KatieW

“I’ve Got Yours”

I wrote this song over the past week or so, essentially about the huge leap of faith I’ve taken in moving to a new place. Some people think my decision to move was crazy, but I was just following God’s lead, so I don’t care what people think. I know that God’s plan is so beautiful, and this is all part of it! I don’t need to know the next step or even understand; all I need to know is that He’s got a plan, and I’ve gotta just trust that plan. It’s never failed before, and it won’t now!

This song is an expression of the aforementioned. My life seems to have been characterized by God calling me to take a seemingly crazy leap of faith, followed by an amazing journey, unexpected blessing, and remarkable growth. I’m excited about this next chapter of my life! :-)

Lyrics are in the video. All lyrics, music, instruments, and vocals are done by me. As always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, and I don’t aspire to be. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!

Apathy is Weakness

The story of Amanda Todd has gone viral. The above video explains it all. This poor girl was harassed and bullied constantly. Nobody was willing to step up and help her. Nobody would accept her. She took her life.

Stories like this happen every day. In our own lives, there are people who have been ostracized, ridiculed, shunned, and tormented. There are people who have nobody. People who are alone. People who just need someone to care. Honestly, why can’t that someone be you? What will it really hurt to walk up to the person and treat them like a human being? Will it really inconvenience you that much to have a conversation with them? It could save their life.

But instead of being bold and stepping away from the crowd, we mask our fear, apathy, and conformity with pointed fingers and humor. We laugh at the misfortune of others, we say it’s all their fault, we make jokes to make ourselves feel better.

Dare to be different. Have a heart. Break down the walls that have made you so insensitive. Compassion is not a weakness. Sympathy is not a weakness. Love is not a weakness. They are valid emotions that have a vital place in the human heart, and need to be expressed. Apathy is the real sign of weakness.

Be bold and let your heart be opened to experience a wider scope of emotions; let your eyes be opened to see a world beyond yourself; and let your world be opened to let someone unexpected into it.

“Here We Go Again”

I wrote this song when I was praying for a friend — most of my songs seem to originate from times of prayer. Anyway, the point of this song is basically that it’s about God leading us, directing our every step, as we surrender to His guidance and plans. I drew inspiration partially from Isaiah 30:21 (“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left”) and Proverbs 3:6 (“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths”).

I think this one sounds a little different from my other songs. I tried to incorporate a few tips I received regarding what makes a song good or relatable, rather than just focusing on writing what was in my heart or focusing solely on the words. Of course, I did still write what was in my heart, I just tried to work on improving the technical aspects of the music, and focus on more than just conveying words.

Lyrics are in the video. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. And as always, I know my singing is not professional quality. I don’t aspire to be a great singer; my aspiration is simply to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

To God be the glory!

“Your Love Overpowers Me”

I wrote this song after an incredible experience. Last night (August 26th), I was attempting to re-record a song of mine from a few months ago, “Come Expecting” — I started singing it, and by the time I got to the second repeat of the chorus, I completely broke down; as I was worshiping Him, God moved so much in me, and broke through everything…that’s the only way I can explain it. I almost never cry, but at this moment, I literally couldn’t sing another word, I broke down, and fell to my knees. It was all I could do.

I wish I could put into words what I felt, but no words exist, no words would do it justice. Other than that it was the glory of God.

I wrote this song in an attempt to at least put it to music. I recorded this in one take, unedited, guitar and vocals at the same time. I didn’t try to sing it well, I just tried to be as honest as possible with every note I sang and plucked. It’s worship. Plain and simple.

Lyrics are in the video. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. As always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, but I don’t aspire to be. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way ;-)

Glory be to God, forever and always and in all things.

“Hold Me Back”

First off: yes the vocals and mix are slightly worse than usual (or maybe just different lol), and yes I played with autotune. Just a warning, haha.

It’s a miracle this song even made it to my channel, and that my channel still exists. I almost deleted my YouTube channel after someone was so kind as to offer discouragement. I took a break for a few days, but remained in prayer and praised God in spite of how I felt. Finally, God used an awesome friend of mine to give me the words I needed to hear to keep pursuing my passion. This song is a result of those words, and partially inspired by those words. And he probably won’t see this, lol, but if he does: thank you from the bottom of my heart…and the top of my heart, haha.

This song is a song of hope, about not letting people’s words bring you down or kill your passion. Use them instead to fuel the fire. This is a sucker punch to everyone who has discouraged me, and really a sucker punch to satan too lol. ;-)

Lyrics are in the video. All instruments, music, lyrics, and vocals are done by me. As always, I know I’m not a Grammy-quality vocalist, and I don’t aspire to be. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way :-)

Renewed Passion Album

Track list:
01.) Reason to Breathe
02.) Here We Go Again
03.) In the Flame
04.) Take My Hand
05.) Hold Me Back
06.) So Amazing
07.) Lost in Translation
08.) Your Love Overpowers Me
09.) Magnificent Glory
10.) Love Me
11.) Consumed
12.) Sight for the Blind
13.) Take All of Me
14.) Captured

Desire

If a man preaches that we will always desire sin and that by our hard work and devotion we can resist that sin and be saved from it, he’s not preaching the Gospel; he’s preaching to justify his own sin.

As Christians, our desire is for God, not for sin; we are raised to walk in newness of life, not raised to walk in the same old life with fancy new clothes that just make us “look” different. We will truly *be* different. Yes, there will be temptation, but our heart’s desire will be to honor God, and we’ll fight at all costs to do so. We’ll rely on His strength, and we’ll instinctively seek Him rather than sin.

And if we are truly saved, we are saved by the GRACE of God, not by our works or actions. The only action we can do that effects our salvation is to surrender. And it is only by God’s amazing grace that we are allowed this. True surrender and acceptance of Christ will always result in transformation, a complete rebirth of who we are, including (and especially) our heart’s desire.

Evaluate your heart, and if you see something there other than God, ask Him to make you willing to surrender it to Him. You’ll be glad you did!

A Race of Tinmen Bred by Technology

[written November 17, 2011]

Technology, while providing us with a vast amount of information, has desensitized us. It feeds our minds while starving our hearts. At our fingertips is the ability to attain knowledge on any subject or person like never before. Within seconds, we can read the equivalent of a person’s autobiography, in which we learn his origins, his interests, his beliefs, and what he did last weekend. But knowledge is no substitute for heart.

Proverbs 3:5, an over-quoted verse, roots itself in the fact that the mind is not superior to the heart — it is man’s nature to put mind before heart (i.e., “lean on his own understanding”). The two are not mutually exclusive (i.e., for one to be present, the other is not required to be absent), but rather work hand-in-hand. However, man has lost sight of this and reverted to his original, egocentric nature of elevating the mind to a pedestal which crushes the heart beneath its feet.

This is not to say we are smarter now than we were in days past — I believe the opposite is actually true — it is just to say that our minds are prioritized at the feeding trough. And since we have lost the ability to use logic and reason, we have yet to discover that the trough is laden with filth and toxins — we are poisoning our own minds.

As violence is glorified in film and video games, we gain a higher tolerance for it; it is no longer shocking to us when an innocent man is shot (afterall, we see it all the time on our screens). As bullying, teasing, and insults are made into comedy, we lose our empathy for others; we laugh at the misfortune of others because we have been told that it is funny. Our morals are gone, our hearts are cold, and our minds have labeled the concept of “walking in someone else’s shoes” as foolish, foreign, and outdated. Let’s face it: we’re selfish.

What will it take to convince us to wage war on the apathy that has overtaken us like an uncontrollable, life-quenching vine? When will we wake up to the cries and screams of those who still have the ability to feel — those incessant “noises” we’ve drowned out for decades?

We, collectively, are labeled as “humanity.” But the moment we stopped caring whether another person was hurting, needing, or breathing was the moment we lost our humanity. I’m not sure what is more grim: that statement itself, or the fact that so many people would look at it, ingest it with their eyes, let it stop at their minds, swallow without chewing, and respond with a chuckle and an eye roll before even allowing their hearts a taste of it, confounding any hope for a proper digestion.

If we want to regain our humanity, it will require the one thing we have the greatest deficit of: heart. But, like the Tinman, perhaps we had it all along, we just refused to see it or let it be.

“Here We Go Again” Lyrics and Chords

“Here We Go Again”
Music and Lyrics by Katie Woodward
(Capo 4, standard tuning)

G                      Cadd9
Here I am at the ocean’s edge,
G                                     Cadd9
Ready to run through the crashing waves,
D/F#                Am7
On the horizon, to the sun [Son].

G                                     Cadd9
You say the word, here we go again,
D/F#                          Am7                 C       Am7
One more turn on the narrow road we walk.
G                                     Cadd9
You say the word, here we go again,
D/F#                          Am7                 C       Am7
One more turn on the narrow road we walk.

G                                 Cadd9
Stepping swiftly on the battlefield,
G                                            Cadd9
Landmines surround me, but I won’t turn back,
D/F#               Am7
I’ll carry on…guide my steps.

G Cadd9
You say the word, here we go again,
D/F# Am7 C Am7
One more turn on the narrow road we walk.

C
Sometimes the road seems long,
G6add11
I wonder where we’re going.
C
Sometimes I hear You wrong,
G6add11 C G6add11
Get turned around and lose my way.

G Cadd9
You say the word, here we go again,
D/F# Am7 C Am7
One more turn on the narrow road we walk.

Chord guide:
G             – 320033
Cadd9     – 032033
D/F#        – 200232
Am7        – 002010
G6add11 – 320010

“For You”

As with all my songs, this is a song relevant to my life and my relationship with God. It is essentially a prayer/praise song, about surrendering my heart to God, and praising Him for the new heart He created within me. It’s a prayer that I won’t get in the way, won’t put anything in my heart that doesn’t belong there, won’t put walls up around it, won’t do anything but honor Him with it and simply love.

It’s a rough recording, simple one-take with guitar and vocals recorded at the same time, and yes there are a few rough chords. I’m just trying to get music up as I write it, so don’t expect perfection ;-)

Lyrics are in the video. I didn’t use any fancy slide transitions this time though. All music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals are done by me. And as always, I know my vocals are not Grammy-quality, but that is not my aspiration. My only aspiration is to follow my passion, worship my God, and share my journey with others along the way :-)

To God be all the glory, always and forever and in all things!