Y'all ready for this?

I'd say that I'm a southerner.
I live in the south, always have. But, I don't talk like one. Although "y'all" is a common term for southerners, I don't say it. I can't say it. It always comes out "you all". It just doesn't sound right with my accent. Anyway...
...To cut to the chase, I do love bluegrass. Love it. I hope some day my sisters and I will be able to play bluegrass together. Maybe in the future we'll have a band and tour the country. But for now I listen and dream. (I can dream, can't I?) Here are a few music videos to give you a taste.


The Quebe Sisters


The Peasall Sisters

Dreams of a mediocre musician

 Music soaring through the air,
Breathes of joyous song,
Notes like baby giggles 
and bird chirps,
The player,
the violin,
become one.
Strings laughing, 
Fingers flying
Hearts dancing
Echoes of vibrato
and strings filled with sunshine.
Musician's bliss.

 Sometimes I get carried away with a dream.
A dream to be an accomplished musician.
A dream of being one with the song; being one the music I try to perfect.
 A dream to one day find the utter joy of music.

Music has been a part of my life since I was six. When my dad first started giving me lessons on our upright, player piano.
I appreciate music more than I did when I first started and have grown to enjoy it rather than dread it.
...And even though I've played piano for quite some time I am not as good as I hoped I'd be. Although I can hear some thing and probably play a few notes of the main melody, I'm not as good as my dreams.
...Although I love the violin and the thrill of putting bow to string, I am only on Suzuki book two and am only starting to learn vibrato. I am not as good as my dreams.
...And though I love to sing and I can carry a tune, my voice can't- for the life of me- sing a solo. Though I practice and love music I am not what I dream. I love to listen to music, I love to sing, I love to dance, I love to play violin and piano, but my dream, has not come true.

But, I have another dream.
A dream of singing and playing not for a crowd, but singing solely for Jesus Christ my King.  This dream, far better suits my abilities where ever my level of skill. No matter how well I sing or how many times the strings of my violin squeak, there's someone who will always be there to listen.

God.

As long as I am singing from my heart, as long as I am playing through the joy of the Lord, as long as I am dancing with a smile, God doesn't care whether the music doesn't come out just right. As long as I'm giving Him praise He's always there to listen to the song of my soul.



 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3: 16

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What's your dream?...

Blessings

Blessings

by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if the thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

This song really spoke to me and I was able to relate to the beautiful words.
 It reminds me of when my sister was born. When my mom was raced to the emergency room and my dad and I were left to sit in the waiting room.
It's was a long sleepless night; and a rainy night.
But it was a night filled with blessings. God was near, telling us to trust in His will. His blessings come in different ways and I know that things would not be the same if God hadn't intervened. We would have taken for granted the precious life of my Mom and sister. You have to have a different perspective sometimes, when defining blessings. I know my definition of the word has changed.



How do you define blessings?

Christmas Music

 

 

Silent night holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.

 Silent night holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia;
Christ the Savior, is born
Christ the Savior, is born.

Silent night holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

 One reason I delight in Christmas is the beautiful songs that fill the season. There are so many Christmas songs out there. In the beginning of December my sisters and I played at an hour and a half piano recital. Fifteen students and forty-eight songs. I didn't realize there were so many until you're waiting nervously for your turn. My favorite Christmas songs are mostly songs to sing to God. After all what is music with out glorifying the Creator of it? Christmas is only about two short days away!

 {I've been sick with the flu this week and some of my family seem to be catching it as well. Could you pray that we recover quickly? I appreciate your prayers. Thank you. }

 I hope you are enjoying a Merry Christmas week.

What's your favorite Christmas song?... :-)

Music...

My mother won this giveaway recently and the CD that she received has been such a blessing, not only to her, but to our family. Good wholesome music is very lacking in our society. Not only in places we go,
( restaurants, stores, etc.) but in our homes. We hardly listen to any music in our house. Just because we haven't taken the time to buy some. Our family loves humming. Someone is almost always using there vocals in our house. (In fact my little brother is humming right now.)
When my mother won.  I was so excited and I love listening to the music... I really want to get some more Getty music. (I read two very thought provoking articles on music recently, here and here.)
Music truly effects people. I think that it is so important to expose ourselves to the right kind of music.
Words to a song are as just important as the notes. Music can be inspiring or uninspiring, despondent or delightful, calming or confounding. But really music should be pleasing in the ears of God. Whether a song is happy or sad, it should be wholesome and honorable to Christ. I thought I would link to the lyrics of this beautiful song, Speak, O Lord. Click here.

"But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my words."
~Isaiah 66:2


Have a lovely musical day!

My Heart Is Filled With Thankfulness...

My heart is filled with thankfulness to him who bore my pain
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace and gave me life again
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness and clothed me in his light
And wrote his law of righteousness with power upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to him who walks beside
Who floods my weaknesses and strengths and causes fear to fly
Whose every promise is enough for every step I take
Sustaining me with arms of love and crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to him who reigns above
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, whose every thought is love
For every day I have on earth is given by the King
So I will give my life, my all, to love and follow him.

                 - Stuart Townend and Keith Getty

Are you thankful to God, the one who bore all our pain?

We have so much to be thankful for! What an awesome God we have.


             

Musical Instruments

Instruments such as Piano, Guitar, Violin and so on, are wonderful ways to build discipline, hand strength and much enjoyment.

My father played piano when he was little and then began instructing us ( My two sisters and I) in Piano, when were old enough to actually learn something. I was six when I started. I liked it a lot. But, it took much patience to start the beginnings of something. Much drilling, practice, and concentration. As I progressed I began to dislike it. Wondering why my father would make us play an instrument even when we didn't want to. Through these last couple years, I am really enjoying it. I am so glad that my father pushed us on even when we didn't exactly like it.

My father said when we turned thirteen we could either pick out another instrument to play or another activity that would give us the same discipline piano did. When I turned thirteen, I did not want to give up all the training and practice that I had worked on with the piano. So instead of quitting piano I decided that I would also take on Violin. About a month ago I started Violin and I simply love it. It would be a lot harder for me to practice Violin if I didn't have all that built in knowledge of being able to read music, musical theory, and hand skills. ( I suggest having some other musical training before starting Violin. It is a little harder than Piano.)

All this said Piano and Music in general is such a great way to build skills and learn discipline.

This post is not really thought provoking, but I wanted to post on this subject!

Many Blessings!

Do you play an instrument if so, which one and do you like it?