KatieW

“Open Eyes”

This is another “dual-purpose” song, meaning it’s both spiritual (relating to God) and it could also be interpreted as being about a person or a passion or anything…just whatever the listener chooses to interpret it as. (e.g., opening your eyes and seeing for the first time can be in reference to salvation or to realizing love, or so many other interpretations)

I had to decrease the audio quality a little bit to make the video size smaller, because my current internet connection has been too slow to upload large files. Sorry about that.

Lyrics are in the video. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. As always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but I don’t aspire to be; my only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things :-)

“The Fix”

I wrote this song about faith, redemption, mercy, grace, true surrender, and confession. It’s a pretty straightforward song, kinda more hyped up than a lot of my music, and pretty heavy on the bass (you probably won’t hear all the intricacies of the track if you listen on a low-quality sound system…but I might have gone a little too bass-crazy haha, so maybe it’s okay if you don’t hear all the bass).

Lyrics are in the video (not sure what happened, but somehow the lyrics got out of sync at one part…sorry!). All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. As always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but I don’t aspire to be. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things! :-)

“Maybe”

I’ve been writing a lot of music this week, and I’m finally getting around to recording it. I wrote this one a few days ago. It’s pretty self-explanatory I think, but it can be considered a dual-purpose song (meaning you can interpret it in multiple ways — e.g., relating to a person or relating to God). It’s mainly about the idea of letting go of fear, breaking out of your shell, and letting someone (or people in general) see your true heart. I kept it with just 12-string acoustic guitar and vocals, because I didn’t want other instruments crowding out the emotion.

Lyrics are in the video. All music, instruments, lyrics, and vocals are done by me. And as always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but that’s not my aspiration. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!

“This Love Goes On”

This song doesn’t really need much explanation lol. The lyrics are pretty clear, although I’ll admit it is a “dual-purpose” song (open to two interpretations).

When I started writing this one, I started with the guitar riff. I wanted to get back to my focus on guitar with this song, because I’m so passionate about guitar (I’m passionate about music in general, but there’s something different about playing guitar). Honestly, I was tempted to just record the guitar and leave the lyrics out, because I fell so in love with the riff. But that would’ve been boring to anyone listening :-)

Lyrics are in the video. I kept this one simple with just guitar and vocals, to emphasize the guitar and the emotion. Didn’t want it too cluttered. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. And as always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but I don’t aspire to be. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!

“Knock Knock”

I wrote this song roughly a week ago, and spent a lot of time getting it recorded. It’s got something like 26 tracks, so it took a lot longer than my acoustic songs. It’s basically just a song about pursuing God, desiring His will alone, being transformed, and how He opens doors for us as we follow Him. However, I wrote it with the intent that anyone can relate to it, whether they’re Christian or not. I know the mix is a little rough, but I’m not perfect lol, and I’m only working with Garageband and my own instruments, so don’t be too brutal :-)

The phrase “be one with the One” (about being one with God) in the second verse is something I’ve heard my pastor say several times at church, and it’s a phrase that really reaches me. Just had to give him credit for that line, haha. (My church is LCIM – Life Changing International Ministry, located in Valrico, FL)

Lyrics are in the video. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. As always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but I don’t aspire to be. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!

Forgiveness

I was recently (as recently as this morning) faced with a situation in which I had to choose how to react to a wrong that was done to me. With the wound fresh, the last thing I expected to think of was forgiveness. “It’s too soon to forgive! I can’t already forgive the person when they just now committed the wrong! The wound is so fresh. Nobody forgives someone that quickly. It’s normal to work through it, let it stew for awhile, deal with the emotions, tend to the wound, heal, and then, eventually, at some point come around and forgive them.” But those thoughts were all immediately shot down in favor of forgiveness, as in that moment I saw a Tweet my pastor posted about forgiveness, and then (not a minute later) I saw a Facebook post by a popular Christian Apologist about the importance of forgiveness.

So as I decided to forgive, I thought, “What exactly does forgiveness entail, anyway? I can’t just say I forgive the person, and that’s the end of it.” So I went to Scripture and asked for God’s wisdom. I also thought of what it means when God forgives us. And this is what I came up with:

What does forgiveness entail?

Forgiving entails a removal of the desire to punish or retaliate or seek “justice.”

It entails treating the person as if they had done no wrong.

It entails an unchanged love for the person. [“Love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5)]

It entails showing compassion.

It entails blessing the person as though they have earned it.

Forgiveness entails letting go of whatever the person did to you. Give it to God, be open with Him, get out everything pent up inside of you — every thought, emotion, feeling about it; get it all out, give it to God, and stop thinking about it. It’s important that we let these things out to God, not to the person; if we unleash it on the person, we’ll not only be guilty of unforgiveness (as we’ll be committing an act of retaliation), but we’ll also be guilty of hurting the person, and then we’ll feel even worse. If you absolutely MUST speak with the person about it, only do so after you’ve prayed and let it all out to God, and only speak to the person in love. Be sure that your heart is pure and your motives are pure. NEVER act based on emotion. Seek wisdom from God on the proper way of approaching the person; and remember: wisdom is the application of knowledge — our knowledge is found in Scripture, so search the Scriptures and ask God to teach you how to apply those Scriptures; James 1:5 says that God will give that wisdom to all who ask, so you can be assured that He won’t lead you astray.

Above all, the important thing to remember, perhaps the strongest motivation for forgiveness, is that God forgave us of so much more than whatever we have to forgive a person of. Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.”

With all that being said, the only thing left for me to say is:
“I forgive you.”

“What If”

This is a song about simply believing, regardless of anything else, regardless of the odds against a situation, regardless of what you feel or think or hear (or don’t feel or think or hear). Simply believing. The chorus phrases it as a question, because that’s actually how I got the idea: by asking the question, “What if?” It’s a song written from the perspective of someone questioning and choosing to believe. Because that’s exactly what I was doing.

However, this song is also written with the intent that people who are of a different faith (or of no faith) could relate to it in their own personal lives. The listener could, for example, apply it to their relationship or friendships.

Lyrics are in the video. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. And as always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but I don’t aspire to be. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!

“I’ll Wait”

I’ve been reading the Psalms lately, and my heart and mind have apparently soaked up what I’ve read, because most of these lyrics were inspired by various things I’ve read in the Psalms recently. The lyrics are also completely reflective of where I am in life right now: eager to take the next step, but needing to wait for God to direct that step. It’s a worship song, a song expressing my love for God and my desire to honor Him above all else.

Lyrics are in the video. All music, instruments, lyrics, and vocals are done by me. And as always, I know my vocals aren’t Grammy-quality, but that’s not my aspiration; my only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way :-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!

Instruments used: 12-string guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, mandolin, Cajon (percussion), and my voice.

From Pride to Love

One of the biggest problems in the world is that everyone wants to be a critic. People watch intently, just waiting for anything they can snatch, twist, and blow out of proportion to drag a person to the ground. You say one word wrong? It’s instantly destroyed your reputation — “I KNEW that person was a fraud!” they say. You hit one wrong note in a song? They instantly label you as having no talent. You stumble over your words in a sentence? You’re instantly assumed to be an idiot.

Man was not created to judge. None of us are perfect, and as a good friend of mine told me: even if you WERE perfect, people would still find a reason to insult you or drag you down. Look at Jesus — He WAS perfect, and people made Him out to be a criminal, attempted to tarnish His spotless reputation, and literally spit in His face.

People seem to have this ingrained doctrine that everyone else not only is lesser than them, but must be proven to be lesser and then brought even lower. And that is a doctrine of pride, woven through our DNA like a toxic strand of poison.

We need to put our lives on pause for a moment, truly examine our hearts, and allow God to rewrite our DNA — without that strand of pride. We cannot truly love others until this happens. Pride inhibits and prohibits love.

How can our DNA be rewritten? Through prayer — true, honest, devoted, consistent, passionate prayer — and filling our minds with the Word of God rather than the acidic words and actions of Hollywood. What we allow into our minds flows into our hearts, taking up residence and influencing our actions, becoming part of us. Don’t allow evil to be part of who you are! You were created to be a child of God, with His DNA, not the DNA of this world. Let Christ define you. Be the definition of love. Be different.

“Separate Me”

This is plain and simple a worship song, a prayer, and an expression of my love for God and His love for me. It’s a song that conveys who I am in Christ, and that everything is possible only by Him. The last line of the third verse (“You’ve made it my mission to be one with the One”) was inspired by the recent messages my pastor has been preaching at my church (LCIM – Life Changing International Ministry) about relationship with God and “being one with the One (God).”

Yes, my voice sounds deeper in this song lol, and girls usually aren’t supposed to sing deep, but I don’t care about those stereotypes or whatever…I wrote this song in this key because that’s the vision I had for it, and it’s the tone my voice naturally went to, so I didn’t want to try to force anything different.

Lyrics are in the video. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. And as always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but I don’t aspire to be; my only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!

[instruments used: Epiphone 12 string guitar, Casio keyboard/piano, GarageBand violin synth]