I often think about how I want to be the kind of person that enjoys every stage of life. Life goes way too fast not to savor each moment. Yet certain experiences come along and I think, “please just let this pass” or “I can’t wait until this is over...” I suppose that’s human.
Why were we given so many different feelings? There must be a reason why we each feel such a wide array of feelings - happy, sad, brave, fear, love, lonely, peace, broken, mended, calm, anxious, excited, bored, alive, numb, and on and on.
Throughout the last couple of years, I’ve been learning to sincerely appreciate the ability to feel. Can you imagine a life without feeling? What if we just went through tons of experiences but never felt happy or sad or any type of emotion? Borrrrring, right? Life would be meaningless without a heart that feels.
Every feeling can turn into a lesson from our Heavenly Father. My new album, Chapters of My Heart, tells a story of some of the lessons I’ve learned from what my heart has felt and experienced the last couple of years. For me, these songs were my healing process. Through the process of writing these songs, I learned more of the lessons God wanted to teach me about what I was feeling. I realize what you’re facing or what you’ve been through isn’t exactly the same as my experiences, but with all of my heart, I hope these songs reach you somehow.
Life is often a rollercoaster. All of our roller coasters are unique, yet similar - life often turns us upside down and takes us through unexpected loops. Heavenly Father has been teaching me to enjoy the rollercoaster - to be grateful for the ups and downs, to be grateful that I can feel so many emotions and that no matter what emotion or part of the ride, I can feel His grace helping me.
In every "chapter" of my life, Heavenly Father has somehow shown me that He is there and that what it says in Romans 8:28 is true. All things can miraculously work together for our good when we love and trust Him. I really believe that and have seen it in my life.
PS I created a Spotify playlist with some songs (including the title track to my album) that give me perspective and help me to learn from the roller coaster of life. You can listen to and follow the playlist here.