To It, Through It

Life doesn't stop. We're always finishing one race and beginning another. We're thrown curveballs every day and sometimes we dodge them, and sometimes they hit us square in the face.

Even a sunshiny girl can have cloudy days! Yes, I was recently hit with a curveball. I saw it coming for a while, and knew the hit was necessary, so I closed my eyes and braced myself. I knew it was a change that had to happen, a change that would be a little tough and a change that would take me through uncharted territory with obstacles and challenges, but I welcomed it. 

I recently finished recording vocals for two new songs. One of them I wrote years ago after getting hit with a noteworthy curveball, which I've mentioned before. Tough breakups always make great writing material. I'd been looking forward to recording this song for years, and it was such a release expressing those emotions again and singing with a passion that only comes when sad feelings are recalled. The other song I wrote more recently, and it too was inspired by feelings of longing and sadness, but not my own. I was inspired by tragic love stories, particularly after reading The Great Gatsby. I decided to explore those thoughts and feelings and they took me to a place that was somber and dark. 

As you may have guessed, both of these songs are made entirely of deeper and darker material that I don't usually explore in melody. I love to spread warmth and cheer and sunshine through gorgeous sweeping chords and arpeggios that lift the spirit. But every light moment must have an equally dark one.

The bruise from the curveball that recently hit me so hard is starting to fade. Newer, happier, more positive things are beginning in my life! And with them are melodies reaching back to my cheerier side. I've already begun working on new songs that are lyrically some of the most optimistic I've done. But a huge part of me is anxious to share the darker songs. They're so raw, so real, and so human. 

In the midst of darker times light inevitably bursts through and takes over again. It's my own personal experience of the quote that isn't directly from scripture, but says so much about the mysterious spiritual circumstances we can't even begin to understand: "If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it".