Monday, August 6, 2012

We Are All BORN BRAVE {CD Giveaway!!}

The last time I did a giveaway on this blog was almost a year ago(!) in celebration of me writing the 100th blog post for this blog. Since then I have written nearly 200 more posts and the readership of the blog has grown at about the same rate! I’d say it’s definitely time for a giveaway, and thanks to YourLDSRadio.com, I’ve got a couple of great CDs to give away this month.
YourLDSRadio is an online streaming radio station that provides constant uplifting music, mostly from LDS composers and artists, although I was just listening and they played I Hope You Dance by LeAnn Womack, so it looks like they throw in some other stuff every now and then. If you’re looking for some nice background music you know is safe to listen to with the kids around, this would probably be it.

If there’s one thing you should know about me it is that I love music. Now, I am not your average music lover. I love music. I get emotional when I am listening to music – just about any music. Seriously, The Itsy Bitsy Spider can get me choked up. I don’t know what it is, but music speaks to me in a way that nothing else ever has or probably ever will. It may be the reason why I end up being the choir director in every ward I attend. I am passionate about music. I believe that music is a very spiritual thing – and can be used to uplift, or to tear down.

When YourLDSRadio contacted me and asked if I would like to review a few CDs for them, and give a few away on the blog, I jumped at the chance.



The first CD I listened to was Katherine Nelson’s new CD, Born Brave. I popped it into my CD player and pressed play. At first I almost cringed. Country? I’m not a huge country fan. A few of my favorite songs these days are a little more country, but I’m still not all about the country music. But it didn’t take long for the catchy tunes, pick-me-up beat, and uplifting words of Katherine’s songs to get me moving. Her album is officially my first country album, and it’s probably my favorite album (of all of them).
The feel of Katherine’s music reminds me a little bit of Kelly Clarkson’s the “girl power” songs. But much less angry. Each song I listen to on this album makes me feel more empowered. I feel like she really gets what it means to be a woman – and that there are so many different faces of women who need to feel empowered.


You know how you listen to an album and you usually have one or two favorites from the album? Not so with Katherine. I love every single one of her songs. The ones that move me the most (remember, I cry when I hear music) are “Good for Me” and “What’s Mine is Yours”.

The lyrics for the chorus of “Good for Me” are especially poignant for me. I studied math and physics in college. I always thought I would be an engineer. Or maybe an accountant or businesswoman. Some days I thought about going to law school after my undergraduate studies. I would have been a “courageous woman out there in shiny shoes and business suits.” But there was something else I needed to do – which doesn’t mean that there aren’t women out there who should be out there in the world. Good for them. But there is a significant work to be done in homes, and if people think that a woman who “gives up” a career in order to raise a family is “doing it all wrong”, my house isn’t a place to do it – I’m doing it all right. And good for me.
“Here’s to courageous women out there in shiny shoes and business suits
Good for you
But hats off to the women in the kitchen who run the world
Raising boys and girls.”
The story behind, and in, “What’s Mine is Yours” is about infertility, pregnancy and infant loss, and giving up children for adoption. I’ve never personally been in that situation, and I honestly don’t know if I would be able to survive such a trial. My heart feels like breaking when I hear of the heartache of others who lose children, and I just can’t imagine going through it myself. I am positive I would die of a broken heart.
However, the chorus of this song seems to go beyond that for me. It is about giving up what we think we want for what God really wants for us.
“What’s mine is yours
It’s always been
What slips through my hands has your fingerprints on it
I’m letting go
Remembering
Though Heaven’s doors feel shut they’re wide open
What’s mine is yours”
I think about Emma Smith and how everything she had she gave to the Lord – what’s hers was his, and she understood that. I want to have faith to be able to truly say to God “What’s mine is yours”. That is definitely a brave thing to do.

Speaking of Emma Smith, one of the songs on this album is about Emma, who was probably the bravest woman who ever lived, except maybe Mary, the mother of Christ. I had actually heard this song on The Nashville Tribute Band’s CD “Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet” that I won in a giveaway last summer, and it quickly became my favorite song – especially because I was going through a particularly hard time in my life when I felt like I “couldn’t let the world see [me] cry”, and “Every time your life turned a page, It seemed like your heart might break.” Now I don’t want to compare my trials to those of Emma, but we all have times in our lives when that is true – when each turn of life’s pages seems like it brings more heartache and sorrow, and we wonder, when will be our joy?
The line of Emma’s song that really does a number on me says, “And I’m sure your heart breaks When some people still say Somewhere down the line you lost your faith.”

It’s a really powerful song, and is one I’ll listen to on repeat for hours (okay, maybe not that long, but you get the idea). I actually like the Nashville Tribute version better, sung by Mindy Gledhill, but perhaps that’s just because it was the first one I heard. I think it has more to do with the instrumentals than with the vocals (the Nashville Tribute’s instrumentals are more robust than Katherine’s). But the song is just as powerful – and almost more powerful because it’s coupled with all the other songs on this amazing CD.

(random interesting tidbit – I wanted to listen to Katherine’s CD while I wrote this review, so I typed in “Katherine Nelson” on iTunes so it would bring up her album. Who would’ve known, she also sang two of my very favorite EFY songs from my EFY days! I love it when I find out amazing people wrote or sang my favorite songs.)

Want a chance to win this amazing CD? Well, here’s your chance, thanks to Your LDS Radio. I’ve got one copy of Katherine’s new CD to give away – so you can rock out to some uplifting “girl power” music!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling me about a time when you or another woman you know showed that they were BORN BRAVE.

The giveaway will end on Monday August 13, 2012 at 11:59pm. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator at random.org. I will post the winner on Tuesday, August 14 so check back then to see if you have won!

This giveaway is closed.






12 comments:

  1. My mother has gone through 3 miscarriages in her life. 1 before I was born, and two in the past several years. It's been heartbreaking, but she's pulled through it amazingly.
    Even more amazing to me, though, is my former YW President. She struggled with infertility since she and her husband got married. There's a huge gap between her first child and her second, and she and her husband had to go through a lot of heartbreak and struggle to have the second child. Miraculously, though, she had another daughter a few months ago without having to go through any of the trials we saw her go through to have her others. She has always inspired me. :)

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  2. I had a series of miscarriages between my two sets of children. We didn't think we were going to be blessed with anymore kids for a long time. It was definitely a trial and a hardship and a period of growth.
    But brave - my old college roommate who after 10 years of trying to fix it and make it work in an abusive marriage has had the courage to leave and is basically starting over again but with 3 little girls to care for now. She is brave.

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  3. I recently stood up for myself at work. I had been bullied at work for some time,and I didn't see it until my husband showed me how I had altered my behaviour to cope with the bullying. It was quite scary reporting it, but I felt it had to be done. I consider myself brave.

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  4. I feel like I have to access my inner bravery when I exercise faith that everything will be ok in becoming pregnant again when the Lord tells me that there is "one more", rather than limiting my family size per the recommendation of different OBs. (3 miscarriages, Five children so far all born via c section)

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  5. I think it was very brave of a woman I know to not give up in any way on an adult daughter who was making wrong choices. All of her interactions with her demonstrated great faith.

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  6. Tess (justmarites@gmail.com)August 9, 2012 at 12:58 AM

    I have a churchmate, our worship leader, who is a cancer survivor, she never stopped on praying, and putting her trust on the Lord. She never get tired on leading worship, until one day she received a beautiful news from her doctor, her 4th stage malignant breast cancer was turned negative. That's the power of perseverance, faith, hope and trust, that is cultivated by the power of the grace of God. Amen!!

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  7. I have a friend who is a single mom. Inspite of being alone making a living for her family she raised her children and put them into school. I never seen her blaming God for her situation. God is our portion and strength, the very present help in times of need. riveradannese@yahoo.com

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  8. I thank God for my second life I'm enjoying today. When i was young I was diagnosed with severe anemia, where my whole body was filled with bruises and my platelets count dropped far from the normal, I underwent an operation in my bone marrow. My parents are so desperate for my life, days passed and I experienced the super healing power of the Lord. Now I'm very alive and now part of our Church's Music Ministry. Thank you my Lord, Jesus! highersoaring@yahoo.com

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  9. Right now, I am doing the scriest thing I have ever done. My husband and father of our 4 daughters informed me earlier this year that he had been involved with someone else in our marriage. After being seprated for a month he told me that he has colon cancer and now I am going to see him through it

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  10. Hi! :D Like you, in my youth I could not stand country music. I have since learned to LOVE a bunch of it. I think I just didn't like the old songs that seemed to be about drinking etc. But now days there is SO MUCH BEAUTIFUL, UPLIFTING country music available. Thanks for the drawing!!!! :D

    Women born brave - Each time a woman obeys the counsel of the lord to fulfill her role in the home and family, and to allow her husband to fulfill his - she is brave. Sometimes we lack confidence in ourselves. Sometimes we lack confidence in our spouse. We need to be brave and trust that the lord gives us no calling that He won't make us capable of completing. It takes courage to live obediently with faith.

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  11. I think my mother-in-law is one of the bravest people I know. Her husband always had a hard time keeping a job - he spent a lot of time chasing his dreams that never seemed to go anywhere. She raised 7 children basically on her own in a house with no running water and very few comforts at all. And through it all, she stayed faithful in the gospel, taught her children to be faithful in the gospel, and managed to work to provide for her family and keep a household going all at the same time. And one of the most amazing things is that until my husband was in high school, he didn't even realize how hard things were for his mother; she kept it hidden from the children so they wouldn't have to worry.

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  12. I loved reading your post! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

    One woman that I consider an example of courage and being born brave would be Ester in the bible. She was born for a role that needed to be accomplished in order to save a group of chosen people. She had to stand up for what she believed. Even though we may not be required to risk our lives, we all still are brave by doing what is right and by leaving a legacy for those who follow. I personally know of many women who are brave even if they consider their actions small. What a wonderful feeling it is to know that there are women who are willing to do all it takes! (ewer2cute@hotmail.com)

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