Christian Songwriting: For the Billboard or for the Lord?

My dear friend and coach, Mark Cawley, asked an important question in his most recent blog: “What keeps you going as a songwriter when you feel like packing it in?"

Like most Nashville songwriters, I keep the sidewalks of Music Row polished with my shoe leather! As much time as I spend in Music Row pitch sessions, it is often easy to forget that I write for the Lord, and not for the Billboard. It is His decision how He will use any of my songs.

Take for example, my very first song, "Blessed by the Master's Hands". I often have felt that it is my weakest song, due to it being written very early in my songwriting career. However, 
that little song (my very first song) is just like a Timex watch; it just keeps on ticking! I often get letters telling of blessings that song has brought.

Carolana receiving an award for the song “Blessed by the Master’s Hands” from Sue C. and John Smith at the Write About Jesus Conference 2011.

Here is a striking example of such a letter:

Two years ago, I was at the Write About Jesus Conference, when a lady slipped a note in my hand. The lady wrote that she was about to commit suicide. Her husband and she had both lost their jobs, and their home had been foreclosed. She had $10 to feed her three kids for the next week. She had decided to end it all in her hotel room. Then, she read in the program that “Blessed by the Master’s Hands” was up for a panel evaluation. She wrote that the Lord spoke to her just by the song title. She put the pills down, and came to hear "Blessed by the Master's Hands" during the panel evaluation. Afterwards, she planned to go back to her room and take the pills. When she heard the words: "Tiny can be mighty,” she knew God was telling her to trust Him—she did—and she decided to live!

I cherish that letter. When I am discouraged, I remind myself that God has called me to write, and only He knows the plan for each song!

Please share with me your song stories.  How have they been used?  Do you have songs that “keep on ticking?” How do you define the “success” of your song?

Suggested Reading:

Write About Jesus
Mark Cawley’s Blog - iDoCoach.com

Songwriting: Even During a Multiple Sclerosis Crisis

Like most artistic types, I am so creative that my own creativity can be my greatest distraction. During a resent Multiple Sclerosis relapse, I saw what God could do to remove my distractions. 

Just when I was learning where to park on Music Row in Nashville, painful nodules began growing on my arm’s nerves and muscles. The surgeon went in after “only a couple of the bad ones.” However, I awoke in recovery with both arms completely wrapped! The surgeon had found seven nodules, two of which had cluster (multiple) heads. 

Such an extensive surgery caused a severe relapse in my Multiple Sclerosis, making my brain too week to send clear signals to my heart and lungs to work correctly; kind of like sending a text message with words missing. My blood-oxygen ratio level goes as low as 60% (normal is 95-100%). The only way I can jump-start my tired brain is to provide it with auxiliary oxygen.

While lying with my oxygen mask, I finally am too weak to chase after my self-made distractions. On those days, I know that the little energy I have must be spent on my songwriting. Often I literally have to depend on God to move my pen across the page. My words are clearer because I know I only have the energy to write what is authentically coming from my heart. It is the best writing of my career.

I am learning to write flat on my back — looking up into HIS FACE!

Do you have distractions, of your own making, that block your best writing? How have you removed those distractions? How do you recognize a distraction? Please share with all of us!

Melody Writing: When God Sends His Joy in My Mournings

Just a few weeks ago, I blogged about how God had sent the perfect guitar into my life. What joy I felt! But my joy was short-lived, last week my MS (Multiple Sclerosis) caused my left hand to freeze around the neck of my guitar. The MS was causing dreaded muscle spasticity in my left hand. I cried with panic at the thought of not being able to play the guitar. I grieved that loss.

I knew I had to move on with the co-writing of the song, “Pain Beyond My Prayers.”

He called, and suggested that we try the melody on the piano. He said, “This song just needs a smooth piano sound. Just something I am hearing with it. But I am not real great on the keyboard. Can you do it?”

I sat down at my piano, frozen with fear, and tried to remember all the technical stuff to playing the piano. Then, one finger at a time, I played the notes that my heart was feeling --D minor-- the notes of sorrow and sadness — the sound of mourning a loss.  I can't tell you exactly how it happened, but the melody was written in less than an hour!!   

My robust, six-foot co-writer stood in tears at the sound of notes. He said, "This song just needed you to pour out your pain on the piano! That is something that only your heart could understand how to write!"

While my left hand lay asleep in my lap. But my right hand worked away - one note at a time. Even though I am left-handed!

Then I realized, God just needed one of my hands to do this particular job. He is faithful to give us exactly what we need - like manna from heaven - He gives us no more nor no less than what we need to get His job done. Anything extra just weighs our hearts down. We can only fly with Him, when we have just what we need!

Have you had times when you had too much weighing your heart down to do a song with a free, light heart?  What did you have to release to get your song done?

Photo Credit: Google Images

Guitars: One Songwriter’s Lesson in Giving and Getting from God

Sometimes I am frustrated when I need something for my songwriting and it doesn’t appear. It cannot be found anywhere. It is during those times, that my prayers seem to go unanswered. When I recently needed a new guitar, God taught a great lesson about generosity.

I have recently developed more spasticity in my hands due to my Multiple Sclerosis. That has caused my fingers to go numb and stiffen when I am playing the guitar. I was forced to look for a parlor guitar to replace my beloved Fender Mini-Jumbo (cut-out model). My fingers just could no longer reach across the fingerboard. My dear friend, renowned guitarist Bob Britt, joined me in the search for a guitar to solve my physical dilemma. After trying a least a dozen guitars, neither of us could find a solution to my finger problem. My heart broke, as I had to consider the possibility of giving up the guitar!!  

No matter where a disaster strikes, the healing power of music will survive.

In the midst of my guitar pity party I heard of a blooming musician who had lost his beloved guitar in the recent tornadoes that devastated Oklahoma City. For days, the impression of that splintered guitar, with its detached and tangled strings, ran through my mind. Each time I thought of it, my heart would break for all the musicians without guitars in Oklahoma. I was moved to tears at my own selfishness! So I boxed-up not only my favorite Fender, but also my worn-out Indiana and several guitars I found at the local Goodwill. I know how intimate a musician’s relationship is with their beloved string-instruments. And while I realized that many people of Oklahoma are suffering, my heart breaks most for the singer/songwriters who need their music to help them heal. 

The size of my new guitar is smaller, but the fit is much larger.

As I reached out to help with their healing, I found my own healing. For, in being generous with others, I made room for God to send me a new, special designed guitar. The same day I sent that guitar box off to Oklahoma, I found my perfect guitar! In a used guitar store I found a brand-new Art and Lutherie Godin parlor guitar, complete with built-in tuning and external battery access. The amazing thing was that this guitar was reduced due to its unusually slimmed fingerboard! God knew more about what I needed than I did. But before he could reveal his answer, I had to make room for God to send me a blessing.

Can you tell me about other things that block the flow of your creativity? Has lack of generosity ever block your songwriter? How did you get through it?  

OK, Guitar Gurus, this is your chance to tell me what guitar REAL guitarists fall in love with — this could be great fun to hear.

Photo Credit: JasonAllen19