My endgame in writing and pitching songs is the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have no delusions about becoming rich or earning a living from it. I’m not seeking fame. I write songs with strong Biblical messages. My husband and I set them to music and we sing them to share the gospel. I pitch songs because other artists have wider audiences to share the gospel through our songs. Sometimes in these efforts, God takes me on journeys I didn’t expect. I have been on one of those journeys for nearly a year.

   As I have mentioned before, I write a lot of gospel Christmas songs. A few years ago, I thought I would shape them into a Christmas cantata but that didn’t go far for various reasons (lack of money, time, ideas, lack a call from the Lord). However, last summer that changed.

   One of the people who makes accompaniment tracks for us sent an e-mail telling of a

sale offered to those having ten tracks done. It was a substantial savings. The idea flitted into my mind it would be a good opportunity to get cantata tracks done. I pushed it aside but it wouldn’t go away. It was there at every turn, particularly during morning devotion and prayer time. I realized the Lord was nudging me to do the cantata. I’ll be honest. I resisted at first. I offered Him reasons why I shouldn’t. I told Him I didn’t have the talent. There were many better qualified. It was an expensive undertaking and would require finances beyond the initial outlay for tracks. We were trying to save for retirement. We had just found out due to faulty shingles our eight-year-old roof would need doing—and outlay of thousands of dollars. I offered the Lord manifold reasons why it wasn’t a good idea.

   The Lord was persistent and one morning I felt Him clearly speaking to my heart—“This is your chance to step out in faith.” That brought me up short. I talk a lot about faith. Faith is easy when it doesn’t cost you and there are no risks involved. My immediate response was I have to do this! I discussed it with my husband and he agreed we needed to do it. Later that day, I sat down with my pile of Christmas songs, prayed and chose the ones I felt lead to include in the cantata. To my surprise, some of my favorites didn’t make the cut. Looking over the songs, I felt a theme emerging but I didn’t have an idea for a drama as a framework for the songs.
   A  day or so later when I thought I had come up with an idea, I sat down at the computer but it just wouldn’t take shape. Frustrated, I gave up. That night after I was in bed and the lights were out, I lay in the darkness thinking about the songs and praying for the Lord to give me the drama that would draw it all together.