The Matthew West Blogging Tour

While life has been crazy busy in the past few weeks it has remained relatively drama free since the toe mishap.  The "calm" and many hours in the car has given me plenty of time to reflect on the past several years.  The weekend before last I was blessed to have a few days to spend with one of my most cherished friends, Jen.  Jen and I originally met through the Mark Schultz message boards way back in 2004.  A concert in Bluffton with Matthew West, Mark Schultz and Avalon was the beginning of a great friendship we've been able to expand upon ever since.  I was starstruck at the time of the concert and when I had the chance to meet Mark Schultz face-to-face after the concert I walked right by Matthew West's outstretched hand to me and stumbled googly-eyed towards Mark instead.  I could kick myself now.  My partiality towards Mark's music and all that was associated it pretty much blinded me at the time to the wonders of Matthew West's music.  Still kicking myself.

Two summers ago I got to travel with some friends to Illinois where we attended a Christian Music Festival featuring Mark Schultz, Matthew West and the groups Mel endearingly termed "Satan music" It was then that I saw Matthew West for the artist, performer and man that he is.  And it was then that I jokingly started referring to him as my future husband.  Okay, really joking... honest.  But the man has the entire package and I am just constantly in awe of him. 

Last year I was in the eye of the storm with mine and Byron's separation when I started following that Matthew was writing an entire album based off of stories his Facebook and Twitter fans had submitted.  He had asked that everyone submit a story of their life.... good, bad, ugly, the inbetween... He spent several weekends in a cabin reading and analyzing those stories and wrote his entire album based off of them.  Oh, I was excited to be sure.  But nothing could have ever braced me for the reality, truth and healing powers behind this album.  No music has ever touched me before as his has in this album.  I was moved to tears and goosebumps upon first hearing it and I can honestly say that hasn't stopped with each subsequent "Matthew West Therapy Session".  The album is genius, the lyrics are incredible and the voice behind it all is so moving that I can't help but blog about it now. 

Anyway, it really struck me while I was driving down to Columbus for the weekend with Jen and the concert how much I wanted and needed to share the impact this album has had on my life.  It has such raw universal truths and messages woven throughout it that I don't think there's a single breathing person out there who can't be affected by it in some way.  And it's for that reason I've chosen to actually start a blog series for the first time ever based on each song in the album.  I've never pre-meditated more than one blog at a time.  All of my blogging comes from the heart and if it feels forced I get a mental block and find myself unable to write.  But as I listened to each song and the things I could write about my mind was just reeling with blogging possibilities.  I'm really excited about it all and can't wait to share with you all.  His stories truly resonate within the very core of my soul and have given me deliverance and freedom I've so desperately needed. 

Next blog... Story of My Life :) Stay tuned...