REDEEMABLE

MY STORY

Each of us has a story. Our story. From cover to cover are pages containing each and every detail of our lives. Each page, each word, each thought, each illustration is precious, simply because it is ours. Who knows our story? Maybe many people, maybe no one at all. God
certainly knows it, yet besides God, I believe the most important person to know my story is
me!

My story is the redemptive and transforming touch of God on my life--heart, mind, and body, through the death and resurrection of Jesus’ finished work at the cross for me!

I was born March 3, 1964. My parents, three siblings and I spent the majority of my childhood in Northern Minnesota on a spacious 160 acre farm. My dad was very musically talented and active in our home, church, and abroad. He and his neighborhood musician friend spent many evenings and weekends singing together, their guitars echoing their agreement for their passion for God. They wrote songs together, and along with their oldest daughters and a speaker/evangelist, went from church to
church, sharing their love for God through music and from the Word.

At a very young age, I seemed to identify with the language of music, taking in and soaking
up it’s message and interpretation. Also at a young age, my oldest sister taught me songs and hymns with all their many verses. She then propped me up in front of the church where
I would sing for the service. Tucked also in my treasured memories is the experience of my
dad teaching me to play the ukulele. This opened up a whole world of expression
and creativity for me.

A few years down the road my life changed dramatically after being sexually molested, with
the further complication of my parents and family not knowing anything about it.
I alone carried messages of shame and worthlessness all tangled up inside my heart.
It’s as if someone pushed the stop button of my heart, fading away the picture and silencing the music, with no chance of motion or progression. I acquired a flavor of fear,
mistrust, and shame that I did not have prior.

At the age of twelve, my family moved to the Northwest. I was on new territory, and I consciously decided that I was not going to be that sad little girl back there. I rolled up my sleeves and began building an exterior around my heart intended to hold me up. I began to
look, behave, and talk in such a way that I hoped would make me acceptable to other people and to make me feel better about myself as well. I stayed away from pain and other hurting people, taking on a positive outlook that I clung to tightly. But, try as I might, I could not shake the fear, mistrust, or shame, and I could not awaken my heart and it’s dreams.

At the age of twelve, I gave my life to Jesus. I knew something had changed, and I knew that I was His!

Music was my comfort--other people’s music. I loved the message and promise of gospel music, but was also drawn to pop music because of the honesty of thoughts and feelings portrayed in those songs. I wanted desperately to be real and to be me, but didn’t know how.

I was part of a Christian high school singing group, would sing for church and lead out in
song services (as long as someone was singing beside me), yet, fear and self- trepidation always seemed to rob me of joy and power. It was all so frustrating.

God, in His love and care, brought people into my life to genuinely love me as He began melting away that hard, protective surface. I married and moved to the high desert in
Southern California. Here, God began taking me by the hand and heart, bringing me out of those painful places. It was at this place and time that He began to awaken and call forth those long lost dreams and my forgotten spirit.

In my heart He began to unfold His personal, and deliberate plans for me. Through His whisper to my heart and through Scripture, He flooded me with promise of hope and newness of life.

I began to ask questions. Who am I? Who are You? What do you want to do in and through my life? It was here I began giving to Him all I am, my life-- placed in His lap for His glory!

As He began bringing healing and growth into my life and relationships, I knew He could do anything! I began writing music out of this precious relationship and experience between me and God. In His love, through His Spirit and by the truth of His Word, He began revealing in truth an identity of wholeness within my righteousness though Jesus!

Growing steadily in my heart came the overflowing desire to share His love and His Word with those around me through my songs and in daily interaction. In my heart is the incredible passion for a wonderful God who calls me by name, brings me to His side, and takes my past, present and future, and not only makes it right-- but beautiful! What a God!!!

“What in my life has sin rearranged, that’s REDEEMABLE,
that’s REDEEMABLE?…..

“…I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10 NIV

Welcome

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