So Long 2010. HELLO 2011!!!

2010 was full of so many beautiful moments: bliss, trials, victories, new songs, old songs, new friends, CHANGE, deep worship, conviction.



Only 21 yrs. old still and feel like I am going on 30yrs. A lot of life seems to have happened. A few moments ago, my fiancée (Brian) came up and kissed my cheek. The words, "I still want to do so many things...." left my mouth. This past year I have gotten to see so many young men and women, sons and daughters of the King encounter God in worship. A few months ago, I was leading worship at The ROCK CHURCH here in SD. I was singing a song by Chris Tomlin called, "God of this City". There is a line in it that says, "Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done..." In the last service that Sunday, the Holy Spirit fell on me a spoke to my heart. The words I had been singing, the truth I had been believing for years FINALLY seemed to hit the bottom of my heart. That lyric shook me to my core and I have never been the same since.



For years I have been guilty of running after a dream, a vision in my own strength and limited understanding. The weight of all that I hope to see, do, touch, and taste all the sudden felt so far away and unattainable. In that moment I realized that somewhere in the last couple of years, I had begun to depend more on my ability to accomplish GOD'S VISION for my life than GOD Himself. I remembered God doesn't call the able, He enables the called. Nothing I had seen in 2 albums time and 3 years on ministry was in my own doing AND nothing I will see the years of ministry to come have anything to do with what I earn on my own. Grace is a gift to me and you.



I WAS REFRESHED. I am being refreshed. My heart is so full.



The last 3 months of 2010 I decided to take a step back and return to my roots with music, my secret place with Jesus, pure worship. I recently went back and listened to my last two albums and some of my early tunes, first songs. I wept. I began to remember what it was like to sit down and just sing to Lord because I LOVED IT! There was no other place I would rather be. No agenda, just an overflow of my heart. Not writing for a label, to meet an expectation, my band mates, producer, not anyone, just... spontaneous worship to my King.



All this said, my music has not been on hold... if anything it has been moving forward! I have had to return to the place where I believe and am content only sharing my heart and songs with Jesus. It's been so good. I KNOW God is faithful to complete every good work He has begun in me. I am working on a new project with an amazing team on people. I am uncertain of the release date and in no way am going to attempt to rush the hand of God. I will take the perfect will of God over any record deal ANY day! Please be praying for strength to wait and trust in the Lord with all my heart, to never settle for anything but the best!



So to you- I pray that as you read this, you will be released from any hovering expectation or oppression. God desires to see you, know you, and bring you into freedom- His glorious light. There is so much ahead that we can’t even fathom or touch. I pray for an increase of faith in all of us, so that we may see that HE is able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine. Let’s move forward and believe that He is God of the impossible! Open up the heavens on us God.



Things to come:

A Happy New Year!

New Worship!

A wedding <3

Greater Things...



"Lord I give You my heart, I give You soul. I live for you alone. Every breath that I take, every moment I am awake- Lord have your way in me!"



I love you all and I am excited to share many new songs and Jesus encounters with you in 2011.



-Haley <3



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CHORD CHARTS!

Just wanted to let you all know that I posted chords charts to some of my songs on my MySpace Blog (www.myspace.com/haleymontgomery), where they are easy to copy and print off! I want my music to be as accessible as possible, so let me know if you would like to see the chords to a song that isn't already posted... I will do my best to get them up as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy learning and playing these songs and are blessed! Please feel free to share them with your friends, family, worship team, etc...

You can find all my music on iTunes :)

LOVE.

Not About Something New

Working on this album project has taken me to all kinds of places in my walk with Christ. It has been a crazy time on lots of levels: emotionally, spiritually, and physically. If you ever want to redefine "Who You Are" (no pun intended ;) and be reminded of where your identity truly lies, record an album! ha ha. This thought has been brewing in my mind and heart now for a couple of weeks. This idea that life, music, the songs we write with our story really aren't about something NEW.

Ecclesiastes 3 talks about how God has set eternity in the hearts of men.

This true statement is crazy, but at the same time makes so much sense. Everything that is happening now is all pointing to a future with Him. Everything that is a product of our existence, a fruit of our life now, effects the Kingdom that we will see and be apart of someday. This is something that I can't fully grasp, but it is what I want to align myself with and submit to as TRUTH.

As an artist, there is this struggle I am facing in wanting (feeling like I need) to create something new. Something fresh and never been heard. I have concluded this is a struggle of my flesh. Maybe myself just wanting attention. As I have been coming to terms with this, a few things come to mind:

The only thing "glorious" about me as a being is Christ who lives in me. That He, who has called me out by name, chooses to inhabit and rein in my flesh- making it a temple of the Holy Spirit. This alone is praise worthy. Anything I am wanting to say, a sound I am wanting to make, an image I am wanting to portray on my own, apart from THIS beauty... doesn't compare.

There is legitimacy in wanting to bring a message in a fresh way... especially if the message is thousands and thousands on years old. The beauty of the Gospel and that makes it different from any other story in history, is that is has life on its own- apart from you and me. It doesn't need us to ring through the earth, it chooses us. The mystery of God is infinite. We can babble forever to try and describe who He is, who He has been, who He will be forever and never come close to encompassing those things... let alone in a single song.

When people ask me about my songwriting, I am always stumped over giving them a straight answer. "How did you write this?" "How did the song come about?" "What inspired this message?" "What came first: the melody, the lyrics...?" -are all examples of common questions that I have been asked. Sometimes there is a distinct point of inspiration I can talk about, but most of time I feel like I’m simply sharing a song I have heard before. Maybe in dream. In silence before God. In moments of worship. It is as if these songs I'm writing and getting to share with you all are songs that the angles have been singing for eternity. My time with God has become so precious. My songwriting is contingent on it. With out tuning in, I don't know what to say... I don't know what the melodies sound like... there is a sense of lost purpose.

So, the task is laid out. If the song on my lips and the song of life reflect even just a small part of eternity... it is good. Facing feelings and the pressure of 'I need to create something new' has been an inspiring thing to reflect on. This misconception has taken on a new skin and become an empowering statement and reality for me. 'I am continually discovering truths about a God who has always been and I am responsible to shine and share this light before men.'

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually
be in my mouth."
Psalm 34:1

<3

Summer 2009- What's happening?

Hey all.

First I just want to say, Happy Summer. I have loved it so far and I hope you have too. There are a few things going on that I would like to share… So this Saturday, July 11th I am off to a worship conference in Nashville, TN. To check out where I will be, you can go to: http://www.pureworshipinst..itute.com/home.html
I am so stoked. It should be a good week to experience right before... drum role please… I go into the studio! That’s right!!!!

July 20th is my first day recording the new album! I am so so so excited. Words can not express... well I guess these are words. :) I will take pics in Nash and have some video updates for you from the studio when I get back. It has been and is going to continue to be a crazy July, but when summer is all said and done- I will have lots of stories and a boo-ya recording to share with all of you <3

That’s all for now.
Grace and Peace lovely folks.

h

Photoshoot with Stephen Knuth!

A couple weeks ago, I had the privilege of doing a photo shoot with a friend named Stephen Knuth (stephenknuth.com). We had such a good time! We hit up the streets of downtown little Italy and found so many good spots. To view these photos, go to Stephen’s blog:

http://www.stephenknuthblog.com/

Stephen is a really talented, upcoming photographer. If you are in need of some new portraits of any kind… he is your guy!

GMA's Adventure - SO Airport.

DAY #1

So I find myself heading back out here... Good ol' NASHVILLE, TN. Or as soon people call it, "Nashvegas". I’m sitting in the Denver airport totally snowed in. Outside is a blizzard, absolute craziness. I don’t think I have never been snowed in anywhere, kinda cool…. ish.  Let me just tell you how good God is…

Hold the phone. Before I do that I just want to let you know that I have faithfully been up for 45 hours straight! The world looks different at this point…. Kinda fuzzy and everything is really funny. Everything makes me laugh at this point. 

Ok………….
Alright. I didn’t sleep at all last night… pulling a Haley, doing EVERYTHING at the last minute. What was I doing? Making copies of GMA demo (3 new songs…. Will be up on the myspace ASAP!), packing, copywriting new songs… from totally important BIG things - to the small stuff, I had once again found myself pulling an all nighter’ getting it all together. BUT I finished!!! Should not have happened…

*In case you don’t already know this about me I feel like I need to confess: I do not have the best time management skills and procrastinate far to often. I think it’s because deep down I enjoy the excitement of being spontaneous, not being bound by a schedule. Truly a dumb reason to lack structure. Structure and balance I know bring us freedom…. some how. It is becoming more and more obvious that my life won’t function well if I continue this pattern. Hehe. Learning…. Oh, growth.

The week leading up to last night and this moment has just been ridiculous. So busy and difficult. Anytime God is about the do some thing cool in my world things always get tough before they get better. I think that is how it is for most. All that said, I felt the enemy near this last week… but God was closer. I found rest and comfort in knowing God’s hand was on my life. Man, even when we feel like the world and everything gross in it is swallowing us whole it is refreshing to remember: He who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. All things work together for GOOD for those who are in Christ Jesus…. And no matter how much I fight for control of things, God is smarter than giving me control. What a bad idea! He is sovereign in any and all of my circumstances.

I almost missed my flight. It was a work out sprinting to the gate. The door to the plane was closing when we got there. By WE I mean myself and my friend Chris (lead singer for Relentless Pursuit), my trusted travel buddy for GMA’s this year. BUT again, God is good and we made it when we should NOT have.

We get to Vegas and had some good God time in the word. I had no idea you could fit soooo many slot machines in the airport. It was truly and airport/casino. Then we were of for Sacramento. I know what you’re thinking… “Wait, you’re going back to California?” Yeah. We did. From Sac we flew into Denver, the crazy blizzard A.K.A.- Vortex of Death. Landing was intense. So here I am- writing to you, waiting for our next flight, and remembering how good God has been and will continue to be. His thoughts and ways are higher than mine. Totes.

On the Radio: "Homegrown Praise" on wsradio.com

HEY FRIENDS!!!

http://www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/Homegrown-Praise/archives/date/selected/03-28-2009.html

In the 4th Segment:

Interview with Caz and Bill... and Steve Arthur :)

I hope you enjoy it! I'm excited to share this with you all....
love love love.

-h-