Something New! 

I'm just going to leave this little announcement right here: 

I will let you know when my new single is live and available for streaming and download.  This song is special to me for many reasons, but I can't wait to share with you the story of this song!

I think you're going to love it!  See ya next week.

Kristin

Back in the Saddle (And it Feels Good!) 

I'm writing this post after a long, but rewarding day. 

My youngest child is currently crying at my feet, trying her hardest to keep me from doing anything productive. 

But I wanted to take a minute a write this quick post to tell you about what I did today.  It's something I haven't done in several years. Definitely not since the pandemic began. 

Today, I was a guest worship leader at a local church in KY. 

I used to do this all the time years ago. It's a passion of mine to help other ministries when their normal music ministers are away for whatever reason. 

So, when I was asked earlier this week to fill in for a worship leader who would be at a conference today, I was  excited and quickly agreed. 

I felt rusty and out of the habit of both playing piano and singing at the same time.  And today, it was only me on stage. So every wrong note was surely noticeable. But I asked God to bless my offering of worship to Him anyway, and I believe He did. 

It felt really good to use one of the gifts I know the Lord has placed in me. 

I hope to do more of this in the future.  So, I'm going to put this out there: If you attend a church that could use a guest worship leader for a Sunday or two, we should talk! You can send me an email at kristin@kristinkingmusic.com and I'll get back with you. And yes, I am willing to travel within the states! 

Here is the set list I chose today:

  1. This is Amazing Grace
  2. Goodness of God
  3. It is Well with My Soul
  4. Build My Life

It was an amazing day and just the confirmation I needed to realize that God is not done with my music ministry yet!

I'm Still Here! (Merry Christmas 2022) 

Hey Friends!

Yes, it's me, Kristin.  I am still HERE. Although I seemingly dropped off the face of the earth when it came to this music site, I'm still creating music.  The music is in me and will be all my life.  I simply have to let it out.  

Where to start? So much has happened in the past two years.  To summarize:

  • 2020 looked to be a banner year for my music and my teaching career.  One week before I was scheduled to take my choir groups to competition at Disney World, COVID shut the entire world down.  My world rolled to a grinding halt just like everyone else's. 
  • After limping through the rest of the school year as an "online choir teacher" (<---yuck!), I was relieved to enjoy the summer and figure out "life". Then, I found out I was expecting baby number 3- a complete surprise!
  • Baby girl King was born in March 2021, and she is everything I never knew I needed! 
  • While learning to be a mom to 3 wonderful kiddos, I realized that teaching full time didn't really allow me to be the full time mom I wanted to be.  My husband and I made the decision that I would leave my teaching position after the 2021-2022 school year. 
  • I am now a full time mom and have recently started freelancing music and writing projects and I absolutely LOVE it! I can't wait to see how my business takes off in 2023. 

 

So yeah...a lot of things have taken place while I've been silent on this site. I'm ready to revisit my commitment to my music-creation and performances next year.  I'm sure that includes more upgrades/ changes to this site, but I'm gonna take it one step at a time for now. Today's step is publishing this update.  

I did something fun yesterday: I released a simple video of me singing my newest song, "Christmas with You".  I want to share it with you today.  I hope you enjoy this holiday song (even though Christmas was yesterday).  Here is "Christmas with You": 

Stay tuned for more! 

Musically Yours,

Kristin

 

Your Gift is Enough 

2020 is here! Can you believe it? Welcome to a beautiful, new decade! 

Two weeks ago, I celebrated Christmas with my favorite three this year- my husband, my son, and my daughter. As I posted on social media, this Christmas can really only be described as “different”. Three out of four of us were extremely sick on Christmas Day, myself included. But, it wasn’t a total loss because we still had each other, germs and all. I’d rather have them with the germs than not at all. 

My husband gave me a very meaningful gift this year, which happened to make me cry. Instead of describing it to you, I’ll just show you a picture. 

Those of you who’ve been on this musical journey with me any length of time know that Make Something Happen is the only album I’ve officially released to date. It wasn’t so much the beautiful tribute my husband created that made me cry as much as the handwritten note he wrote on bright, hot pink paper. 

It said, “I’ve always believed in you, and I always will. Merry Christmas.” 

To have a spouse who believes in you is already a pretty amazing gift, but it is especially meaningful to me because I’ve had a lot of trouble believing in myself lately. 

Somewhere in the years after making the album, testing the Christian radio market (whatever that really is), applying for jobs in Nashville that never panned out, hearing from the “experts” of the music industry that I was too vanilla for their tastes, and stopping my songwriting because I just couldn’t seem to get it right, gradually I just bought into the lie. 

I bought into the lie that my gift is not enough. 

Ouch, that’s painful to write, but I’m doing it anyway because I have a feeling I’m not the only one who’s struggled with this. 

Everyone else around me was looking at my gift, whether that be my songwriting, or singing, or piano playing and telling me that it didn’t measure up to their standard. And after hearing that so many times in many different ways, I eventually accepted it as truth. 

Meanwhile, the truth is that God was up in heaven, grieving over His child here on earth because I stopped using the very gifts He gave me because I didn’t believe they were enough. 

Here’s the real truth bomb, and it’s found in the ultimate Book of truth, in Romans 8:31- 

“If God be for us, who can be against us?” 

Some of us, myself included, have forgotten this very basic truth: God is for us. God is for you! 

You don’t need other people to accept or approve your gift when it didn’t come from them, and it’s not to be used for their glory anyway! 

Let me say it a different way. Your gift, my friend, is enough. That thing inside you that lights you up, is enough. I know it without even have met you because I know the God who gave it to you. And He is always enough. 

The challenge for those of us who have let the world dictate the use of our gifts is to start living our lives as though God is the only applause that matters. Because in the end, His is really the only one that does. 

Remember at the end of our lives, He’ll say one of two things to us. It’s either, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” or “Get away from me because I never knew you.” 

I want to hear Him say the first statement of me, don’t you? 

My prayer for you today is that as you face a new year and a new decade, you embrace the gift you’ve been given and start stepping out on it in the coming days, weeks, and years. No matter who’s watching (or not) and no matter what other people have to say about it. 

For me, that looks like getting back to my songwriting in a major way. It involves me showing up daily to my notebook with pencil in hand, ready to jot down the inspiration God breathes into me. 

May 2020 be the year that we stop buying the lie that our gifts bestowed on us by the very Creator of the Universe are not enough. Child of God, your gift is MORE than enough. 

Now it’s time for you to truly start using it. 

Blessings, 

Kristin 

Ps. I’m taking my own message to heart and planning a lot of exciting things here at Kristin King Music! I’m happy to announce that I’ve picked up my songwriting again and hope to have some new material to share with you very soon! Also, I’m working on some exciting projects that will be available later this year.  Stay tuned!

The Surrendered Life 

Do you ever look at your life and wonder how it got to be what it is? Maybe you’re not working where you thought you’d work, or doing that thing you knew you’d be doing by now. Or maybe you don’t live where you envisioned yourself living. Maybe you planned for kids, and have none. Or planned for a couple of kids, and have tons. 

My life is looking a lot different than I envisioned it would even 5 years ago. I’m not living where I thought I would be. I’m still working a day job in music, but I didn’t realize I’d still be teaching. I enjoy teaching, I just didn’t see myself doing it long-term. 

I’m constantly learning to let go of my carefully conceived dreams of what my life was supposed to look like in favor of what it actually is. I believe God has me where I am, doing what I’m doing for a reason. 

I’m learning to embrace the surrendered life. 

It’s definitely not easy. And it’s a daily learning process. Some days are easier than others, but I have an amazing example to look to. 

Jesus gives us a perfect example of the surrendered life. It’s amazing to me that He knew that He had been sent to earth to eventually give up His life for all mankind, and yet He still willingly allowed Himself to be sacrificed. He walked toward His destiny fully surrendered to the impending ultimate sacrifice. 

How do we know He didn’t want to die, but was still willing? Read through His conversation with God in Matthew 26. 

“…He became anguished and distressed. He told [the disciples], ‘My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ 

He went on a little farther and bowed his face to the ground, praying, ‘My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.’”- Matthew 26:38-40 

The passage goes on to say Jesus continued to pray this same prayer twice more before he was ultimately arrested and tried. 

It jumped out at me that Jesus struggled with the thought of dying such a cruel death. God-incarnate struggled! Imagine that. Elsewhere the Bible says that “He endured the cross for the joy set before him. “(see Hebrews 12:2) But that doesn’t mean he wanted to die. 

His grief crushed him. Sound familiar? 

Three times, he asked God to make another way. And three times he reconciled himself to the surrendered life. No matter what. 

Do you struggle to live the surrendered life? 

Please know that you are not alone. Life can be so tough. You can get weighed down with grief, to the point of feeling crushed by it

And like Jesus, you can run to the arms of the Father as much as you need, multiple times and tell Him you’re struggling. He can handle your pain. He can also handle your questions.

And then comes the hardest part: walking away and leaving your burden with Him. Living the surrendered life. It’s not easy to do, but it is so very worth it. 

What do you need to surrender to your Heavenly Father today? Don’t let another moment pass before you bring your burden, your worry, your distress to Him. Ask Him to help you surrender your life. And walk in the freedom that this sort of living brings. 

All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give… (Lyrics from "I Surrender All")

Blessings, 

Kristin

Prune & Pivot 

Hi there! Welcome to my music home on the web! 

Maybe you’ve been around this space since its launch in 2016, or maybe you’re a newcomer to me and my music. Either way, I thank you for stopping by and I hope before you click over to some other site you leave just a little encouraged by something you hear or read here. That’s my goal with my music and writing: to give hope to whatever audience God entrusts me with. 

As I sit here writing this post, I’m shaking my head that it’s already the second quarter of the year. How did April get here so fast? 2019 has been a weird, but wonderful year for me so far. Here’s just a sampling of stuff that’s happened: 

  • I was invited to perform at a songwriting conference in Nashville. It was an amazing experience! 
  • I wrote a proposal for a new piano class at the high school where I teach and it was accepted for the upcoming school year. So many students signed up, we're having to split the class into two!
  • I finally, finally wrote a new song and I’m very proud of it. (Hope to share soon!) 
  • I registered my oldest child for kindergarten in the fall. Cue the tears. I’m not ready… 
  • I played piano for the funeral of my friend’s baby boy of only 4 months. 
  • I directed a well-known musical at my school and it went better than I anticipated. 

There have been many more ups and downs throughout the first 4 months of the year, but I won’t drone on with details. Honestly, I feel like I’ve done a lot of pivoting in 2019. Meaning, the direction I thought I was headed at the beginning of the year has ended up not being the direction I’ve gone at all. So I pivot, take a few more steps, look around, and adjust my course as I go. 

It’s been a little confusing. I feel a bit blinded about my path at the moment. That doesn’t mean that my purpose has changed. I still feel called to create music and to write to the glory of God. It’s just that I’m considering the most effective vehicle for my message. And I’m also considering what I need to remove because it is no longer serving me in my life. 

The purpose of this post is to encourage you if you should also find yourself needing to change directions in your life. I think it’s important for you to know that you don’t need permission to make a course correction. If you’re involved in something in your life, be it a hobby, a business, a relationship, even a ministry (gasp, yeah, I went there!), and it’s just not working, it’s okay to go a different direction. It’s okay, and even healthy to learn to pivot. 

However, the first step before pivoting into bigger and better things is admitting that you need to cut some things in your life in the first place. I’m so tired of the lie that we humans can “do it all”. That’s just not true unless you want to burn yourself out really quickly. And then you really won’t be doing it all because you’ll be doing none of it. 

Cutting the dead weight is even a Biblical concept. Don’t believe me? Check this out: 

“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” -John 15:2 

What do you need to prune in your life in order to pivot? Spring is here, which is the perfect time to consider what needs to be cut out of your life in order to help you move forward in the direction of God’s plan for you. 

If it’s not too personal, feel free to share how you’re pivoting in this season and what you’re cutting from your life to make room for a new direction. I’ll be doing the same in my own life.

Blessings, 

Kristin

Details 

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, providing me with a small commission if you purchase a product through this page at no extra cost to you.  Thanks for your support!)

Most people who know me know that I've been following Christ for most of my life.  I feel blessed to have been raised by God-fearing parents who took me to church and answered my many questions about God when I was a preschooler.  

You might thing that following God for decades would become, well, boring at some point.  But that's the cool thing about God.  Because He is omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing), I believe He has never-ending ways of revealing Himself to His children.  I love it when He reveals Himself to me in a new way.  

Most recently, He's made Himself known to me in life's little details.  

I was reading this book by prolific Bible teacher, Joyce Meyer, and in it, she reasoned that much of our stress would be eliminated or greatly lowered if we went to God at the onslaught of a problem, not after we've exhausted every other resource we can think to solve it.  In other words, God should be our first choice, not our last resort.  

That concept immediately convicted me when I read it because I am so guilty of carrying the giant burden of worry when God is constantly beckoning me to simply come to Him.  How much of that worry would be gone if I only listened!  

I decided to try out bringing God my concerns with one that seemed to be affecting all areas of my life: my daughter's sleep.  Rather, I should rephrase that and call it my daughter's lack of sleep.  

She turned one in October, and I really believed that our sleep problems would be a distant memory by the time her birthday rolled around.  Unfortunately, that's not what happened.  In fact, she almost seemed to be getting worse at the beginning of this month, getting up 3-4 times a night and leaving both mommy and daddy completely exhausted when it was time for us to get up for work.  

Her lack of sleep was starting to affect my attitude in a major way.  I became irritable at silly things.  I screamed at myself.  I screamed at my kids.  I'm sure I had some words with God as well. (Please tell me you've been there!)

After reading this book, I decided that God was big enough to handle this problem and to help us figure something out.  I came before Him, broken and bone-tired, and after repenting for my unrestrained anger, asked Him to show me a solution for getting our little girl to sleep better.

And then, I waited and listened.  

What I felt like He spoke to me wasn't anything earth-shattering.  In fact, you'll probably read it, and think, "Duh, why didn't you figure that out yourself?"  But I wasn't in any position to receive it, until I humbled myself and admitted to God that I needed His help in this area.  He told me, "Follow your daughter's patterns.  Stop trying to make her conform to your schedule or some schedule from a sleep book, and study her.  When she's tired, put her to bed."  

So that's what I started doing.  And, get this: It works!

I barely recognize the end of this month from the start of it.  My daughter is sleeping through the night, most nights.  It's amazing how great sleep has helped the entire household.  One day I exclaimed in my prayer time, "Thank You, God.  It's working!"  His gentle answer back to me made me giggle.  He said, "I know; I created her."  

Friend, God cares about the details of your life.  Even those silly little things that you think are too petty to bring before God in prayer.  He wants to hear about them.  

Do you ever have a day when your to-do list seems overwhelming?  Here's a crazy thought: Why not pray over that list?  It sounds silly, but if God cares about all of the little details, don't you think He cares about your to-do list?  He's a prayer away, waiting to help you with the details.  

To close, here's some encouragement straight from the Word: 

"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." -James 1:5

My Word for 2019 

Happy New Year, Friends!

I'm excited for the possibilities that exist at the beginning of a new year, and if I'm being totally honest, I'm happy to see 2018 in the rearview mirror.  

Back in 2017, I started getting into the whole "choose a word to frame your year" idea.  In 2017, I chose the word "Harvest".  That year, we moved to KY to be closer to my family.  I also unexpectedly landed a great teaching job that I really enjoy.  And I gave birth to my daughter toward the close of the year.  Last year's word was "Rooted".  Since I still felt new to my location, I sought to establish connections and community here.  I got involved in my church by volunteering on the worship team.  I started to get to know my coworkers better.  I took on a handful of new students for music lessons.  I got rooted in the Word by choosing an online plan and reading through the entire Bible in a year.

Looking back on these two years, it seems like choosing a word at the start of the year did actually help frame the events to come.  Pretty cool how that worked.

For 2019, I landed upon the word: Steadfast

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 15:58

I chose this word originally because it reminds me of the word "consistent", but sounds a lot nicer to say.  Then when I began researching Scripture, I stumbled upon the verse above and knew "steadfast" was the right choice.

Here is how I hope this word will frame my year:

  • I am focusing on prayer this year by using a weekly guided prayer journal to help.  I hope to grow more consistent in my prayer life as I work through the journal and pour out my heart to God.
  • I am aching to get back to writing new music, but I feel a pull toward worship music.  I will need to dedicate myself to the craft as I don't always feel inspired to put pen to paper and write.
  • ​​​​​​​I have started a new blog for moms (creativemommyhood.com in case you're wondering) and plan to consistently post to that website and grow my audience so I can help moms stay creative on their parenting journey
  • My family means so much to me and I want to show them how much I care by spending quality time with my husband and kids

​​​​​​​I can't wait to see how the Lord works in 2019!  There are exciting plans for Kristin King Music in the works as well.  

Did you choose a word for this year?  If so, will you share it in the comments below?  

Blessings!

Kristin

Talking Out of Both Sides 

Talking Out of Both Sides

The official week of gratitude is upon us.  And I just have one question: How is it Thanksgiving already?  Wow, 2018 is on its way out in a hurry.

Being that it's Turkey Week, I'll keep my post brief.  I was driving to my day job today and began reflecting on all gratitude challenges going on during the month of November.  You know the ones...you have to say or write down something you're grateful for each day.  I'm all for these types of challenges, so much so that I'm even doing one myself.  I'm writing down one thing I'm grateful for each day of November in my planner.  It's wonderful to realize how very many blessings I have in my life at any given moment.  That's all due to an amazing Father who has blessed me far beyond anything I deserve.

And yet...as I was driving and thinking about gratitude today, suddenly a Scripture came to mind that I just read in my devotional study early this morning:

 "But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be." -James 3:8-10

It was the last verse that stood out to me today: Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. Ouch. You see, I have to confess that this has definitely been true of my mouth within the past 5 days.

Around 3am Thursday morning, our electricity unexpectedly went out during an ice storm.  When it happened I thought, no biggie, simply because in the past when our electricity has gone out, it tends to come back on in a matter of minutes.  This time, it was 3 whole days.  

Once we finally moved back in from our 3 day mini "vacation" (my parents were gracious enough to house 4 humans and our dog), I thought the trouble was over.  Wrong.  Yesterday, we discovered that a rodent decided our vacant/ powerless house during the days we were gone would make a nice home for him/ her and has taken up residency in our pantry, feasting on our bread, tortillas, and leaving his/ her "presents" all over the place. 

Here I am in the middle of a Gratitude Challenge, and yet, I can assure you, blessings have not been the only things spilling from my lips these past few days.  I am so guilty of James 3:10. One minute, I'm praising God for a reliable vehicle with new tires just in time for winter.  The next minute, I'm lamenting all of the ruined freezer food we lost in the power outage.  One mouth->two sides->blessings and curses.

Today's reminder of James 3:8-10 was just what I needed to be convicted of my double-sided words.  Isn't that just like the Lord to so gently convict with His timeless wisdom by impressing it upon my heart at the right time?

This year at my Thanksgiving table, I pray that the Lord will give me wisdom to speak only blessings and hold back the curses.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kristin

When is the Right Time? 

(Image from Bible.com)

 

This popped up as the daily verse in You Version today and it got me thinking, “When is the right time?” 

Today’s post will probably highlight a less than flattering side of me, but I felt compelled to share my thoughts in hopes that they help someone else who struggles like me. 

You see, sometimes (ok, most of the time) when I get on social media, I get a little discouraged watching other people living my dream.  Ugh, that looks so ugly written out, but it’s the truth. 

For example, I can’t tell you how many people I’ve “watched” announce excitedly that all the doors have opened up for them to move to Nashville.  Every time I see that announcement, it feels like my heart is being pinched just a little.  Nashville was my dream for so long.  Both my husband and I did everything in our power to make it happen, and I got really close to landing a great job there, but in the end, it just didn’t work out. And even though I am very happy in KY and only three hours away from my beloved Music City, sometimes I still get sad that it never happened for me. 

Can you relate?  Do you ever look at someone else’s life and think, “They’ve got what I want”?  They have the baby you’ve longed for, the successful business, the new house, etc. 

I could write a whole other post on not falling into the comparison trap, but that’s not the point of today’s post.  Because let’s face it, sometimes it stings to watch others accomplish what you’ve been striving and struggling  to accomplish yourself. 

To return to the theme verse today, I think it offers some hope for those of us who struggle with this.  “Humble yourselves,” it says.  What does that mean?  Does it mean just shrinking down and tossing your dreams aside because they aren’t happening on your timetable?  I don’t think so.  I think it means to continue working on your dreams that more than likely God placed in you from the beginning, but surrendering the timetable to Him.  The timing is not in your hands. 

When is the right time?  When God says it is.  And when He exalts you, as this verse promises, there is nothing on earth, above or below, that can stop you!  That’s the very best part.  Your only job is to keeping working at it and stay humble.  Your time is coming, friend. 

Blessings, 
Kristin 


Ps. A few years ago, I wrote a song that speaks to this very subject.  Listen to it here, and may it encourage you that God has not forgotten you!