So I am delighted to say that my debut album ‘Out of the Ashes’ is complete, and has just been sent off to the CD printers. It really has been an incredible team effort and I am praying that God will use the album to bless many people and be encouraged in their walk with Him.
So now the focus is on the release and the launch gigs. There are two! Firstly at TazZa Coffee Shop in Sutton on 15th May and then at Purley Baptist Church on 23rd. Please check out my events page for more information. If you would be interested in having me come to your Church or local venue to run an event please do check out my bookings page and contact me, I would love to hear from you.
In the run up to the album release I am going to share the lyrics and stories behind the songs. I truly feel that having the story behind the song really enhances listening to it. I pray these words encourage and bless you. Check out the lyrics on the lyrics page.
So the first song that I am sharing with you is a very personal song to me. This song is called ‘Just as you are’. I battled with ME/CFS for 5 years which God healed me from in 2012. For those unsure of how this illness affects you, in a nut shell you suffer from severe fatigue/exhaustion and quite often pain. There are different levels of the illness. There were days when I was okay and could do more, but then I would pay for it for the next few weeks and usually be able to do very little. On really bad days even walking down the stairs to sit on the sofa was exhausting – I quite often spent all day in my pjs because I did not have the energy to change. Looking after my appearance was just too exhausting – and I quite often had to rely on the kindness of a relative or a friend to even wash and dry my hair!
One of the difficulties with this illness is that it is invisible. Apart from looking tired or a bit unwell you can come across as totally normal. I feel that this is one of the reasons why this illness is so misunderstood by many. There were so many times that people muttered ‘well I’m tired, too’, or ‘you look perfectly fine to me’. The demoralising thing was you could wake up after a night’s sleep and be as exhausted as when you had gone to bed. There is something rewarding about being tired when you have worked hard all day and achieved a lot. But when you have the exhaustion all day every day and you haven’t been able to do much at all it can really get you down. I quite often struggled with feeling low and useless. As a Christian, I felt I wasn’t being able to ‘live for God’ and felt pretty miserable on my own at home day after day. Through this time I felt God starting to challenge me in what was I finding my worth in. Was it deeds? Or was it Him? What was I trying to prove? Although I knew that I was saved through the grace of Christ alone I was desperately striving to prove my worth and who I was.
Through this period I felt God start to break down those things and to speak to my heart. He told me hat I was precious, and loved, and dear to Him even though I was lying weak at home, no matter that I couldn’t do anything for Him. I had to start to trust completely in Him and to start to find my identity in Him. This song encompasses my journey of trying to prove myself and then the comfort of the words from my Heavenly Father – “Child, I love you”. I pray that these lyrics and this song would encourage you and bless you. I ask that if you know someone struggling with a long term illness that you would pass on these words.
Whatever your journey, wherever you are remember you are loved, chosen, and precious to God! In some seasons you may be very fruitful in others it can feel like you are just hanging on by your fingertips. Whatever season you are in I pray that you would take time to hear God’s words of love in your life.
God bless,
Kat
