Its been a crazy few months. I have had opportunitites to play at different places and I have new events coming up I am so excited about.
In the midst of the busyness I have gotten pregnant and am due February 25th.  So between the nausea I have found moments of "oh my goodness I am about to have 3 kids"
My oldest Addison just turned 3.  Looking back It just seems like yesterday she was born. Hayden wont even be 2 when baby 3 is born. Am I crazy? Sometimes I feel like how in the world do women have any more kids than 2?? I feel like God is allowing me to be busy with events and my family because I know things will have to change once we have three kids. But ultimately what that means I dont know. I know I am born to play and sing and that part of my life won't stop. But first I am born to serve my Jesus, my husband, then my kids. God show me balance.


Well that should keep you up to date for a few days. Much love in Christ.

-ashley

Well I had such an awesome time doing concerts in the courtyard at Bridgestreet in Huntsville Alabama. There was a great crowd and I just felt so loved.
It was fun to sing cover songs again. But I wanted to share the coolest part of the night. I had a few minutes left to play and we were out of our set list so my friend said "hey why don't we do a worship song" how about "Lead me to the cross".  So we went on to play one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists and it was what I considered the best song of the night. After singing 20 songs my voice should have been completely worn out but God just reached down and allowed me to sing that song probably the strongest of any others I sang. It just goes to show you can sing all you want but when you are singing lyrics to the Lord passion is always inevitable. Thank you Jesus.

One of the most biblically sound pastors I know John Piper who's mission is "to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples, through Jesus Christ" shares a thought about the words we sing and what they mean. This was said before a service one sunday morning.  This was in 1983... its 2010 and God is still the same all powerful God. He is still moving hearts with music... Here's what he said.

"I know one of the concerns of the children's music ministry is that the children understand what they are singing and that they mean it. And I share that concern for our people. In a moment the choir will sing a song called, "Hosanna, Hosanna!" And after that we all will sing a song which begins: "Hosanna in the highest!" So I want to give a little lesson in Greek and Hebrew to make sure we all know what the New Testament means when it says in three different places, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" (Mt. 21:9,15), or "Hosanna in the highest!" (Mk. 11:9,10), or simply, "Hosanna!" (John 12:13).

You all know that the New Testament was first written in Greek and the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew. Wherever the word "hosanna" occurs in the New Testament do you know what the Greek word is? Right! It's "hosanna." All the English translators did was use English letters (h-o-s-a-n-n-a) to make the sound of a Greek word.

But if you look in a Greek dictionary to find what it means, you know what you find? You find that it is really not originally a Greek word after all. The men who wrote the New Testament in Greek did the same thing to a Hebrew word that our English translators did to the Greek word: they just used Greek letters to make the sound of a Hebrew phrase. I know this sounds sort of complicated. But it's really not. Our English word "hosanna" comes from a Greek word "hosanna" which comes from a Hebrew phrase hoshiya na.

And that Hebrew phrase is found one solitary place in the whole Old Testament, Psalm 118:25, where it means, "Save, please!" It is a cry to God for help. Like when somebody pushes out off the diving board before you can swim and you come up hollering: "Help, save me" … "Hoshiya na!"

But something happened to that phrase, hoshiya na. The meaning changed over the years. In the psalm it was immediately followed by the exclamation: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" The cry for help, hoshiya na, was answered almost before it came out of the psalmist's mouth. And over the centuries the phrase hoshiya na stopped being a cry for help in the ordinary language of the Jews. Instead it became a shout of hope and exultation. It used to mean, "Save, please!" But gradually it came to mean, "Salvation! Salvation! Salvation has come!" It used to be what you would say when you fell off the diving board. But it came to be what you would say when you see the lifeguard coming to save you! It is the bubbling over of a heart that sees hope and joy and salvation on the way and can't keep it in.

So "Hosanna!" means, "Hooray for salvation! It's coming! It's here! Salvation! Salvation!"

And "Hosanna to the Son of David!" means, "The Son of David is our salvation! Hooray for the king! Salvation belongs to the king!"

And "Hosanna in the highest!" means, "Let all the angels in heaven join the song of praise. Salvation! Salvation! Let the highest heaven sing the song!"

- John Piper

          I was inspired when I read this to always be very intentional when I sing and when I lead others in song. There is such truth in the words we sing and when we begin to play on the emotions of people it is important that we are saturated in the word of God and not of our own words. It's easy to fall into the trap but I pray I would press forth and begin to be more fierce for the Lord than ever especially when leading worship.

-Ashley

2 Corinithians 12:9-10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

No matter where I am in life I cling to this truth. God has been healing me of hurts this month and growing me in His truth. I have been reminded to always always remember his promises because in Him there is truth and life.

Wonderful words have come through this period of playing and configuring the vision for the future.
I have been listening to artists that inspire my creativity and spending time outside to find clarity.
I'm looking forward to the summer and the heat that comes with it.
In the mean time i'm learning to be quiet so I can hear God's voice. It's very humbling.

-ashley

April holds many new events that I am so pumped about. I'm looking forward to playing out and connecting with new people!

 Sometimes I find myself on a road lined with journals and anxiety and other times I find myself with open skies. I think when we are at our most vulnerable we are truly poetic. I feel pretty vulnerable yet my skies feel pretty open. I wonder where that will take me.

  I have been reading the book of Esther and am learning that God is purposeful in what He doesn't reveal in His word as in what He does.   Sometimes in our lives just because he doesn't tell us our future He has planned for us is more than likely better so in we can yearn to know HIM more for the revelation He will bring. What an awesome God we serve. Thank you for sustaining life in me Jesus.

In Him,
ashley

This past year has been pretty amazing. I had my second daughter Hayden in March.
Not much tops the birth of your children. But I also got to play at a couple venues
introducing "complete". I was at Huntsville Christian Church in the Providence
area of Huntsville and had a great opportunity to meet to new people and perform
new music. I had a great opportunity to lead a christmas event for
Willowbrook Baptist Church, my home church, as well as our christmas
eve services. 

I have recently been in the studio recording  and have continued to write in the
mean time and am excited about new projects, new music, and new opportunitites 
to worship our King.

In Him,

Ashley