Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Sex, Media & Feminism - My Open Letter to Beyonce

Dear Bey,

I jumped off your bandwagon.

Before any of your bees come a stingin' in reply to my post, hear me out.

I was sorta cool with the whole, "I transform into another person, and this other being comes out of me and I named her Sasha Fierce". I defended you against all the "Illuminati" drama that surrounded you after watching your documentary and seeing how many times you attributed your success to God. Now though, it's just not worth it to me.

Someone on my Instagram posted a video on their feed from one of your concerts on this tour. Crazy costumes aside, you basically wiggled and showed everything plus the kitchen sink in front of HD cameras for all the world to see. It's no longer about clever lyrics or enviable choreography in high heels, now it's string undies - and I mean string - and barely covered behinds. I'm all for sexiness and I applaud you totally for making women around the world feel sexy and confident no matter what the shape of their bodies or color of their skin is. You have done a great thing for women, for me personally as a black woman. But honestly, there has to be a line drawn somewhere and you've crossed it.

This whole new album and the explicit videos, I just don't get it. I mean, how can this be healthy for anyone or any marriage. You've got it. You're a game changer. All these "PYT's" coming up are just trying to live up to you and your talent and you are SO talented. You are probably one of the best vocal talents of our generation and a songwriting genius. You are a voice honored and respected by many and so many people look up to you. 

You added this line to feminist Chimamanda Adichie's TEDx talk which wasn't in the original speech "We teach girls that they should not be sexual beings in the way that boys are". And boldly declared your FEMINIST stance. Well now, we ought to be teaching our boys not to be sexual beings in the way that women are because if we go on like this, with absolutely nothing left to the imagination, what sort of world are we heading into?

Feminism in my humble view is about defining, establishing and defending equal rights between men and women. Catchy anthems won't be enough to raise the standards if you don't model them in your own life. Catchy anthems will fade away but what you show through your life, that's what people will remember. You can't just talk a good game Bey, you gotta actually be.



You are setting a standard I can't live down to. I don't think men are going to be performing naked anytime soon and while they get more suave and sophisticated in their suits and ties and designer labels for their performances, you inspire us to keep degrading ourselves and becoming objects men ogle and view as sex symbols rather than people. The complete antithesis of feminism.

I mean have you seen Amber Rose's outfit to the 2014 VMA's? Or Rihanna's sheer everywhere dresses? Don't! This industry now is 70% porn, 20% marketing and 10% explicit music. It's hard to live in a world like that, it's enough of a battle to fight for purity by setting up filters on my computer, but this is People magazine, Youtube & every channel on TV.

Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, everyone, I don't need to know what goes on in your bedrooms, come on!

I get it. Your definition of feminism as confidence in your sexuality and owning it. By all means, own it! Don't give it away on the media silver platter. That would speak volumes louder for feminism than pin up posters in man caves and teenage boys bedrooms. In the same breath I would warn that placing your confidence on something as wavering as how tight and right your body is and many times you can wind, grind and twerk per minute is a very bad idea.

Being a woman in a man's world isn't just about equal wages, it's about respect. More than that it's about honor and value. I don't care if women top the charts or we get the promotions just because we are women. I care about being valued and honored and respected first because I am a person and second and most importantly because God made me a gifted woman and that is a pretty awesome thing.

I have no right to speak into your life, you are probably never going to know I exist, but I do respect the voice and position you have over this generation, and I pray that somehow the tides will shift and this public sexual craze will stop being how you or the rest of us are defined.

Once A Fan,






Thursday, August 21, 2014

Endless Ocean by Jonathan David Helser


In the beginning
You were singing
In the end you will still be
Singing over me
In this moment
You're right beside me
Everywhere you're in the air that I breathe

You are an endless ocean, bottom less sea
You are an endless ocean, bottom less sea

In my sin
You kept loving
Theres no end to your forgiveness and mercy
Every morning 
You keep coming
The waves of your affection
They keep washing over me

You are an endless ocean, bottom less sea
You are an endless ocean, bottom less sea

Al those angels
They are swimming in this ocean and they still can find no shore
Day and night night and day they keep seeing new sides of your face

You are an endless ocean, bottom less sea
You are an endless ocean, bottom less sea 

Oooh, ooh, oooh, oooh

There's no end to the affection you have for me
There's no end to the affection you have for me

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Writing

When I don't know what to do
You are my wisdom
When I don't know where to turn
You are my direction
When the storm rages
You are my calm

I hold on for your direction
I hold on to find your peace
I hold on to you forever
Your face is all I seek
I hold on to see your promise
Coming true inside of me
Oh you trusted me with favor
With your power inside of me
All my love is yours forever




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You Make Me Brave by Amanda Cook

There are a million reasons I'm thankful to be here, Bethel Worship has to be one of the top!


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Sunday, November 24, 2013

Winter Jam 2014

Hands down best day of November!!!!!!

My super super awesome roomate took me to this Music Festival in Sacramento and it was seriously the BEST and the most DREAM COME TRUE event I've ever been to! We were volunteers & sold merch for Building 429! I remember being a kid buying my 1st Building 429 album & loving it s much I scribbled their logo on a piece of paper & sticking it on my wall; then having my sister make fun of me spelling it, "Biulding" instead of "Building". I blame my Kikuyu accent!

Anyway, I could go on and on about how I cried after and got a cold, crying at 4am, after driving in the cold all night, is not a good idea, but I'll let the fuzzy pictures speak for themselves!

the housemate and I

perfect day




 

 




















MEETING THE NEWSBOYS!!!!

bridge lit up with LED lights I thought it was pretty cool




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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

My One and Only Skyler Smith & Kim Walker-Smith



This song is absolutely messing up my heart today in the very best of ways :-)

"You my one and only
You came and overwhelmed me
Love so pure and holy, love

With me you never have to hide
Because I'm always by your side
For you I live my life to give
This gift of love is ours to live"

You can listen to a preview here or get this beautiful album on iTunes here or on the Jesus Culture website.










My One and Only Skyler Smith & Kim Walker-Smith



This song is absolutely messing up my heart today in the very best of ways :-)

"You my one and only
You came and overwhelmed me
Love so pure and holy, love

With me you never have to hide
Because I'm always by your side
For you I live my life to give
This gift of love is ours to live"

You can listen to a preview here or get this beautiful album on iTunes here or on the Jesus Culture website.

Friday, June 14, 2013

New Blog Reveal :: Treasured


It's a little hard to a blog reveal when it's already revealed the minute you click on here! However, I still have to do this post to kiss my 1st blog, Raha and Life goodbye. It's served me well the past few years but I really felt like a change was necessary.

To remind you of what it looked like, 

 This is the before shot, and...

This is the after shot.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:7

I was praying asking God for a name for this new blog and for whatever ministry I'll start and this morning, treasured just flew into my mind. One of the songs that really impacted my life this year was Jesus Culture's "Sing my Love" 

"Words could never say the way He says my name He calls me lovely // No one ever sees the way He looks at me He sees me holy // Words could never hold this love that burn my soul Heaven holds me, oh heaven holds me //
You would not believe the way He touches me He burns right through me // And i could not forget every word He said He always knew me // The earth could never hold this love that burns my soul Heaven holds me oh heaven holds me"

This song spoke directly to me. I'd never imagined that God could look at me and call me lovely or see me as holy or love me ferociously or tell me that He's always known me. Then coming across these 2 verses in Deuteronomy. In case I ever doubted it, here it is in black and white, we not only have treasure in our hearts; but He calls us His own treasure. We are treasure in and out. We are treasured people. So this is what I want this blog to be about. To be a reminder of all these things. To re-teach my heart what it means to live like I'm loved and to share my lessons along the way.

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I hope you like the new site, can't wait to interact with you all more.


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Music Review: Utawala by Juliani

I absolutely had to share this video with you guys. Juliani is the absolute best lyricist I have ever had. EVER. This song is called Utawala and I love the video. It highlights the bad times in Kenya where corruption, hunger, mismanagement etc. have wrecked us, but it also shows people along our history who've stood up against it. I especially love the part where he shows how Wangari Mathai was attacked defending the forests and had her hair ripped out and later she was the first woman and first Kenyan to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. The message of the video is that we should stand up to corruption, from the huge aspects like protecting our wildlife from poachers to the little things like buying pirated movies. I'm not perfect and this definitely opened my eyes. Hope you like it. (And for my non-kiswahili speaking friends, I hope the images in the video speak to you, you never know God might reveal it to you)



CHORUS:Niko njaaa hata siezi karanga              
              hoehae shaghala bhaghala niko tayari kulipa gharama              
              sitasimamaa maovu yakitawala sitasimama maovu yakitawala              
              Ufisadi, ibinafsi ukabila              
              kuuza sura wataki kuuza sera              
              Undugu nikufaana               
              sitasimama maovu yakitawala siatasimama maovu yakitawala

Hard ku get wadhifa una deserve bila cash ama kashfa
hii society kenye wanaeza share ni nyungu ya busa ama kettle ya shisha

Mfuko unasikia echo
utajua thamani ya mali na size ya kifuli
hujaibiwa juu hauna ka kitu worth risking jail time, police bullets for

unaeza argue crime doesn't pay lakini huezi dismiss justice ina bei
mwizi ana fourty days, 365 days later anaendelea ku grow fatter

Do anything for power, ready to loose their head for presidency bora waione kwa currency

sababu gani siko affected na turbulance nikifly angani
nimezoea the same feeling matatu zikipitia pothole mtaani

CHORUS:

Ndio wa raise funds itabidi u raise hands
growing concerns
breakfast za croissants

hatutaki upunguze bei ya bidhaa
tunataka opportunities ndio tu afford hizo bidhaa


walisema kutembea kwingi ndio kuona mengi
nimeshinda nikitembea ma ofisi  nasijawai ona kazi

siezi cheza Golf venye tiger would
mambo si bara bara chin wu

Naomba journey mercies chakula ifike tumboni ikitoka kwa sahani

Policeman anapiga rungu mwalimu, daktari anamrushia teargas
na mtoto wake anarudishwa nyumbani hana school fees analipwa peanuts.

CHORUS:

Sewer za state house na latrine za ghetto ziupatana Nairobi river

No more nita live by hand to mouth
ushawai sikia maskini anaugua gout

Nikiwa na nguvu ya kung'oa reli definately kuinua kura si nzito ukiingiza kwa ballot box
chagua kiongozi wa kweli
Moha, John Allan Namu jicho pevu wakianika mkono refu inapick pocket wanyonge

Navaa mask ka goal keeper wa Hockey waezi ni kerubo

Kenya ni kama Boxing hakuna sub
work with what we have.

 CHORUS:

All owed and copyrighted to Juliani. Lyrics provided for educational purposes only.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

23rd Birthday Post 2

I know 2 posts in one day, but it's my birthday so deal with it! Anyway, it was a good day. Spent it with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew - Jeremy and niece - Imani. I am currently in a food coma after stuffing my face with pizza, fries and nyam chom (BBQ ribs). Tomorrow we're going back to my mom's and the rest of the fam is coming over, so it's going to be very nice. I'm looking forward to cake! Well, it was a great day. Love my family!

This song has been playing in my head all day and after sitting down and paying attention, I was left thinking,  "Oh, well, duh. this is what I prayed for last night."

The song is called Give Me Faith by Elevation Worship.



It goes like this:

I need you to soften my heart
to break me apart
I need you to open my eyes
to see that you're shaping my life

All I am
I surrender

Give me faith to trust what you say
that you're good and your love is great
I'm broken inside, I give you my life

I need you to soften my heart
to break me apart
I need you to pierce through the dark
and cleanse every part of me

I may be weak
but Your spirit's strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God you never will 

I love this song, especially the bridge, "I may be weak, but your Spirit's strong in me. My flesh my fail, but my God you never will." Wow, I pray I remember these words forever. I pray in my weakness I remember God's strength, when I feel like a failure I remember God will never fail.


xx
Jo

 

Monday, April 29, 2013

Spontaneous Worship

This is something I've really been interested in over the past year. Going beyond the restraint of the song and having a conversation with God leading to encounter. One way I've been loving of doing that is spontaneous worship. To me this is singing from the heart. I was singing with my team at our Church's night of worship last Friday and one of my favorite parts of the night was I was singing my own words and my friends were singing their own words and the band was singing their own words or singing in tongues all spontaneous lyrics out of ONE song, then the pastor comes up and tells us to sing a song off the set-list and unrehearsed but that was perfect in that moment, it was amazing stuff.

I've been doing a little research about it because I'm a nerd and I research things a lot, this is some stuff I found:

I have encountered about 3 different ways people sing out in the spirit. All 3 are equally valid and have purpose, but the outcomes are very different and we therefore need to respond in different ways depending on what type of singing in the spirit God is calling us to do during a service.
1. You may be called to sing a prophetic/spontaneous song... something that is revealing God’s heart/nature to us to either encourage/guide or edify the church. Should these prophetic songs be transcribed if at all possible like any other prophetic word? What do you think?
The point is for everyone to hear what God has to say, so it is good to sing that out over a microphone – or if you’re me then don’t use one lol!
2. We may be called to sing out in the spirit spontaneous songs of praise. If it is a general song of praise – not something prophetic from God to His people, rather an overflowing of what is in your heart I would suggest stepping back from the microphone... this will encourage other people to join you in singing out praises from their hearts rather than stopping to listen to what you are singing... THINK... what is the purpose of my singing out, is it 'just' my own praise therefore between me and God or is it something to edify the church?
3. One of us, or even the congregation may start to sing a short phrase over and over again in the spirit. We need to listen out for this happening and ‘catch hold’ of it... allow the spirit to move in it and encourage the church to respond corporately to it, by joining in or adding their own phrases to follow on where one person has started us off. In that instance if it is a member of the team I would encourage you to sing into you microphone as you are leading people corporately singing in the spirit.
Our leadership want us when bringing a prophetic WORD to bring it to the person leading the service through briefly for them to make an initial yes bring it now or ...no not right now judgement. They then ask that person to write up the word so that they can revisit it over time, and weigh it up etc.
We cant really do that with spontaneous songs and prophetic songs... as in their nature they are spontaneous.
Sometimes they appear to be directly prophetic in nature, other times they appear to be 'just' spontaneous... who makes the judgement call over whether it was prophetic or not... not me I think that is a job for leadership, but we do need to therefore equip them to make that judgement by providing some means of assessing a spontaneous song by keeping some form of record. 
Pauline L - Worship Central Forums 

If you’re assembling a prophetic worship team, it won’t be enough if you merely find a few people who jam well together.  They may be spontaneous and they may sound good together.  But it doesn’t turn prophetic until we stop expressing our hearts, our sound, or our style.  Only when we express God’s heart do we step into  prophetic song.
Over the years, I’ve found two good ways to start.  First, sing in tongues for a while, and ask God for the interpretation.  Second, sing Bible truth about Jesus.  But then, invite the Holy Spirit to pour a song of worship through our lips, a song that will release the manifest presence of God.
Often, the prophetic song arrives not with a lot of musical virtuosity, but with sounds I suspect I could play in my sleep.
Prophetic activity doesn’t spill off the top of our heads.  Jesus said (John 7:37-38) “Out of your belly – out of your deepest parts – will flow rivers of living waters.”
If your deepest parts are thinking about music, your spontaneous songs will be little more than jamming.  But if your deepest parts are communing with Jesus, you are likely to get into a prophetic flow.
I don’t think John the Baptist ever picked up a guitar, but he had the recipe:  “I, [the musician] must decrease, but He. The Word of God, must increase.”

To cultivate this, it’s good to seek the flow of the Spirit and the manifest presence of God as we worship Him in secret.  That’s what Jesus taught; if we seek the Father in secret, He will reward us openly.
Go into the prophetic flow.  Don’t be satisfied just to jam.

I'm going to do a lot more posts like this on this type of stuff that really just stirs me up. As much as I research and read and receive I'll share with you guys. 

Good news too. I know my "God" posts are long but I've decided I won't put a page break thing so that even if you happen to stumble upon this site you can read all these hopefully inspirational/educational posts without clicking and waiting...all for your convenience.

xx
Jo

Taking Back My Heart Part 1

Last week I talked about how I don't believe in love anymore and how the concept of falling in love freaked me out more than exciting me and how maybe I shouldn't jump into it at all.

Last week, I lied.

Yes, the concept of love freaks me out. There is so much wrong about relationships these days. So much pressure and so much uncertainty. I spoke out of fear instead of faith and that was absolutely wrong.

This is what I forgot; through the dark, seemingly tempestuous times of trying to figure out how to find the elusive "happily ever after", one thing remains.

God.

In all my fear and uncertainty, I forgot that one simple fact. I've done relationships in the past alone, God was never in the equation. I saw a guy I liked and I pursued them and never gave a thought to God. Not even a "hmm maybe I should pray about it and sleep on it." If I saw a guy I liked, I switched on the flirt button and switched off the God button.

That's not me anymore. God gave me a vision and a plan for my life and of course  part of that is having a good relationship and that will not come with me hiding this brand new heart I keep talking about in fear. I wasn't even planning on posting this, but this song by my church-mate, worship team-mate and amazing singer I'm proud to be associated with fits into this post so well.

It's called "Heart Right Here" by Jaya.


For my non-Swahili speaking friends, the song is generally about how the devil tried to rob her joy and keep her locked up in fear and doubt. The part she sings, "nimechoka kufungiwa" means, "I'm tired of being restrained/locked up" the rest is in English and you can follow along. It's an awesome song and a great way to end this post. We're definitely coming back to this topic though.

"There used to be a heart right here and I want it back NOW!"


Monday, April 15, 2013

Bethel Music Without Words, God I Look To You Video



It's no secret Bethel Music has rocked my world and my life has changed. This song is one huge example how Once You Go Bethel, Your Spirit Starts to Wrestle...hehe I'm sorry that was bad! :-D

Anyway, I commented on YouTube and I got 5 likes :-)

This song spoke to me then and it speaks to me now. At first when I listened to this album, I just enjoyed it and enjoyed His presence and I didn't try to pray or add any words or anything, I just soaked. But a couple of nights ago driving home from worship practice a lot of spontaneous songs came out and it was really fun to play around with it and hang out with God.

Side-note: God is FUN.

Today though was not a fun day. I was actually supposed to go to school (KU) today for some records but I was am so fearful. I prayed about it, I declared victory over it leading worship this weekend, the team prayed for me, but today I was just scared. Over and over that part of my life has been met with disappointment and I was scared to go and face the same result.God asked me in the morning, pointblank, "are you a hypocrite Joanne?" Yeah, I know, harsh. My job hasn't called me in yet, at this point, I'm not sure I'll be called in at all. I know I'm not getting paid much but I'd rather have that than be unemployed. I've felt so low today, I've caught a cold and my sinuses are on fire! Temptation came in strong today.

So God's question, though harsh, is valid. He keeps telling me stuff, I keep ignoring Him. He said a bunch of times, "Don't be afraid, trust in God, trust also in me" (John 14:1) The song that just started playing is telling me the same thing. (Rauka by Kanjii Mbugua)

Lord, I don't know what to say. You amaze me. I'm blown away by your love. You know how many tears I've cried in awe of you. Why am I so scared when you are with me? I look to you. I have heard of your great works. You have given me victory, and I thank you.

What I wrote 1 month ago on Youtube is ministering to me now which is kinda funny and why I love blogging.

You see, victory is victory, there's no 2nd class victory with God. I am victorious. That's just who I am. God is moving on my behalf. I need to stop looking at myself or looking at the situation and look to God. I've ignored Him and that's what's causing all this fear and hopelessness. He's awesome though because the moment I turn my eyes toward Him, He comes running straight to me with arms wide open.



Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Jeremy Riddle - To Be Like You Song Review

This song is awesome! I've been playing Jeremy's album from 2009, "The Now and Not The Yet" (check it out or buy here) for the past couple of hours and this song just jumped out to me. I don't know why he doesn't sing this more it's such an amazing song?!

The lyrics are wonderfully crafted, very simple one of those ideas that make you go like, "wow, why didn't I think of that?"

Holy you are/Perfect and pure you are/Everything right you are/Yes you are/broken am I/Full of discord am I/Hungry for change am I/Oh am I/ Oh to be like you/Oh to reflect the God I know/The love you've shown/This is my longing/This is my deepest, strongest plea/Lord change me/Love you are/Spirit and truth you are/Everything right you are/Yes you are/Humbled am I/Contrite of spirit am I/Open to you am I/Oh am I

Kindly remember these lyrics and this song is absolutely not mine and is provided here for educational and promotional (for his album) purposes only!

To Be Like You (Album)

I did my own cover of the song, just messing around, if you wanna listen, have at it;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0m9vgqecbatyraf/To%20Be%20Like%20You%20Vocals%20Cover.wma

xx
Jo

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Joanne the Songwriter


Ya’ll already know I write.

Brief history, back in school (Primary/High School) I used to write amazing pretty great compositions. I like to think I’m a little bit creative. (Speaking of creative, I had this dream last night about a scene I’d created for Modern Family between Mitchell and Cam, and it was so funny, I woke up in the middle if the night LAUGHING! I drifted back off to sleep thinking, God I hope I remember this in the morning that was too good not to share. Sadly, I don’t remember it. Still, I woke up laughing in the middle of the night. That was awesome!)

Anyway, so I wrote stories and compositions in school. In College, I wrote poems and Spoken Word type of things… I had a bunch on Facebook and my old computer but lost them when it had problems. I still wrote though. Then I was in this “kind-of” dating thing with a guy from my youth group and he knew I wrote, so one time he wrote this little poem for me. Irrelevant, but that’s one of the sweetest things any guy ever did for me, so I thought I’d mention it.



Then I totally fell off the God wagon and fell deep into this other relationship and. Needless to say, this guy wasn’t exactly from my church youth-group. I lost myself. Seriously, the whole time I was in that relationship, I lost my inspiration. Good thing is, I realized I wasn’t really/it wasn’t truly love, (a little too late though,) because love inspires and stirs up the music inside of you. I made a lot of mistakes back then, and ruined a great friendship, anyway...

So, my soul was quiet for a long time, as I went through what I call “The Dark Years” but finally this year, (I’m smiling as I write this) the music came back.  God totally healed me from the mess, I’D created and he put inspiration back in my life.

So, I write, Christian songs here and there as the Spirit leads. Which is a fancy way of saying, it doesn’t happen every day! At different points and different days, the way I connect with God changes. One day it’s singing, tomorrow might be reading the Bible, after that might be writing. It never looks the same for me and I’ve learnt to go with that.

Anyway, I haven’t written a song in a while, but I’ve written over 50 blog posts over the past 2 days scheduled across all my blogs for the next month! This week, I’ve been connecting through blogging J
For some reason songs come to me when I’m sitting on the corridor floor next to the stairs (pictured)

xo
Jo


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Mad Love - Move Tour Concert


I just realized I never posted these pics! This was such a fun day, I already talked about it here. I think I dance a lot, like at Church, during Praise and Worship, I’m very expressive. At home, I’m about a thousand times more expressive, jumping around in my room and across the corridors, so at this concert, I was right at home!

Outfit of the day:



  1. Had a lot of denim going on which I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I rocked it anyway, including the denim across the shoulder bag (a must to keep my stuff safe and my hands free)
  2. Blue pearl drop earrings I got from a guy at Donholm Market
  3. Side View
  4. Jewelry for the day plus freshly manicured nails
  5. No make-up; mascara and sweat don’t exactly go together; and, I changed my hair, I love this long and curly look, it’s my fave hairstyle of the year


Performers:



The guy in the middle is Sean Simmons. He was my fave performer of the night! First because he had the crowd shout “Hi” to his wife and he taped us (aww! )Gotta love a man who remembers his wife and does something like that for her!) Second because of his song, “We astronauts, we outta here”. I have to find that song and put it on The Sound! Another performer I loved was Jahaziel and he did this Ragga-ish song that sounded amazing! And of course, Adawnage leading Worship! Gah! Amazing! Plus the crowd responded, the Holy Spirit moved, and this was at a Hip-Hop concert! God is amazing! We left before Da Truth finished his set, Aggie and I were both car-less and live far, so we couldn’t stay late L

Aggie and I:



Fun day, but next time…VIP!!!! We’re getting to old for this standing and getting pushed around by kids for 5 hours business J

xo
Jo

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Concert Day Outfit Prep

I'm really looking forward to Church tomorrow because there's a concert afterwards and it's been AGES since my last concert, so I'm really excited.

via
Anyway, so I'm on Pinterest looking for outfit ideas, and I think I'm gonna go with...

Source: polyvore.com via Kaci on Pinterest


OR



OR



I definitely can't do heels for the event, and I dont want to carry a bag with extra shoes or anything, so I think these are good,

Friday, July 13, 2012

First Rehearsal


Last night was a great night. I didn’t even think about it, I think I’ve had a lot of great moments and  they’re kinda melting in together and that’s not a good thing. It’s the slippery slope to that hole you find yourself in thinking, “I can’t remember the last time I was happy” when that ‘time’ was just a couple of days ago.
So last night was a great night. It was almost everything I ever thought it would be. I say almost because my sinuses were acting up and my voice was horribly nasally, and of course with my luck, I got to a point where I had to sing alone out of our alto group, but still it was awesome. 

Picture this, a bunch of people, like almost 20 of us, just listening to music and learning it and singing it, messing up, laughing about it and singing some more. Who would ever, ever have thought I, me, I would ever do that???

I can answer that, NOT ME! All it is, is just thinking about the last couple of years, not even that, but most of my life and thinking about all the times I struggled so hard to find happiness or contentment or fulfillment or whatever and how much I MESSED IT UP. Really, you look up “disaster-magnet” in the dictionary, it would have been me. 

So now here I am, singing in a Church on a Wednesday night, after getting back some amazing Exam Results and hanging out with a great friend who cares about me for absolutely no reason other than just being friends, get home happy, wake up with no panic attacks.

Who am I and what happened to the old Joanne? Jesus and I am SO thankful for that.

I know this is the point where I’m supposed to say “Oh, but don’t get me wrong Christianity isn’t all roses and sunshine” but we all know that, so let’s allow this post to be a roses and sunshiny post, because on a cold and prickly day, we might need this.

Xx
Jo

Monday, May 28, 2012

My First Auditions!

I auditioned for my Church's Worship Team!

I hadn't told anyone this until the actual day (Saturday), even though I signed up almost a month and a half ago. I was just really nervous and embarrassed. Anyway, it was pretty amazing, in a fun way. I have never ever in my life sang in front of anyone, except for one time in High School at a C.U talent show, which I barely remember.

I got there, late - there was some crazy 2-hours-for-a-20-minute-drive traffic in account of the Mater Heart Run at Nyayo Stadium. I honestly thought I'd missed the audition.

I got there though and met a friend who kinda calmed me down. (The guy who introduced me to the person in-charge of the audition...thanks manu!) Put my name down, and waited for my number (11) Everybody was kinda singing and rehearsing, but I just couldn't. It's the whole, "cramming before a test" thing, plus I was just too scared to sing in front of anyone and get my confidence shattered 5 minutes before getting on stage.

Talked with a great girl who was also going up and we ended up driving home together, (hey Nat!)

So, I finally got called up and one of the "judges" was the Pastor (Mike) who did my interview for my Baptism, the other lady was the one I've been liaising with to get the details for the day (Doris), and on the keyboard was one of the amazing vocalists/leaders from the services (Osayi).

Anyway, they asked me why I wanted to join, I said, I love music and I love worship. Then they asked of I have a life group and I said yes. Then they asked me to sing my favorite song. For the record, I've only sang the two rehearsal songs they sent us the whole week, so I hadn't practiced anything else, but I ended up singing "God I Look To You" by my all-time favorite W.L, Jenn Johnson from Bethel Music. Then I did the chorus from 1 of the audition songs, "Mighty to Save" by Hillsong United, then we did what I think is called an Appreggio, where the keyboardist plays notes and you have to repeat them by ear. I think it went OK.



But, then they asked me to hang back, and after a while, I got called back to sing with a Soprano and a Tenor. (I'm alto) It sounded horrible, so that knocked my confidence down to the floor! The soprano was so high and I didn't know how I was supposed to blend, or IF I was supposed to blend or just stick to my voice...I've never sang with anyone before!

Anyway, waiting for news...I really hope I get in. I need to be actively involved in Church and this is the best way for me right now, because I'm so passionate about this. Also planning on getting involved with some of the classes they have at Church, maybe co-lead a group, get some experience prepping for a session and teaching. Might really help me if I get into ministry.

Anyway, would love love love your prayers over this!

xx
Jo

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Letter To My Teenage Kids Part 5

Part 5 of the letter…

So, I spent yet another valentine’s day alone, guess what? I didn’t die, I was so busy that day actually I didn’t realize until one of my friends bought me lunch. But let me tell you all I’ve done that I haven’t done the past 5 years because my life revolved around boys. In the past 2 months alone,
ü  I’ve gotten A’s and B’s compared to the C’s and D’s I’d been getting
ü  All my lecturers know my name because I’m more active in class
ü  I’ve gotten awesome friends from my school and church
ü  I’ve gone back to doing my CPA’s now that I have time
ü  I’m re-learning to swim
ü  I’m learning to play guitar
ü  I have a writing job for two websites; writing has always been my passion.
ü  I’m starting to learn Spanish
ü  I’m planning on joining the worship team
ü  I’ve gone back to working hard to find a way to travel, trusting God that by 2014, I’ll have boarded a few planes.
ü  I’m back to writing songs again! This is my favorite because I haven’t written anything since my before the ex-experience. I love this, writing songs to God…its amazing!

The possibilities are endless. Now for you, realistically, no one is marrying you when you’re in High School, when you’re a teenager for that matter. God keeps giving you second chances and its time your recognized them and took advantage.