Recommending.... Ellie!

I love to sing.  Pre-children, I used to listen to music all the time.  I could even sing along because I had the lyrics memorized.  GONE are those days.  What with all these people around, talking or squealing or screeching or just-- making NOISE all the time, I just... can't.  Music ends up being extra noise and I really don't need any more of that around here.  I cherish quiet. 

This summer I made a whopping exception.  I'll get back to that in a minute. 

I struggled so much last year.  Wintertime brought life and joy and then suddenly, anguish.  Spring came, and as we approached what would have been our due date, God blessed us with yet another life growing within me.  We quietly held this news, and cautiously hoped.  The gift of that tiny life within me eased our grief and pain as our due date neared.  And then, when we lost that baby, too?  I was so very broken.  The grief crippled my spirit.

I prayed long for God to give me something- a verse, a song, a word, something- from Him.  I wanted Him to speak into the darkness.  He did.  First, through song, and then months later- with a passage of Scripture.  But the gift He gave me over the summer was the music of Ellie Holcomb.  I can't describe it other than to say that there are words Ellie sings that seemed like they had come straight from the pages of my journal.  As I journal, I often pray through Scripture and write out my prayers and thoughts, but she sings the truths of God's word- and beautifully.  My soul needed the beauty of her melodies rooted in Scripture.  And my gracious Father gave me such a gift in Ellie's songs.

Every single time I got into the van, I played Ellie.  I would carry around my phone and play Ellie.  On the treadmill, Ellie.  In the kitchen doing the dishes?  Ellie.

My kids always knew that the CD mama was reaching for or the song I was searching for on the iPod would be Ellie.  Without any effort on their part, they all have ALL of Ellie's songs memorized.  Just from the sheer number of times they have heard her.  ;)  And they love her, too.  (Ella's favorite songs are Marvelous Light and The Broken Beautiful.) 

Her song Anchor of Hope* was the prayer of my heart in the darkness.  For weeks I couldn't even sing.  I just wept as I listened.  Then I was able to sing bits and pieces- through my tears.  Finally, weeks later- I could sing it and own it.  I still grieve, of course.  But I truly believe that God used Ellie- we are SO on a first-name basis around here, me and Ellie- to pull me out of despair, and for that I am so grateful.

And so, I heartily recommend to you all: Ellie Holcomb.  Get some of her music and listen.  I think you'll love her.  :)  [I hear she won "new artist of the year" at the Dove awards, recently, too.   She's not actually new, though.]  She's been singing in a band with her husband, Drew, since 2006.  Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors.  Also good.  But Ellie-on-her-own?  LOVE.

 *Anchor of Hope is on Ellie's Magnolia EP.

Oh!  -and I'd love to know who you're listening to.  Who would you heartily recommend?