"Treasure" - Story Behind the Song

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:19-21

Photo credit: "Treasure Chest" by Flickr user Tom Praison
CC license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

What do laundry, a new baby, and this passage of scripture have in common? Anyone? =)

If you're scratching your head and wondering what you missed, don't worry. You didn't miss anything! =)

The answer is this song, "Treasure". The manner in how this song was written is a bit unusual, but I think the Lord works in mysterious, and might I say, unconventional ways.

Our third child was just a few days old (I say a few weeks in the video...I should have checked my notes on the song), I was in the middle of doing laundry, and there was a cry in my heart in the middle of the newborn madness for the Lord. A new baby changes life drastically, and being only a few days into the adjustment, using every waking moment to get something done, my heart was missing the quieter moments with the Lord.

And He knew that. With a touch of sweetness and humor, there I was doing laundry and out of my mouth came the first verse for "Treasure". In my laundry room! haha! I don't know how the Lord was able to speak that song to my heart, but He must have had to shout it, because I'm pretty sure I was too frazzled to hear a whisper.

But in a sense it was a whisper. It was a whisper of, "I love you and I care about you. In this crazy season of life, keep me at the center of your focus. I'm everything you need and more. I'm your Treasure," that made everything at that moment fade away while I worshiped the Lord right there in my laundry room. It was a special, sweet moment that I won't ever forget.

Photo credit: "A little treasure..." by Flickr user Simon Ska
CC license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Songwriting and being in the word of God go hand in hand. God uses the scripture that is tucked away in my heart or the verses that I've been meditating on to draw out a song. The lyrics for "Treasure" focus on some aspects of what and who God is to me. The song is certainly not exhaustive (that would be impossible), but they cover somewhat of a broad range of all that God is.

My hope is that this song encourages you in your walk with Christ and that you would be able to see all that Jesus is to you and more. Many blessings to you through Christ our Savior!

All glory to Jesus!

Adriel

In the "Studio"

I've been asked if I go to a studio to record and/or what the set up looks like for my "home studio", so I thought I'd show you guys some pics I've taken over the past few months of recording.

   First of all, no, I do not go to a recording studio to record. I've never set foot in one. I have no idea what that experience would be like, but I can only imagine how nerve-wracking that would be.

   I record at home. And from these pictures, you'll be able to see that it's really a simple and humble set up. Bonus days, my brother acts as my "sound engineer" and takes care of the software while I lay down vocal tracks. But a good amount of the time, it's just me in our front room with couch cushions and pillows thrown around (as my bass traps...lol). Hey, it works! That tip was given to me by another singer/songwriter. =)

   When I make the YouTube videos, I use my phone to record the video on a tripod that I have sticking out of the banisters on the stairs. I am all about super high tech, guys! lol! For awhile, the phone videos were working out okay and picking up most of what I was singing. But after a recent piano tuning, the piano got louder and I couldn't sing above it anymore in the videos. The piano developed some kind of ego after the tuning or something...I don't know. (Is that a fluke thing, or has that happened to anyone else after a piano tuning?)

Thankfully, I learned a tip from a fellow singer/songwriter, who does videos also, on using a mic during recording and putting the video and the audio together in a separate program after recording. I've been playing around with that, hoping to pick up my vocals more, which it has, but now the piano is a bit muffled. I guess the piano's ego is a bit hurt by me using the mic and is now not trying very hard. haha! =)

   In the closet under the stairs, I keep my keyboard there and put all my recording equipment away in there when I'm done with it. If/when I do any arrangements, I do that in the closet too.

   So that is my "studio" in a nutshell. I'm not going to go into detail about my software or all the little steps that go into recording a song, because it would be extremely boring to write as well as for your to read. But it is quite a process to get a song done from start to finish.

Yeah...we're weird. =P

Thanks for visiting!

Adriel