Tag: Faith

#MusicMonday: West Unashamedly Shares His Proud Declaration of Christian Faith with ‘All In.’

Posted on by The Smart Cookie

Matthew West is no stranger to Christian Contemporary Music. The first time I saw him perform live I went home and bought some of his music and felt my faith strengthen every time I listened to it. Now, West is back with his seventh studio album and it stayed at #1 on the Billboard Christian charts for 17 weeks. Instead of using other people’s stories to create an album, West returns to sharing personal anecdotes from his own life.

Song by Song Review

All In: A personal anthem with lyrics that illustrate a “no turning back” declaration of faith. Not wanting to waste your life; avoiding a simply comfortable life.

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Broken Things:   A song showcasing the unfathomable mercy and graciousness of God. Those the world thinks are useless or mismatched are the people he calls His and uses to accomplish his plans for a hope and a future through them.

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Mercy Is A Song:  A song specifically highlighting the “come as you are” truth to God’s love and mercy.

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Amen:   Reminiscent of Mercy Me’s “Happy Dance” with a baptist church feel, dancing in the aisles at Sunday service sound. A song about God’s great grace.

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The Sound of a Life Changing:  A song about how God’s grace overwhelms your life and takes the black, white, and grey into bright and beautiful colors.

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Something Greater:    My favorite song about how there are moments in life or even people you meet who you feel were definitely part of a bigger plan than anything you could have fathomed. How God’s plan is bigger and more intricate than you even realize.

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Jesus & You:   A song where West shares his love for Jesus and how his love of Jesus helps him love his wife that much more because in some ways, they are both helping him become a better man.

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Beautiful Things We Miss:  

A song about how life goes by in the blink of an eye and if you don’t take the chance to cherish the moment in front of you, the people around you, before you know it they will be a thing or someone in your past.

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1 Song:  If he was leading up to his final few breaths, he would sing a song for the Lord to praise him from this life into the next.

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Power Love Sound Mind:  A electropop musicality makes up this contemporary christian song based on 2 Timothy 1:7 about the battle in life between choosing faith and fear.

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Never Give Up:  My second favorite off this album about the true fighting spirit of a believer.

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Dream Again: 

A warrior cry anthem that shouts into the dead and dying hopes of a hurting world about the power of having a dream in your heart and not stopping to achieve it.

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Becoming Me ft. Lulu West:  A song about the hands that feed you, dress you, and build you up, and how they help you become the person you are.

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You are Known:  A song about how the world make you feel anonymous and unwanted, but God sees you and wants you to know he knows you and loves you for all that you are and can see all you can be, and believes in that greatness he placed inside you.

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Overall, West wows with his seventh studio album that makes any and all believers learn about different aspects of the God they serve and are known by. His songwriting will break through all the noise to share a truth that needs to be spoken to the heart of each and every person alive.

 

#BookishThoughts: Schuren strikes a nerve of the meaning of being a woman with ‘Virtue of Sin’

Posted on by The Smart Cookie

pablo The cover alone led me to take interest in this book almost instantly because of the spiritual connotation of butterflies. Growth, Renewal, Hope and even in some contexts it can mean an awakening of some type.

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From the very first page, I instantly related to Miriam despite that the book is told through two first person perspectives. Growing up Catholic and following the rituals made me question a lot of things about God and his mercy even as a young kid.

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Yet, it was Miriam’s personality strength of questioning people and things that I also related to. As a writer, I’m always paying extra attention to things people miss:

  • the heartbreaking look someone has on their face when they realize they don’t love someone  anymore
  • the droop in someone’s shoulders because their loved one just passed away
  • the crack in someone’s voice before they reveal to that special someone that they have fallen in love with them.

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Miriam lives within a community with a leader who reminds me of Pastor Dan from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and with the same totalitarian atmosphere as Handmaid’s Tale.

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Women are to be seen and not heard.

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Schuren’s novel was relatable, stimulating, written with a strength and power only a woman writer could possess, and was one the best books I’ve read in 2019 so far.

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To say thank you for reading this review, just use the comments section below to share the words “The Future is Female.” One lucky winner will win a copy of Shannon Schuren’s book, format winner’s choice. Deadline is Friday Aug. 9 at 11:59 p.m.  Make sure to include your name and email address if not listed on your WordPress account.

Don’t allow them to silence you. Pass this on to a friend.

#BookReview: After The Storm by Ava St. Pierre @wisebeautyqueen

Posted on by The Smart Cookie

Mental Illness carries much of a stigma even though it is 2018. Finally, people are deciding to be open about it whether they themselves struggle with it or someone they know and love.

I believe it should be openly discussed so that those who struggle with it can get the help and healing they deserve.

And so began the reason I couldn’t say no to reading Ava St. Pierre’s memoir.

She’s this prestigious beauty queen who was a pretty big deal in Texas as well as the ability to dapple in the VIP lifestyle because of her Mrs. Texas America title.

Yet, her story is definitely one for the books which is why I was glad her daughter Sheree sent it to me.

Growing up in a family of seven children, they lived a cool, calm, and collected existence. That was until the storm hit.

By storm, I am referring to her mother’s fits of rage that caused a severe accident with one of Ava’s younger brothers. These fits of rage were eventually diagnosed as amnesia, paranoia, and schizophrenia, and her father decided to raise the children as a single parent which left Ava’s birth mother to remain homeless for most of her life.

One thing I loved about the memoir is how easy it was to read despite the heaviness in topic and themes, and how Ava remained positive and used her story to showcase that no matter what anyone goes through in life, they can either sit and feel sorry for themselves or they can share their story to encourage others.

And Ava succeeds at the latter, and her story will provide hope that life gets better no matter the severity of the storm and the after effects that remain.

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