Jamfest Recap

Hello!

Now, that life has calmed down a bit (whatever that means), I'm going to give a update on how Jamfest went.

Let me just say, "OH MY LORD!" What a crazy experience. The whole process was just a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I don't even know where to start:

The Look:
So I got professionally styled for Jamfest. No joke! My stylists took me shopping, picked my hairstyle, and came backstage on the night of to do my makeup and dress me. It was quite a production and people kept saying they could hardly recognize me. Of course, that just means that I look "frumpy" every other day of my life. But Mirta and Quita set the standard pretty high for my "look" going forward. Now, EVERYBODY is putting their 2 cents in about how I could look really good if I applied myself. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I've definitely had to have more conversations than I'm comfortable w/ lately about how I dress and do my hair.

It was so ridiculous that on Saturday night, I was kinda tense about choosing what to wear for church the next day. "What will people say about this?" "Should I wear my hair like this?" Of course, I happened to be leading on Sunday so everyone was going to see me. Then, I realized that I didn't care anymore. It didn't matter what I wore because it's not about me. And I was ready to give anyone who made a comment about my outfit the "It's Not About Me" lecture, but , thankfully, nobody bothered me.

Enough w/ the tirade....

The Stage:
When Kenny called my name and I stepped on stage, people were standing and cheering, the Praise Team was jumping and cheering too. I had to just stand there smiling until they got quiet. But what an awesome feeling! I felt so much love and support! I LOVE my friends, family and church community. I had been praying before going on stage that this would feel like leading on a Sunday (only, in high heels) and it really did. I felt pretty comfortable up on that stage (until my feet start to hurt).

Afterwards:
I was definitely on the Jamfest cloud for a good 2 days after the event. I was invited to sing "This is Who I Am" at an event in June. People kept asking me when the album is coming out (the answer to that is "soon" - we have a lot of work to do). I could fill up a wall w/ all of the encouraging emails (I will never delete those, by the way).

But I forced myself to get down off the cloud. I was up to lead on Sunday and I didn't want to be performing or showing off in any way.

But, yeah, Jamfest was awesome! I feel so honored to have been asked to minister. I can't wait to see what God has in store!

Jamfest

Shame on me! It's been almost a month since I last updated this blog. I've been busy and I really haven't had much to say, but I think I'd better update this thing w/ a general life update.

So life has been very full lately. There's always something going on. The biggest thing lately has been Jamfest. A couple of months ago, I was asked to be a guest artist at Jamfest, a concert that's held at CSUN that my church/college ministry is responsible for putting on every year. Wow! What an honor. I didn't even know how to respond. I said yes, of course. Jamfest is finally here this week on Wednesday night and I will be an artist along w/ Da Truth (a Christian rapper) and T.C. Bereal (gospel recording artist). I'll be singing 2 songs including "This is Who I Am." Tonee has made a beautiful arrangement that I can't wait to minister on stage. I think the theme of the song is timely.

Practicing and prepping w/ the Praise Team for Wednesday has been great. I'm having so much fun and they've really given me the freedom to do what I want in terms of the arrangement for the 2nd song I'm doing. I've also been in prayer about Jamfest and asking God to prepare me. I felt okay about the preparation up until yestererday. I've kept a pretty clear head about the event - low insecurity level, having fun, not getting cocky. But I didn't quite feel prepared yet. I felt like God needed to do one more shift, but I didn't know what that was. Yesterday, He did it. I basically needed to be broken before Him and vulnerable so that I can minister on Wednesday night. After worship yesterday, I feel sufficiently broken, but also ready to go.

There's so much more I could say about the love and support I've felt during this time of preparation. I could even go on and on about the people who are dressing/styling me for the occcasion (OMG...I wish I could get professionally styled everyday). I could talk about my parents, grandma, family, coworker and friends who are coming to support.....BUT I won't.

Have a good day!

Preview of next update: Sarcasm....love....being a jerk is not always cool or funny.