A few words about me

Hi! I'm Melody.

Songs, melodies for the Messiah. Sonnets, poems written through times of joy and times of pain. This duo is what makes up much of my creativity as a daughter of the King. A little bit about me and how my songs and sonnets came to be…

I gave my heart to Jesus when I was three when I lived in Loveland, Colorado. Shortly afterward, I moved to Oconto, Nebraska, a small town of only 147 people. I have fond memories of living there until I was eight, making forts with my brother and skating on a cow pond. I began piano lessons when I was five. In my first piano recital I kept playing my song over and over because I didn’t know when I was supposed to stop.

My parents became missionaries in the Republic of Georgia and I lived there between ages 8 and 10. What a rich culture to experience, with such loving, welcoming people, breathtaking scenery, and good food! One of my favorite memories is going with friends into the villages and showing the Jesus film from the back of their van.

We moved back to the states and chose to live in Kalkaska, MI and stayed with some friends for a bit. I went to a little one-room school for 6th and 7th grade and found my love of horseback riding. I had a wonderful piano teacher and played in more recitals.

My dad passed away from lung cancer when I was 15. I plummeted into a deep, dark depression. I think that’s when the songwriting first really began for me. I believe that much of the beautiful music and poetry we see and know today came from people who were experiencing brokenness. Through my pain, I found comfort in the arms of my Heavenly Father, though I had lost my earthly Father (but praise be to God, only temporarily)!

I’ve always wanted to share my songs. I felt that God had given me the words and the music, but I was never able to afford to go to a recording studio.

By God’s grace and goodness, He did make a way for me to be able to record, and over the past couple years I’ve been working with a Christian producer who really loves the Lord and is just a wonderful individual to work with!

My first poem as a kid was: “There was a frog who sat on a log in a bog in the fog.” Haha! Thankfully my poetry has matured since then, but I’ll have to say that was a great start! My poetry rhymes at times (like just now), but most of mine is freestyle. I like being able to just write without having to consciously think about rhyming all the time. Writing poetry for me has often been a deep time of connection with the Lord, as I commune with Him and form thoughts within the special time and spaces I have with Him. Again, much of that creativity has come from pain, but not always. I’ve experienced some significant mental health issues (depression, postpartum depression, seasonal depression, etc.) and as I’ve published my two poetry books, I’ve really hoped that someone who is also struggling can be encouraged and offered a bit of light in the darkness.

Oh! Two other important facts about me: I am married to a wonderful nerd named Doug and have an adorable little son named David. I’m richly blessed. Some of my other interests besides making songs and sonnets are: going on mission trips, homemaking, reading (especially the Chronicles of Narnia), traveling (I’ve been to Iceland and Israel), hiking, cooking, baking, swimming, going to the gym (or at least trying), and photography. And deep, deep down inside me, I want others to know the wonderful love of Jesus that I’ve found through trials and triumph.

My First Single

In the ancient Jewish marriage proposal, the young man would come to the young woman and offer her a cup of wine. If she drank from it, that meant she had accepted his marriage proposal. If not, she had refused. If she drank from the cup, they were betrothed (only able to be broken by a certificate of divorce). The young man then went away to prepare a place for her, so that when he came again, they could have their wedding and he could take her home so they could be together. Sound familiar? At the Last Supper, the night before Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice on the cross, he offered a cup to His disciples. He told them it represented His blood and asked them to take it and drink it, and to do it “In remembrance of Me.” A proposal. But not without a promise. He said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” That proposal was not only for Jesus’ disciples. It was for you, for me… for all of humanity. The personal aspect to this is that my precious husband proposed to me with the ancient Jewish marriage proposal. He bought a special silver cup for me that had flowers and a Star of David engraved on it. He proposed to me by candlelight, nestled away from the wind in a sand dune along US-2 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, just across from Lake Michigan. It was one of the most joyful moments of my life. I remember feeling completely shocked and sitting down in sand. “I don’t know what to say!” I said. My husband, a little nervous that I was getting cold feet, prompted me… “You could say yes!” Of course I did. I feel like God had his hand on our celebration that night. As we were driving back across the Mackinac Bridge to go back to our homes, there were fireworks! We had no idea that they did fireworks in that area during October, of all times! All of this is simply to say that this song communicates what I feel God is saying through His proposal to us. Won’t you say yes today? And if you have, rest in the assurance that Jesus will keep His promise to return for you - His beloved, and you will be with Him forever. No more tears.

My Inspirational Poetry Book