Where It All Began?

Do you know the recommended word count for blogs these days? 2,450. So…buckle up. Seriously though, it depends on what your goal is for the blog. Google has decided (I’m guessing through a lot of data) that a 2,450 word blog is the sweet spot for SEO—Search Engine Optimization—goals. And according to numerous spam emails since I started this website, SEO is something I should be terribly concerned about.

We noticed that your website is facing with some critical issues such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that, making it difficult to be found on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. (Search Engines). We are here to help you! Could you please give us your "Phone Number" and suggest a time to call? Let's resolve these issues ASAP.

Critical issues. Gasp. Well, Harvey, if I’m not concerned enough about website things to pay a web designer, I’m definitely not going to pay someone who sent me a phishing email to fix these “critical issues.” Although, now that I’m reading his email again, he did ask for my “phone number” not my phone number, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to email him back.

Dear Harvey, thank you so much for your concern. My “Phone number” is 867-5309. I look forward to your call…

213. Phew. Or 217 if you count the title. Does anyone really want to read 2,237 or 2,233 more words just to help my SEO? Maybe that is for a later blog…For this first one, it’s probably best to keep it shorter and let you know what you’re getting into.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

—1 Samuel 7:12 NKJV

The month of June has become a good time to reflect on what the Lord has done in my life. My Facebook memories are full of little “Ebenezers.” The Biblical meaning of Ebenezer is “Stone of Help.” You can read more about Samuel setting up an Ebenezer to memorialize what God did for the Israelites here. In the modern day, we can still use this approach, keeping or setting up a tangible reminder, to recognize all that God has done to get us to this point. This gives God glory for his faithfulness and provision, and it strengthens our faith and trust in God for the future.

For most of June, when I click “Memories” on Facebook, I am met with posts and pictures of my husband’s birthday celebrations and of the Composer Symposium, both of which are of major significance in my life. Some of you already know how I met my husband. For the rest of you, I’ll save that for a future blog. (That has to be good for engagement, right?) For now, I’ll just say it’s really, really obvious that God meant for Tony and I to be together. Every birthday celebration in June is an opportunity to remember that.

The other daily memories include posts and pictures from the Composer Symposium. I have numerous “Ebenezers” from the Symposium. Pictures, certificates, plaques, octavos, handwritten notes, name tags…each a little reminder of God’s work in my life through writing music. They remind me of God’s faithfulness, and they also encourage me to keep writing. This year marked my fourteenth Symposium, and I have “Ebenezers” from each one.

I have done a lot of reflecting about writing music this year in particular. I’ve done a lot of reflecting about resting and abiding in the Lord as well, and writing is one way I do that. It was eleven years ago this past Thursday that I presented at the Symposium for the first time. I’m one of those people who likes to do a little research before I do something (which is why I researched blog length before I started this). I attended the Symposium twice before I presented. In 2013, I decided I shouldn’t keep paying to attend if I wasn’t going to present and take advantage of the feedback. So, by the grace of God and encouragement from Robert Sterling during a lesson, I presented a solo version of “Mercy Still,” which many of you know as a choral anthem arranged by Heather Sorenson. You can read more about why “Mercy Still” is so significant to me and an “Ebenezer” that I will continue to raise here and take a listen here.

Originally, I was going to call this blog “Where It All Began” (statement) instead of “Where It All Began?” (question). As I typed that title, I was reminded that “Mercy Still” isn’t actually where “it”—my songwriting, this website, God’s plan for my life—began.

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

—Psalm 139:13-14 NKJV

God’s plan AND love for me began way before any of this. If you read more about why “Mercy Still” is so significant to me, I named a few of the things God lined up to get me to that point. That day eleven years ago was significant enough, but when I think about all the things God lined up before then, so I would be in that place at that time, I am even more amazed.

And that is really what I want you to take away from this under-2,450-word blog, God has a plan for your life, a plan for your good and his glory. Even if you don’t see it yet. Even if you don’t feel like he’s working. Rest in God’s love for you. Know that one day you will raise an Ebenezer and a shout of praise. And then I bet you will be able to look back and see little stones of help all along the way.

This June has been another opportunity to reflect on past “Ebenezers” and raise another. The Composers Symposium went completely online in 2020 like the rest of the world. It returned in-person last year, but I could only attend on Zoom. This year was the 20th anniversary. I really wanted to attend in person and be there for the anniversary celebration, but it just didn’t seem feasible. I commented on one of our Facebook group posts regarding registration that it would take a miracle for me to make it there. A writer friend, Karen Crane, replied: “We believe in miracles!” I read that and thought, ‘actually, we do, too.’

Am I too wise to recognize that everything uncertain, is certainly a possibility? —Nichole Nordeman, from “Help Me Believe”

Something shifted in my spirit that day. I had already been feeling like I was supposed to be there this year, but I was limiting the possibility to what I could do. I began to wait with expectation of what God would do.  About a month later it became obvious that the feeling that I was supposed to be there was, in fact, the nudging of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord made a way for it to happen. Thanks be to God.

I’m still amazed. I was amazed for all 2,200 miles of the road trip. Somewhere a little west of Lafayette, LA, I had a major burst of “Spirit tears,” what I like to call the tears that result from the Holy Spirit moving in your heart. I was exactly where God wanted me to be, just like I was eleven years ago.

The Symposium was wonderful as usual. It’s been five years or more since I have gotten to catch up with my mentors and friends in person. I am truly thankful for that community. Eventually, you will get to hear some of the new music I shared with them. I would like to publicly thank Joseph Martin, Robert Sterling, Brad Nix, John Parker, Rick Nichols, Joel Raney, David Angerman, James Barnard, and Emily Crocker for sharing their wisdom and encouragement with all of us attendees this year. By the way, if writing music is something you’re interested in, I’ll be adding the “Writer Resources” section to my site this week, so stay tuned!

So there you have it. My first blog, on my first website. Thanks for reading. Any guesses on the word count?

Scroll down for the answer.

1388. 1392 if you count the title.