Last night I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with friend, songwriter, & worship leader Ryan Van Kirk at Rhythm & Hues Cafe in Marietta. We both shared some original music, played percussion & sang BGV's for each other, and were blessed to have the legendary Chad Russell with us, providing tasty licks on acoustic guitar. And not only that...but I also twisted my dear friend Diane Thiel's arm into singing BGV's and playing keys as well! A grand time was had by all. But to me personally, it was more than that. It was like I found my voice again.

If you've been keeping up with me this last year, you know that it's been a tumultuous season in my life. Divorce, new home, new job, new church, new friends...not all has been bad, but reality was, "I was forced to live a life that I never thought I'd face," and I've been having such a hard time coping with that.

As I blogged about months ago, I've had friends who encouraged me to write songs about my experiences, though for a LONG season I hadn't written anything at all, much less sang in public. But for a few months, it seemed like I was writing a new song a week - VERY unusual for me. I would sit down at the piano at my church after work, or with my guitar at home...and just say to myself, "What are you feeling today?" and would write a song about that. It was healing to be honest, vulnerable, and real about my experiences. I wasn't trying to cram my songs into some "congregationally-friendly-worship-song-box" or anything...I just wrote.

Last night, I shared nine of those brand new songs. It was so amazing to see the Lord weave together these songs written on some of my darkest and most painful days into a beautiful redemption story. It was like I could finally begin to see a glimpse of the bigger tapestry He's been weaving...and I was blessed that He's allowed me to be a part of it, as hard as it has been. He truly has turned my ashes to beauty and my mourning into dancing. He has helped me to find my song, and to find my voice again.

I had equally as much fun playing percussion and singing with Ryan for his set! The rest of his band (Drew & Duffy) were both out of town, so we improvised. We've not done his songs acoustically like we did last night, and it was a lot of fun to perform some of them with a totally different feel. We were somewhat flying by the seat of our pants, but it was a blast! We hope to do it again sometime soon, and hope you'll join us!

Here was my set list:

Find Love - Sheri Carr & Duffy James
Hope In You - Sheri Carr & Duffy James
Hypnotized - Sheri Carr
Brokenhearted- Sheri Carr
How Will I Survive - Sheri Carr
Weathered - Sheri Carr
A Song Without a Name - Sheri Carr
Found In You - Sheri Carr
Fearless Now - Sheri Carr
Breathe - Marie Barnett
In a Blink - Sheri Carr & Duffy James

The next step is to get some of these songs recorded so that I can share them with you all! Praying for God's timing & provision to do that soon.

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (Matthew 16:25)