Category: Music


youtube sessions

Happy Autumn!!  It’s my favorite season of the year and it’s in full swing in New York City.  I’ve got a new song for you this week.  I’m always amazed at myself how I wonder if God will come through for me.  He has never let me down.  Ever. Be it finances, where to live, how to get there, what to do, how to do it, who to be with, how to meet them, it has made no difference!  He has always met every need in a way that I couldn’t have imagined before.

But still, I come across a situation from time to time and my flesh says, “No way this is happening.”  That’s such a lie. Lord, help me to trust You…to just believe — all that You require.

Download here.  Play here:

Hard to Believe

Why don’t I believe You
Why, You never fail
You always answer
So many stories I could tell
But the train runs Your schedule
Keeping perfect time
That’s what always kills me
I get restless, flying blind

CHORUS
You heal
You provide
You speak
And the fear inside me dies
You rescue
You protect
You orchestrate
And lives intersect
You’re everything I need
So why, every once-in-a-while
Is it so hard to believe?

You tell me, “Keep on asking”
Ask, seek, knock
I know You want to bless me
But my heart is solid rock
Could You plan some excavating
Digging out my doubt
Replacing it with faith
So I can trust my way out

CHORUS

Instead of trusting I keep trying
Run in place, forget the timing
Circumstance and speculation
Keep me in the dark
But Your lamp keeps shining
Illuminating shadows in my heart

CHORUS

I Am Known

youtube sessions

Sometimes life can get pretty lonely.  It can feel like you’re the only person in the world — the only one who’s going through what you’re going through.  But  then there’s the truth that God knows me.  He knows everything that’s going on in my life and He knows what I feel.  I am known…

Download here.  Play here:

I Am Known

I’m a stranger in the world
Does anyone really know me?
I’m on the outside looking in
I just need You to show me
That what I believe is true
That You really care
Then quietly I hear Your voice
And I know You’re there

CHORUS:
I am known, I am celebrated
I am recognized, so familiar
You call me by my name
I am known, I am loved and accepted
And as I seek Your face
You wash me with Your grace
And promise me I’ll never be alone
I am known

That the God of all the universe
Even thinks of me at all
I’m like a tiny little leaf
But He sees when I fall
And He picks me up and sings a song
A song of mercy and kindness
No one else around, I know His heart
He knows mine and I am blessed

CHORUS

Better than I know myself
More than I could dream
But I don’t have to run and hide
His forgiveness covers me
Sets me free

CHORUS

youtube sessions

I wrote this lyric after an amazing time of worship.  I had just read Psalm 17:8 where David says, “Keep me as the apple of your eye…”  It’s an incredible thing to know that, no matter what, God loves us beyond anything we have ever known.  As it declares in Ephesians, “…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”

Download or play: 

You Love Me

CHORUS:
I’m the apple of Your eye
You love me
I’m the object of Your desire
I’m lovely
So when I feel ashamed
Full of doubt and blame
I’ll remember You don’t change
You love me

I tend to feel unwanted
I tend to hurt sometimes
Overwhelmed by darkened clouds
With tarnish on the silver lining

CHORUS

I like to play the victim
Hide behind the pain
Slight manipulation
Smiling on my face

CHORUS

Kicking, screaming
Or frozen, unbending
You look beyond my tantrums
Meet my questions
With one answer

CHORUS

Happy Birthday Mom!

Since we can’t be with my Mom on her birthday this year, I decided to send her her very own “video card” :) .

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!!!

I’m Hungry

youtube sessions

This week, I’ve got a wonderful worship song that I hope you’ll enjoy.  I love doing it in this slow, contemplative way.  I could sing it for hours! (thanks Harold Greene).  It was written by Kathryn Scott from the Vineyard in Ireland (we’re getting intenational here).

Download here.  Play here:

youtube sessions

New song this week written with one of my favorite people in the world, Anje Dowler, and Katie Dean.  It’s got a “James Taylor Moment” in the middle where the key goes up and I have to move the capo in a split second.  Watch for it :) .

Download here.  Play here:

Fight In Me
Ben Ward, Anje Dowler, Katie Dean

You’re the cigarette I’m not smoking
You’re the whiskey I’m not pouring
Anymore….Why can’t I close the door

You’re the hit I’m not taking
You’re the judgment I’m not making
It’s not over yet…Too hard to forget

CHORUS:
I’ve got more needs
Than the comfort you bring
You hold my hand
But you’re not holding on to me
I’ve got some doubts
But I’m feeling my way out
In the end I believe
There’s still a fight in me

Maybe I fall too quickly
Maybe I’m my own worst enemy
It’s so easy…You never leave me

CHORUS

I’ll overcome where I’ve come from
Undo the damage I’ve done

CHORUS

So, I want to listen to some new tunes that are amazing and I need you to clue me in!  What songs / albums / artists do you absolutely love right now?  What do I HAVE to hear?

Leave your suggestions in the comments below and provide a link if you can :) .

Thanks!!!

youtube sessions

Thanks to my friend Lani Brandon for letting me use her keyboard this week.  I wrote this tune after getting a few speeding tickets…seems I can’t speed without getting caught!

Download MP3 here.  Play here:

Wednesday was not a great day.  Nothing bad happened.  It just wasn’t good.  Have you ever had one of those days?

I stayed home from work to wait on the exterminator (another long story…) who never came.  I tried to record a new song for the YouTube Sessions on keyboard and I just couldn’t get a good take.  At about ten o’clock I decided to pack the recording stuff up (it’s New York – there no room for a dedicated studio) and try again another day.  I must’ve spent five hours or so working on that song.  Nothing to show for it.  I wanted to write a blog – no dice.  I even wanted to go for a run…didn’t happen.

It’s been a long time since I tried so many different things and nothing worked out.  But I guess it’s just one of those days.

One of those days

One of those days

One of those days

No matter how you say it (write it…whatever!) it just doesn’t give you any more satisfaction.

But just before midnight as I was packing up the gear to shove into my closet I stumbled onto something.  I put a vinyl copy of James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James on the turntable and I just enjoyed it.

Didn’t sing along.  Didn’t play along.  Just enjoyed.

So I did accomplish something after all on one of those days.  Something I could have done all day long: Listen to the sounds of some really great songs.

youtube sessions

This past Saturday was our 11th anniversary so I did what any good songwriter does  [:) ] and wrote her a song. 

If you’re interested, the last anniversary song I wrote Olivia was “Like This” from my album State I’m In.

Let me know what you think!

Download the MP3 here.  Play here: