The Lord has opened up doors for me to sing more at my church.  He has allowed me to sing more by myself just to get rid of the nerves and to gain some confidence.  I am able to pour out my heart in song for Him.

That  is my hearts desire!  To just sing a song the way it comes out is very freeing and full-filling in a manner of… believing that the Lord is using me for that purpose.  The purpose being to worship Him at my potential for others, so they can worship Him too!

I also have been meeting with my awesome friend who plays the violin.  We have been taking songs we like and working them out in a new creative way.

Also just this week another one of my good friends from church who I use to sing with on the women’s ministry worship team is now helping me with my voice and guitar skills for growth.

I feel like I am in a place where I need help… more outside influence to grow me as a musician, and the Lord has brought it together, once more.

He is so faithful!!!  If you just let Him take the wheel!  In His perfect timing it all comes together… Such a blessing!

Here is an awesome personal example that confirms that waiting on the Lord is what he wants from us…

I have been wanting to do more at Church Worship for awhile, meaning I wanted some solos and more responsibility for growth.  To sing for our God with out nerves and concern of how it should sound, or what I sound like.  I wanted to work through all of it, so I could grow as a singer, and a worship leader.

I have found that those qualities come from experience.  We are all made of flesh which can overcome what we know to be true from the bible.  So I realized through all of my experience so far that I just need to be in circumstance that make me uncomfortable more, and that will grow me… that is the experience I need!

Anyway I shared how I was feeling with my husband months ago, and I really wanted to say something to the worship leader ( my authority) about it, but never found the right time.  I just didn’t feel prompted too, so I just left it alone.

About a month ago, my Worship Leader/Pastor decided that once a month he wanted to start doing a more intimate worship setting where it would be just four people doing worship instead of a whole band full of people.

So he has made it  just two singers, two guitars, and percussion.  I am the second singer and it is pretty neat to do, and it is more responsibility for me.

So I have more opportunity for solos and help carry the songs in a more passionate way instead of technical way… if that makes sense.

On Sundays the worship team comes in 2 hours early to practice the 5 songs for an hour and a half before church for the 2 services that day.  So a few Sundays ago, our Worship Leader lost his voice.  He could not sing.

So myself and another singer had to carry worship that day.  It was a big shock, and a lot of pressure to carry the songs… instead of just being an addition to the songs.  It was also awesome.

I just continued to ask the Lord to use me, to just sing through me for the congregation.  He carried me through and I was able to just worship passionately for Him.  I did not have to worry about blending with my worship leader, or singing to loud or too soft, I was just able to sing from my heart… it was divine!

So after first service, my worship leader said to me all the things that I have been wanting to say to him.  All the things I was hoping for in the church worship setting, came from the Lord out of his mouth.  It was so cool, so obvious to be from our Almighty and at His time!

So in God’s perfect timing, everything just comes together!

I have another story about Gods perfect timing… about a different kind of worship where he in His own time has allowed me again to be apart of something awesome!  But another day. 

Post from: Jenna Storms

Time Is Approaching

So as I sat and watch my kids learn to play soft ball and observed my little busy body in the car as  I wrote.  I actually wrote two.   So after feeding, schooling, and putting the baby put to bed… I took my guitar out and put music to one of the songs.

It turned out pretty cute!  My husband was pretty enthused about it, which always makes me happy.  He has an ear for good songs so sometimes I am a little apprehensive to hear his opinion.

After video taping 3 of my songs last week with my sister help, we came to realize that I need something totally different from the songs I have written so far.  My husband has also told me recently that I need to add some new chords to my collection… I totally agree.

So with their input in  mind I found a new song.  I was wondering how I was going to get this one recorded since my sister isn’t here to help me.  So I have just been pondering how to get my music up on my site.

As  I thought about it, I realized that there is nothing to protect my music from being stolen.  Now that sounds really silly… I know.  This would mean that my music is worth stealing.  But what if it is?

My songs mean something to me, I experienced the feelings and thought…put it into words and then made music to tell the story my way.

I remember watching a biography show on Dolly Pardon and she said something that I can so relate to.  She was talking about her songs and how she didn’t know which ones would be a hit and which ones wouldn’t.  She said with her sweet accent “the songs you write are like your children, you like them all.  They ARE  like my children.  They all have a different story behind them, they have individual character.

I would not be okay with any one taking any of my children.  Actually that is an understatement, but you get the idea.  So it would really suck if some one took one of my songs from me.  Again not saying that any of it is worth taking.  But just in case it is what do you do?  What do musicians do?

I Googled how to keep your music from being stolen?  Of course copyright sites came up, and fees to go along with them.  So you fill out a form and pay and then supposedly your songs are safe…but that is just a piece of paper.

If some one has the money to record your song before you, it can happen.  Then I would need a lawyer to back me up, and that is way out of my price range.

So I have decided to record some of my songs…get them on a DVD and send them to all the Christian Production Agencies I can find.  I am going to trust the Lord and know that if it is in His will, then someone will like them..right?!

I have come to realize in the last few years that some people will like you and some people won’t.  That pretty much goes with any aspect of you…like my music.  For a long time I thought because I didn’t have a huge range and couldn’t do every thing vocally that most successful musicians could do…I wasn’t worthy of singing for any one…I was a big critic of myself.

Wow… talk about killing your self esteem.  That belief  is not true.  The truth is.. God gave me this gift and I am as worthy as any one else to use it.  I have this burning desire to sing and play.  It really over takes my mind above all else at times.  I have to believe that is because I was meant to do it.

So, it is what it is, and I can roll with that.  I do want to put my music up for all to hear, but I am going to be careful about it.

Life can be so challenging and expressing through song is lovely for me.  It is like a day at the beach with out a beach, or how about the sound of trees blowing in the wind with out the trees and the wind… okay I am sure you get the picture.

Anyway I hope that this made sense… I want to protect the music I write and hope that I get to be the one to share it with the world when it is time!  I am okay with waiting, since  there is a lot going on in my life right now, like… caring for and schooling my kids, paying bills, becoming a better guitar player is up there too.

Post from: Jenna Storms

Stolen Music

It was a life that we grew up with pros and cons of course.  I think there are always pros and cons to all jobs that Daddy’s do.  So now my Dad has a wonderful opportunity to work up there again as a retired man…very cool!

He has a few kids that love music!!!  So this does not make me special…I am just one that he asked.  My sister and I love to sing together…she likes to be more behind the scenes  but we did this together, so she is getting credit as well.

My dad sent me some lyrics to a song that a North Slope Employee wrote about the life…his name is Luke Moffat.  It goes to the song “Rodeo” by Garth Brooks.

The Lyrics are pretty creative…our Dad asked us to figure it out and record it for him…so we did.  I couldn’t get the guitar chord figured out because we only had a little bit of time while my sister was visiting.  There are 8 kids between us…one is a 20 month old and one is two and a half.

So we did the best we could with what we had…it turned out pretty good!  So here it is to share with all who wants to listen.  I hope you enjoy it…I am pretty sure any one in the life of a ‘North Sloper’ will get a kick out of it.

I am working on getting a media player on here soon to share it.

Post from: Jenna Storms

The North Slope

Most songs I knew about half the words or  just the chorus but…I could hum the whole song or make up my own words as I sang it.

Silly as that sounds I came to realize if you get the lyrics right you begin to understand a whole new meaning to the song.  My husband has helped me see that as well.  I see myself as a musician at heart and yet some of the time I wasn’t even getting the whole feel of the song.

Now granted it isn’t all the time, but because of my experiences in music my genre was limited.  My husband also has a huge listening genre.  I was into my choir songs and the radio where they played the same songs over and over and over again.

So my goal in the years to come, is to start listening to things I wouldn’t normally listen to, just to spread my horizons.  My fear is that the songs I write will all turn out sounding the same.

I grew up loving music, what I remember listening to at first was what my parents played obviously.  Are you ready?  Barry Mannilow, Barbara Streisand, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Pardon…I will list more when I can remember.

Anyway from there…elementary school…the classics.  I ate up choir which was an every week thing when I went to school, it was my favorite along with P.E.  Singing, acting, learning square dancing…was the high light of my week in school.  And then to go into the gym and try to by the toughest fastest girl (and even keep up with a lot of the boys), that is what I enjoyed.

Actually I would still enjoy both if it wasn’t for the fact I don’t have enough time for working out consistently.  I still have a very competitive nature, and I still love and appreciate athleticism.  I am just NOT a part of that life style right now, I intend to go back to it when my children are a bit older.

Okay back to the music subject…I was in choir all the way up to my senior year.  The thing that baffles me to this day is that I was never the best singer and still…I am no where near I would love to be with my vocals, yet I have done it my whole life.  I have finally come to just being happy with what the Lord has blessed my with.  I still work at it so to always improve.  So now I am not down on myself about my ability not being as good as I think I should be.

This post was about how powerful music can be…when all things come together…the music and the lyrics.  I believe that God gave us music.  He also has gave us free will, so a lot of the music is NOT used for good.  I think musicians are treated as idols which I think is silly because they are just people.

Music when it all comes together is emotionally moving.  This is actually coming partly from my husbands mouth.  I asked him to help me with my songs, tell me what he thinks.  After being annoyed about his comments, I started to listen to what he was saying and he was right.

Songs can be simple but have a meaning that relates to every one and gives them feelings, hopefully good ones.  I hope that is what I accomplish with my songs.  One day they  will be up on this site, and that will be a day that is very exciting and scary all at the same time.

That to me…is putting yourself out there for all to see.

Post from: Jenna Storms

The Feel Of A Song