free HERE and read the lyrics HERE.

  I hope it is an encouragement to you and that you have a blessed day.

All glory to Jesus,
Adriel