Hook Your Audience With Meaningful Lyrics and a Memorable Melody

One of the most important aspects of music performance is connecting with your audience. There are several ways to accomplish this. The visual of stage presence is highly important in a live performance setting, but so is having a message and melody that sticks with them. The trick is finding that creative combo within your lyrics and music composing.

Simple Strategies

When ideas come, it's often when you're away from home or your recording equipment. So it's a good idea to have a phone with a built-in recorder, or carry a digital recorder. Of course there's also the old fashioned method of a pad of paper and a pencil. The idea is to have something at your fingertips for storing ideas and easily retrieving them later.

If you're especially busy with gigging or you have a family, there may be times when you can't get back to an idea for several days and you want to make sure you don't forget it. So it's nice to be able to refer back to that original thought

Which Comes First

Creativity isn't a particularly logical thing in the sense that, say, accounting is logical. As a singer-songwriter-musician and recording artist, I've had the words come first and I've had the music come first. I've also had them come together -- sort of like a package deal. The important thing is to recognize a song idea when it comes. It's sort of like listening for a knock on the door when you're expecting a visitor. The trick is to always be expectant. It'd be nice if I got a phone call first, but I usually don't.

Some songs are going to come quickly and others take days or weeks to write. The longest period of time it ever took me, personally, to write one song was one year. The music came very quickly and I eventually concluded it must be an instrumental piece, so I left it alone. One year later while I was lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, I "suddenly heard" the words that belonged with the melody. Songs remind me of children because just like children have a mind of their own, sometimes the songs seem to do their own thing. It's important to be flexible through the process, even in the recording studio. I feel I've gotten some of my best ideas while in the middle of recording. Now that's not an excuse to not have a plan and some direction. These will save time and money. But you don't want to quench the creative flow, either.

The process of creating is the hardest part. It can be a challenge to figure out how to fit the concept you want to convey into a three or four minute time slot. A thesaurus can be a very useful tool for song lyrics. Contemporary music will not get airplay if it is more than five minutes long and there are several reasons for that which time and space will not permit me to mention. When I pitched my first CD to radio stations back in 2001, there were many important facts that I gleaned from my experience. And more recently, I learned even more with my second and third ones that I pitched in 2013 and 2015. Also, maintaining positive relationships whenever possible is very important to the future of your music.

Inspiration for Ideas and Melodies

Many of my ideas for song lyrics come from the Bible and my life experiences. I personally want to write lyrics that encourage people who are struggling in some way; and that help them to resolve that struggle so that they are stronger from it rather than weaker. Therefore, many of my songs have themes such as hope, purpose and victory. I believe that any good song (which is not an instrumental) has a message to which people can relate. Though a good beat, style and a catchy melody are important, it's the message that truly matters most if one want so reach people today. Another term for that would be the hook: the concept that will make people remember your song.

Ideas for a melody can come from many places. Beethoven got an idea for an entire symphony from a bird whistling. An idea might also come from the horn on a train, the laugh of a child, or just from your own heart. I've even gotten ideas for a song in a dream I had while I was sleeping. It's all about expecting that visitor.

Finding Time to Create

Once I have an idea, I like to wait until no one is around or everyone is asleep to really work with it. It's difficult to be creative when you're being interrupted by the demands of a family. I love my family, but it just kind of breaks the flow and hinders my creativity when I try to write music and everyone is home and / or awake. Another place I like to create is in the shower. No one interrupts my showers. I've also been known to occasionally run off to my favorite county park on a Saturday morning (weather permitting) and develop an idea in the serenity of what is an inspirational setting for me personally. Sometimes you have to be creative about finding places to be creative. All that really matters is that it works.

Focus

As I stated earlier, I personally want to write songs with themes of hope, purpose and victory. Someone else might chose a different focus. It's very important to have a focus. Otherwise the song just kind of flops around like a fish out of water. It doesn't do anything and doesn't go anywhere. A song with good focus is like a 747 airplane with a seasoned pilot in the cockpit. While your listener will feel it take off, level out and land; each transition in the song is smooth, direct, and planned.

Final Thoughts

It's helpful to start young, but not a necessity. When I say young, I mean five or six years old. It will take years to master an instrument. How many years will depend on how much work you're willing to put into it. And speaking of starting young, parents can foster a love of music in their children by finding practical ways to include them in their own musical endeavors. Often times, they will do what they see their parents do. If you don't have any musical talent of your own, consider taking them to concerts and family friendly open mic nights at a local music store in your area or other venues.

It's important to have a supportive family. If parents aren't supportive, or if you're married and your spouse isn't supportive, it makes for a much more difficult road, but it can still be accomplished. A teacher, friend, relative or spouse are invaluable when they are willing to dream your dreams with you. They will encourage you when your heart gets broken (which happens a lot in the music industry) and they add to the joy and satisfaction of infrequent but well deserved success. Success is a beautiful thing when you've determined what it looks like for you, personally, and when you have a spouse or some special people with whom to share it. 

Sweet Summer, Hopeful Anticipation of Autumn

Wow! What an exciting summer it's' been! Between concerts, auditions for various opportunities, even composing the music for a Christian TV series that's presently still in the making, it's been another amazing journey. I am especially looking forward to an invite that I received from Faith and Friends internet radio to sing at this year's Chocolate Festival in Dayton, Ohio. This year's theme has a cute Christmas sort of spin: The 12 Years of Chocolate.

As for the Christian TV series, the first episode just happens to be about religious freedom, and we just happened to be in the middle of filming when the unconstitutional decision that changed the course of America's history about marriage being between one man and one woman was handed down from the Supreme Court. I can't say a whole lot about this particular Christian TV program as of yet, but its name is "The Revelation Zone." Here is a trailer for the first episode, "Symon".  I composed, and recorded the music. We are working toward filming an entire season that will address various topics. Not sure what additional adventures autumn will hold as of yet, but I am able to say that I look forward to experiencing its unfolding.

A Day to Celebrate

There’s always something special about the “official” national release date of your CD when it’s all your own music. Especially if you have been through a lot to get to that point. But today is certainly a bright spot in the midst of my journey as a music artist and freelance writer.

It’s been interesting to watch things unfold among the various radio stations that are taking an interest in music from this newest album, Draw Me Into Your Presence, and there have also been some fun surprises along the way. Perhaps the one that’s the most fun for me personally has been that several Southern Gospel radio stations have taken a liking to the song “Hear His Call.” Totally unexpected as far as I was concerned. With all my “Broadway style” vocal training, never in a million years did I expect that my music would be played on Southern Gospel stations, but I have no complaints about that, of course. The modern-day parable set to music paints a word picture in the minds of listeners that apparently resonates with them. I see it as another blessing among many that have come my way.

The last several months have been a time of running hard toward the presence of the Lord and trying to determine where He was leading. I found myself recalling a concept I read in a Rick Joyner book called Overcoming Evil in the Last Days some years ago. Rick was a flight instructor before going into the ministry. He always taught his students that when they were flying in situations with restricted visibility (confusion), that they needed to trust their instruments and not the way that the plane felt to them. They needed to hold their position according to what the instruments said. He compared the instruments to the Bible.

Another way to look at it is that during times of turmoil, we need to trust the Lord and not lean on our own understanding (or feelings). When we acknowledge Him, He’ll direct our path. I found that as I continued to do what I was sure the Lord had been directing me to do before the massive storm hit my life and I also stayed in line with the Word, that slowly, the storm clouds lost their seemingly overwhelming power. In some ways, it felt like I was running on yesterday’s vision. Yet God was and is still moving in amazing ways in my life, giving me some needed clarity and the boldness to follow through. Sometimes there’s even some joy as I consider that He still has a future planned for me – it just looks different than what I had initially anticipated.

‘Carry on, we walk by faith and not by sight.’

The month of August was an extraordinarily difficult month for me. I lost my sweet husband of 18 years to an unexpected and sudden death. The pain that comes with losing someone so close cuts far deeper than words can really express, but without getting overly intense, I will say it really does feel like half of you has been ripped away.

As this new season of my life begins, I am learning a deeper level of drawing near to God, and He will draw near to you. Seems somewhat ironic that a new CD I had been planning to record is called Draw Me Into Your Presence. Truly I feel that I am walking this thing out.

At the encouragement of several people, including Gary’s parents and my own son, I have followed through with recording  Draw Me Into Your Presence. Having something positive on which to focus has been emnsily helpful for avoiding getting “stuck” in the grieving process. I believe the Lord will work through the music and lyrics to bring blessing to those who hear it.

A few days after Gary passed, I found his journal, and within its pages, an inspiring theme that seemed to be something of a message from him directly to me from where he is now abiding with Jesus: “Carry on. We walk by faith and not by sight.”

This meant a great deal to me for several reasons. Back when he was 29, he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. It was this illness that caused him to realize his need for Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior, and it was the beginning of their relationship and journey together. After multiple surgeries and chemo, he was healed. I say healed and not “in remission” because when he met me a few short years after that and told me his story, he said that he asked the Lord to “heal” him, and that after going through everything that he totally believed for himself that he was healed. I believed it too.

There is a song that was recorded by Sandi Patty called “Carry On.” Gary introduced that song to me shortly after we met. It helped him to find hope and strength as he went through the difficulties associated with cancer, surgeries and the chemo, and when he later got an opportunity to testify about his healing to his home church, he asked me to sing it before he shared his story. I was very honored to do so.

When God gave Gary back his life, he made a point of honoring the Lord by learning about and living out a healthy lifestyle that would allow him to remain as healthy as possible, even teaching me a great deal about healthy living. Though we weren’t supposed to be able to have children due to the cancer, the Lord had other plans and defied what the doctors said.

Many years later, after getting laid off from one job and offered another that required a physical before he could begin working, it was discovered that he had diabetes. Once again, God arranged for him to overcome what could have been an early death, and once again, Gary researched and learned even more about living a healthy lifestyle to honor God with yet another gift of life.

When he finally went on to be with the Lord, neither of these issues were the cause. He was given the gift of not having to suffer or slowly decline in his quality of life. His departure was probably as instant and painless as it could possibly be for a human being.

So the theme that I have found within the pages of his journal, “Carry on. We walk by faith and not by sight,” is something I have now been working to apply to my own life, even as I continue to embrace opportunities to continue singing, writing music, playing music and recording it.

It is my hope and prayer that as I continue my journey, that what I have walked through and continue to face will somehow inspire others to, “Carry on. We walk by faith and not by sight.”

Drawn Into God’s Presence More Through the Journey of Hope Beyond Hope while Following His Leading

It’s been interesting to me how the freelance writing and music opportunities seem to counter one another. When I get slammed with the freelance writing, the music opportunities slow down. When the music opportunities flood in, the freelance writing slows down. I have reason to believe that the Lord has a hand in that because it happens too consistently for me to think otherwise. That being said, I was pretty well slammed with freelance writing work toward the beginning of the year. And when I get slammed there, it’s certainly a good thing because work coming in means money becomes available for new adventures.

I also spent some time trying to push the song “Hope Beyond Hope” out during the early part of the year. I did have a handful of positive results here and there with a few independent stations that decided to use it in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer.

I also became busy with preparing for my third Christian CD, which will be called Draw Me Into Your Presence. That kept me pretty busy during the spring – right about the time that my freelance writing work began to slow. I’ll actually head out to Oklahoma in early August to record it.

Draw Me Into Your Presence is going to have some fun, catchy praise tunes on it, as well as some ballads that are heavily rooted in God’s Word. I’m even doing a bit of experimenting with two or three songs to give them a modern country feel and see how they will be received by some of the independent southern Gospel stations. I’m looking forward to that little adventure in particular.

But before I get busy with recording, I have a few other music opportunities, and interestingly, acting opportunities planned for the summer. One has already happened. The week of June 17 through the 22 was something of a whirlwind week for me. I received an unexpected opportunity to be in a Christian movie called Sinking Sand. I had been given a bit part in a courtroom scene as a “featured gallery member and jury member”.  Hopefully, that credit will eventually show up in the IMDb in connection to the movie. Bit parts don’t always get noted.

Since I had never done this type of film performance before, it was a rather interesting experience from multiple angles. Since the filming was happening in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, I got to do some traveling. Road trip time! I love that. And once I got there, not only was the Sinking Sand movie an opportunity to learn, but I also got to do some networking and plant a few seeds that I hope will lead to some future film opportunities.

This particular experience with the movie Sinking Sand reminded me a great deal of tech week in the theater. Even so, the cast was just a joy to be around and even a refreshing difference from the norm in the entertainment industry in that they would pray before beginning each day’s shoot and also at mealtime. People encouraged one another, were supportive of one another, gracious, and even prayed with one another when the situation called for it. I really hope I get invited to do more with this particular Christian film group.

I also have an audition coming up in Branson, Missouri for a Christian theatrical production, and am super excited about this. Don’t want to say too much about that as of yet since I don’t have a part at this time. And I’m waiting to hear about a second opportunity in that area, about which I am equally excited.

When I recorded Hope Beyond Hope back in 2012, I did a stopover on the way to Oklahoma and really fell in love with Branson when I was there. There is an entire district of live entertainment that is either positive-values and family friendly, or flat out Christian in nature. But besides that, I just really felt that uncanny peace of God that passes understanding everywhere I went. It was like the place had a dome of His peace that covered it or something. So as I return this summer, I am looking forward to being Drawn Into God’s Presence more through the journey of Hope Beyond Hope while Following His Leading.

Following God’s Leading Along the Journey of Hope Beyond Hope

The year of 2013 was an amazing year. The Lord opened so many doors for me to sing in so many venues that I found it pretty impossible to keep up with my blog. As I listen for His leading in regard to 2014, I am wondering if it will be another year in which I seem to be running to keep up with Him! But before I go there, I have to give Him the praise for all the amazing blessings that came to me in 2013. I’d say that it’s every singer-songwriter-musician’s dream to get airplay for at least one song that they record. I have been blessed to have three songs get airplay!

One song is from the Following a Leading CD. The song “The Voice of the Lord” was inspired by the Old Testament book of Joshua. For those who may need a refresher, Joshua was Moses’ successor that led the Israelites into the Promised Land. I suppose that song is one of several that highlights the freelance writer in me, with lyrics that tell the story from Joshua’s point of view. It was actually a lot of fun to write, though I wrote it at a rather trying time in my life. I was really identifying with Joshua as I trusted the Lord to bring me into the “promised land” that I believed He was (and still is) leading me into.

Another song that received airplay was “Behold I Stand” from the Hope Beyond Hope CD. This was inspired primarily by Revelation chapter 3, Luke chapter 12, verse 37, and was written with the heart of the intercessor in mind. Jesus commands us to “watch and pray” as His return continues to draw near.  Especially since no one knows the hour or the day.

I’m so grateful to WFCJ in Dayton, Ohio (93.7) and Robin Walton for including these songs as a part of her Notes from Home program, as well as “Son of Promise,” my Christmas song on the Hope Beyond Hope CD. “Son of Promise” also made it into the Christmas rotation of several radio stations in the tri-state area (Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana), as well as a couple radio stations out in Sparta, Illinois, and three national radio networks, CBSL Network / CB Satellite, Thy Word, and Life Talk Radio.

So between all that and the live events where I got to sing, it has been a very busy year for me. I was even blessed with the privilege to be able to pray with a few of the people that I encountered at my concerts.

As I begin to really gear up for 2014, I find that I have lots of dreams that I am trusting God to bring to pass. More singing out (including some touring) and airplay would be wonderful, and of course I’d love to do some more recording. I have plenty of songs; it’s just a matter of how the Lord chooses to direct my path in the coming months. I eagerly look forward to continuing the journey of Following His Leading along a path where Hope Beyond Hope is found exclusively in Him.

Miracles Along the Journey of Hope Beyond Hope, part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, it recently occurred to me that I have been entirely too quiet regarding testifying about the miracles that I experienced along the journey of recording Hope Beyond Hope. When we testify about what God has done for us, it causes the faith of others to increase. Sometimes just hearing or reading the real life stories of what God has done for someone else, especially if it’s someone else that we know personally, can give us the faith to believe for what we need or would like to see happen in our own life.

As I write this, it’s as though I relive it -- sometimes right down to the very emotions. So perhaps the one doing the testifying also somehow gets strengthened in their own walk. Nevertheless, I believe that the reason that it occurred to me that I’ve been entirely too quiet is because the Holy Spirit is prompting me to testify about these things. That being said, if you haven’t read part one yet, I highly encourage you to start there and then come back to part two so that you can receive the full blessing of what God has for you.  

It seemed that everyone around me was sick in one way or another – mostly upper respiratory issues. Unfortunately, I was having my own struggle with a persistent sinus issue that wouldn’t seem to go away. I didn’t worry too much at first. The convention was still a few months away at the time that the issue started. But when it got to be about three weeks away and over the counter meds weren’t working, I started to get nervous. A sinus issue for a singer is like a sprain for someone in sports. You just aren’t going to do as well because your body won’t let you.

I’ve always been radically healthy all of my life, and so I tend to be very stubborn about going to the doctor. In fact, I prefer to seek the Lord first and go to the doctor as a last resort. So I asked my prayer warrior friends to pray over me that God would heal me. No one even hesitated. We all believe that the Lord can heal through prayer. While my healing wasn’t immediate, about a week later, the sinus issue was gone and I remained radically healthy up to and all the way through the convention. In fact, the problem never returned.

So when the morning to leave for Florida arrived, I was grateful that I had no worries and everything seemed to be going reasonably smoothly. I was running a bit behind regarding finishing up my packing and picking up the rental car, but that was easily resolved with a phone call. Little did I know that running behind is part of what God used for yet another miracle that He would do for me along the journey of recording Hope Beyond Hope.

Snow flurries floated through the sky and smacked against my windshield. I smiled. Thank you Lord that I will be driving out of this and am going somewhere warm!

By the time I got things squared away at the car rental place and had transferred my luggage form one car to the other, the snowfall had gotten pretty heavy. And as I drove along the interstate, it seemed to be getting worse. Nevertheless, I was reasonably kicked back as I enjoyed one of the several audio books that I had brought with me for the journey.

I had been driving for maybe a couple of hours when I began to notice that the road was starting to get slippery even though the snow seemed to be tapering off. I began to get nervous and slowed down a bit, asking the Lord for protection and thanking Him with a renewed gratitude for the prayer warriors that I knew were praying. I saw red tail lights up ahead and began to gently apply the brakes. Then I started to slide.

Unable to remember if I had anti-lock brakes or not, I began to pump the brakes. It seemed to get worse. My palms broke into a cold sweat. The car up ahead was getting uncomfortably close. “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” I called out continuously, now mashing the breaks as hard as I could. I still wasn’t stopping. People slammed into one another in front of me. Metal banged and crunched together to my right and left. I suddenly halted. Then I glanced in the rear view mirror just in time to see someone slam into the person behind me. I closed my eyes and cried out to Jesus some more, anticipating impact. Everything suddenly stopped.  I opened my eyes. I was completely untouched yet everyone around me had plowed into someone else.

“Oh my God! This is Psalm 91 in action if ever I saw it!” I exclaimed in tears.

I sat and cried for a minute both in an emotional response to the terror of the moment and out of gratitude to God for His divine protection.

Slowly, those whose cars weren’t completely incapacitated moved them off to the side of the road. Once I calmed down a little, I moved out of the way of others. Though I was still pretty badly shaken from the experience, I was determined to keep going. I weaved around those who couldn’t move their cars. Sirens wailed in the distance. I couldn’t believe the number of people who were involved, and called my husband, Gary, to tell him what God had just saved me from.

“I just read about that on the internet. You were in that?” His stunned voice asked.

“By God’s grace, no! I was saved from it!”

“That was a 41 car pile-up! The snow storm system is a huge one that goes through about three states. It’s so bad in so many places that the police are telling people just to exchange information.”

It would have been nice if that was all there was to that portion of the adventure, but it wasn’t. Traffic crawled along the interstate for hours. What should have been a 15 hour drive, was expanded to a 24 hour one. I actually ended up missing check-in and orientation, but there wasn’t anything going on until the evening after that. Even so, the sunny sky and spring-like weather that greeted me when I got there was certainly a welcome change to what I had just finished traveling through.

To check out the Hope Beyond Hope album and sample some of the music, please visit:
http://elizabethdelaney.tmgartist.com/ 

Miracles Along the Journey of Hope Beyond Hope, part 1

I have no idea how many parts this will end up having, because there are quite a few miracles about which I could write. It recently occurred to me that I have been entirely too quiet regarding testifying about the miracles that I experienced along the journey of recording Hope Beyond Hope. And when I read about an accident in Texas today along an interstate in which there was a 140 car pileup, that pretty much primed the pump for me. My heart goes out to those who were in the middle of that horrible accident. It was less than a year ago that God saved me from a 41 car pileup along an interstate on which I was traveling -- the very interstate that was a large part of my journey toward recording Hope Beyond Hope. More on that miracle later. That being said, Thanksgiving Day is a good day to express thanks to God for all the miracles He does for us, many of which we really don’t think about during the rest of the year because they aren’t necessarily as dramatic as being saved from a multi-car pileup.

I’ve been so focused on walking out the experience of recording Hope Beyond Hope that I really hadn’t had the opportunity to process the multitude of miracles that came with it. Now that the production process is pretty much over and I’m paused as I wait for the next fluffy of activity, the realization of those miracles is beginning to take a hold of me.

There have been miracles surrounding being in the right place at the right time, financial miracles, miracles related to my car, travel miracles, divine appointments, divine protection, and probably even more than that. As I mine my memory and consider all these, it’s overwhelming to me and I’m the one who walked through it all! I will also say that I had and have an amazing little group of intercessors who have been very generous and faithful regarding keeping me covered. God doesn’t need “many” to get His work done – just a few who are dedicated.

There are two main reasons that I even ended up considering recording Hope Beyond Hope. And I hope no one minds if I get real about this: one is because of a crummy economy that had cut into my opportunities as a freelance writer. The other reason was because of the persistent encouragement of a Christian friend of mine, Mia, who is also a music mentor to me.

I ended up finding out about my label, Tate Music Group (TMG), through a Christian organization called Actors Models and Talent for Christ (AMTC). I heard a commercial about them on the radio, and after asking lots of questions and putting the matter before the Lord in prayer, felt led to participate in seminars that led up to a convention where actors, models, singers, singer-songwriters, dancers and others who want to pursue the arts as a vocation get to have a week-long opportunity to connect with entertainment industry professionals.

I’d say my first miracle in connection to all of this happened before I even went to my first seminar. Seminars require money. Money was something I didn’t have. So I began to pray that if the Lord wanted me to do this, that He’d deliver the cash into my hands. The way that He chose to respond to that was to provide me with a temporary job outside of my freelance writing. Though I wasn’t crazy about the type of work it involved, the purpose that He had set before me fueled my determination to endure a kind of race that I knew He had set before me.

Carrying that thought out a bit further, training to compete in your favorite sport can be grueling. So can practicing to master your primary instrument. So I tried to look at this as a part of my preparation for where He was leading. And honestly, there were some days when I did better with that than others.

Another drawback to this temporary job was that it wasn’t the best paying position in the world. This meant that sacrifice was required on my part to get where God was taking me. Between covering the bills and payments for the seminars, there was little if anything left at the end of my paycheck. Things like car repairs would sometimes get neglected.

I had an issue with my car axel crop up only days before I needed to leave town for one of the seminars and the drive was about a two hour drive one way. I was probably on the edge of testing the Lord, but I opted to make the drive anyway in spite of the warnings of a couple of auto technicians.

I couldn’t see any other means to get to the seminar, so I prayed and asked God to step in and help me and also asked every friend I had who was an intercessor to pray for me for travel mercies. There was also a lot that I didn’t reveal…until I got home. I am walking proof that God protects fools and little children.  Incidentally, when I finally got the axel fixed, it was certainly a testimony to an entire building of auto technicians – and I really didn’t even have to say anything.

Switching gears a bit, something that God used to help prepare me for the convention was a karaoke competition. I found out about it through a friend of mine. A restaurant that had just opened near me was apparently doing it as a part of building up their base of patrons.

This was a rather unusual competition in that the owner of the establishment picked the songs for you and if you wore a costume, you would get extra points with the judges. Since there were three rounds to every evening of competition, there was usually just enough time to change costumes in between each song. I was put in a position whereby I had to break out of the genres that I was used to singing, and sometimes even think outside the box if I was going to stand for what I believe and keep things focused toward positive values and still be entertaining. This was a positive growth experience for me, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were several fellow Christians who were a part of it too.  We were often the catalysts that God used for keeping things truly positive values and still entertaining.

I see this as a miracle from several angles: the way that this particular competition was designed was not too far off of the pattern that was used for the convention; I was given the opportunity to apply what I was learning through AMTC and through each seminar before I ever went to the convention; I was challenged to prepare on a weekly basis. In some ways, the competition was more rigorous than the convention, so I felt very prepared not only because of the seminars, but also because of the karaoke competition. Not only was it a miracle of right timing in terms of the opportunity to participate, but also of preparation for where I was being led by God’s Holy Spirit.  

The convention was being held in Florida, and since I love long road trips and hate what’s going on with the airline industry, I planned to get a rental car and drive. God miraculously provided the travel expenses that I needed, and the fact that I was driving to Florida in January seemed like a plus. No snow for me! Visions of enjoying the hotel hot tub in between seminars that would be provided at the convention and opportunities to showcase my music were dancing in my head. Nevertheless, I had never driven that far before, and since I was anticipating a 15 hour drive one way, I wanted the covering of my faithful prayer warrior friends. I have no doubt that such a move is why I experienced the miracle that I did in the midst of a 41 car pileup on the way to the convention – an amazing miracle that will be detailed in my next post.