About My CD

Ok so I thought I would write about my CD, the songs on it and the making of!

So the first song I wrote that's on this CD is "Love Song". I wrote it a few years ago. It's probly my most personal song, and I have went back and forth wondering if I should put it on the CD or not. I wrote it for my future husband, whom I don't know yet. My Pastor came up to me after an altar call one service and told me that he didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to tell me a few things, one thing including that I have felt to be strong for myself, but one day, if I stay in Gods will, He will send me a husband that will be strong for me. I think that explains the song well enough. :)

The Second song I wrote on the CD is "Saved the Girl". I wrote this after the "Elevate" conference where Bro. Bow taught that God deserves a song from everyone. Doesn't matter if anyone hears it or not, or what it's about, but God deserves a song. So the day I went back to work from the conference, as I was taking the little girl I nanny for a walk, I tried to put a song together. I based it on a prayer of thanksgiving to God. About where He's brought me from and where He's placed me.

The next song I wrote, in chronological order...lol (Got them dated :p) is "Follow Jesus". Now I only technically wrote the bridge to this song, only changed the keys and beats of the other two. It's a medley! lol One day when I was nannying, Lucca said something that made me think of the song "I Have Decided To Follow Jesus". On my way home, with the song in my head, I thought it would be cool to revamp it and change the rythm. So I started thinking of a beat that would go with it and went home and plucked out some chords (that I can play lol) to it. At some point I think I was laying on the couch playing it and decided it needed a bridge or something. So I wrote the bridge! lol Then on my way home from meeting a friend for lunch, with it still on my brain, I thought Oh! "Jesus Loves Me" would be cool to add to it! (Probly was in my brain cause I try to teach Lucca songs occasionally :)) Thus came forth the song on the last day of the year. :)

Then songs seemed to just start flowing out of me!

Next I wrote "Trust You and Believe". I wrote this one when I was frustrated with a situation that had made me mad about some of my past. It's about missing out on affection and trying to find it somewhere else and the choices involved. It's about putting trust in God, knowing that He made me and has my life in His hands. ...'nuff said. :p

A few days after that, Aaron preached a message about all the things God does for us. All the miracles He has done and that anything is possible, even the small things. The day after he preached or so, I had been distraught about my vehicle situation. My Jeep had been breakin' down and it seemed to me that it wasn't gonna last much longer. I prayed about it and not long after, my mom told me that my sister was getting her old car back and giving my mom back HER old car, thus leaving an extra vehicle for me to drive so I could sell my Jeep! It may seem small, maybe even coincidental, but I gave God the glory for it with Aaron's message still fresh on my mind! So as I was taking my new stereo out of my old Jeep I wrote "I Just Wanna Thank You". It is really a choir song... but I recorded it anyway the best I could, singing all the parts... so that maybe our choir can sing it someday! :)

Not long after that song, I was texting a friend about writing and recording songs. She had recently wrote one and I really liked it! Something jogged my memory about a writing assignment I had had in school. It had to start off "I was born and then..." As I was thinking about it I thought, "Well I was born, but I was also born again!" I thought it would make a cool quote to post on my msn, ya know something like "I was born, but then was born again. It wasn't until then that I truly lived." But with all this song writing happening I thought why not make a song out of it! And so came forth "I Was Born and Then" lol, which, of course, talks about being born again of the Holy Ghost and the new life it brings!

Toward the end of that month I was laying in bed one night and the first line of "Come Home" came to my head. By this point I either just was doing it so much that songs just come from everything I thought, or God started laying songs on my heart. I'm not sure what I was even thinking about, besides trying to sleep, when this song started coming to mind. But the whole thing came out that night before I went to sleep! (Normally it was taking me a day or so to work through a song). I recorded it on my phone a line at a time so I wouldn't forget it by the next day. This song is about those that have backsliden and the choices they made instead of following God. There have been several that have backsliden the last year or so and this song became sort of a burden to hurry and get this CD done. It's about praying that they will come home and for them to remember God's mercy, and how it affects more than just the person walking away, but everyone. It's about the people of God never giving up on them that have walked away, even when they give up on theirselves. Amen.

It must've been the very next night or so that I was praying before bed and I had been thinking how all my songs sounded similar and I wanted to jazz them up! I was praying as I normally would and one thing I said stuck out to me, let Your light shine through me! So I started singing "Used By You". It's about exactly that! Letting God use me for His works! After all, isn't that what we're here for?

According to my dates... I wrote "Look Up" the very next day! But it may have just been when I printed them... I started writing this song when I was on my way from nannying to go to my second job. It seems there are a lot of homeless in Centralia, and ever since Youth Quest last year, I have had a burden to give them "more than money". I designed church cards to be able to hand them, but I don't always get a chance to hand them out to everyone I see. I started singing... I wanna reach you so badly... I wanna teach you the Truth... For You're in a world that's dying... and there is NO HOPE for you... But in God there is hope! and all things are possible! He can restore life and give you a new one!

The last 2 I wrote on the CD were apparantly written on the same day! lol not sure though... They are "Some People" and "Not Me But You".
I had heard a rumor about a certain person saying some things about me that weren't true so, in using my new found way to vent, I wrote a song! I don't care if you talk about me. Do those that say they love me just say it cause everyone else does? Do you know me although you never talk to me? You say you like me but why don't I ever see you? All I know is I have God! And He's all I need to rely on! Not to mention a Pastor with a true, Godly love for people.
With "Not Me But You", somehow the first line just popped into my head, not sure if anything promted it or not, and I just went with it. It's about the compliments I recieve but how if I didn't have God, none of those things would be true! Before God filled me with the Holy Ghost, I certainly wasn't "Beautiful", it's God's spirit living in me that makes me and all the other apostolic women out there shine like no other woman can! Before I got back in church, the songs I attempted to write didn't really have much meaning, nor were they worth listening to. It's because of God I have a reason to sing. People say how creative I am, but really, without the burdens God has put in me and without a Pastor to guide me, I probly wouldn't be doing much of anything extracurricular! People talk about my abilities as a musician, but if it wasn't for the church, the talents that run in my family would've had no where to grow in me. It's because of GOD that all these things are true. I thank God for everything He has blessed me with and I want to make sure it is ALL given back to Him and used for HIS glory, not mine. AMEN.

The poem at the end I wrote when I had recently got back in church. I had battled suicidal thoughts on occasion and decided that that was no longer a choice. Hopefully the poem explains itself.

Alright now to the making of! :)

So if you scroll down on my blog and look at a few videos, you'll see where I attempted to use my camera to record my songs. The first one I recorded was "Fight On", which Marco and I co-wrote. I don't know what gave me the idea, but after working with Windows Movie Maker for youth videos and such, the thought came to me to use it to layer a song by recording everything individually and layering it together in the program. But because it was recorded as a video and made on a video program, that's all it could be. Was a video. So I enjoyed making my little slideshows to my songs and posting them :). Marco mentioned after I had written a few of my own songs that we should both make a CD. Well the only recording equipment I had was the video stuff so I hardly saw that possible. I had visited Music 6K before and they had showed me a recording program that I was very interested in getting!
Well I was waiting to save the money and what not to get it, but in the mean time still recording with what I had. I kept showing my songs to my pastor and eventually he said, ya know, you should try to make a CD. I'm like ya! I've wanted to! Soooo... I searched for a recorder, which I found at Music 6K, that would record an actual audio file. Bro. Yaden had told me about a free mixing program that I downloaded, then the guy from Music 6K told me about another one. This one seemed simpler. :)
Well anyways So now I was equipped to attempt to make a CD!
Using all my spare time when no one was around, I recorded the main instruments for each song and vocals. Then eventually found time when no one was at the church to record the drums. I haven't mastered my recorder yet, so occasionally some things are too loud or too quite. Also, like my mom has mentioned, I need to learn the bass to help fill in the songs!
Well anyway I hope everyone enjoys my CD for what it is! I want to make more in the future and maybe take a little more time with it. This one I wanted to get done before No Limits! :D(WHICH WAS AWESOME!) And finding time when there was no one around to make noises and trying to make my voice not sound tired got frustrating... :)

My mom and I hope to make a children's CD soon (bein's as we're both nannies :p) and also Aaron, Joey and I may attempt one with the songs we have each written and all the instruments we know put together... Family CD! lol

Well wish me and all that will help me luck on the future ones so they can sound a little more proffesional! But for now....

ENJOY!

God Bless and thank you for your time and encouragement!

Sincerely,
"Sincerity"
~Jessi