If every action begins with a thought, image how effective a dream given by God can be to a life? That’s what has happened with me as each and every detail unfolds in His perfect timing.



I was born in Southern California, and before I was even a year old I had moved to Texas. When I was only four we moved yet again to Springfield, Missouri, where I live now.



I remember the day God became known to me; it was the day I realized how desperately I needed Him. I was six years old, sitting in the back pew of our large church. Something in the pastor’s sermon had encouraged me to ask Him into my heart, and I did.



Then life moved forward at full-speed. Not long after, we had a house fire. We lost most of what we had, and had to live in a hotel room for six months. At this time I had three brothers and sister. I remember that summer very well. I will always remember pulling my twin brothers, who were just babies then, in a bike carrier so my mom could work on the house. It was a long summer.



It wasn’t too long after we moved into our house that my biological father moved out. I haven’t seen him since. It was also at this time I began writing songs. I’ll admit you may never hear these songs on the radio or read the lyrics in a Christian magazine, but they were still my songs and my reflections.



As I began to write I began to dream. God placed this dream in my heart to share my music and let it shine to more people than just me. When I was twelve, my mom remarried to a wonderful Christian man. God gave my family the best daddy He could have given us. We have been so blessed.



A year and a half later my desire to live for God changed. He became less of a fixture in my life or an expectation, and He became my Prince and my Love.



Many times I have been discouraged about where God is taking me. It has never been as easy as just seeing a dream and living it out. I was reading the book of Nehemiah about a year ago, and I realized that when God’s put a dream in your heart, no matter what you have to work with or who you have backing you up, you have to have faith that God will bring it to be in His timing.



Then I got my first guitar. It was an electric Stratocaster make-off. That black guitar has so many scratches on it you can barely tell it’s black. (Hey, that’s what Sharpie markers are for, right?) Then I got a Les Paul, and eventually my electric-acoustic. Around this time, my songs become more than words with cartoon-theme-song melodies. They became something I really wanted to share with people and encourage people with.



Life keeps moving, and I keep writing. This is only the beginning of God’s story for my life.