ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

i had the opportunity to sing at my old church last week, for the thursday morning women's bible study i used to attend. i chose "Born in Me" by Francesca Battistelli, and once you hear it, you'll know why. it's from The Story album, which is a collaboration of many artists, the songs written from the perspective of various Biblical characters. from start to finish, the album tells "the story" of God's love for us in sending His Son to save us. "Born in Me" is Mary's song. my absolute favorite lines [possibly of any song ever] are the following: i am not brave. i'll never be. the only thing my heart can offer is a vacancy. i'm just a girl. nothing more. but i am willing, i am yours. can't you just imagine that's exactly how Mary felt? i get it. i feel this way daily. and even though it's not scripture, i take comfort in thinking these were her thoughts. really, it doesn't matter what we think of ours...

well, it's sort of funny that i'm posting this. remember how i wrote about this just a few weeks ago? how i had been singing the solo for "revelation song" for awhile, and then our director had someone else sing it? and how that was totally okay with me? well, for whatever reason, we sang it again this past sunday and he had me do the solo :) of course, i did as i was told. and of course i loved singing it again. someone a few weeks ago suggested that i post an actual video of me singing, instead of just photos... so i'm obliging. ** this post is newly updated since our services now on vimeo! yay! the video is embedded right here on the page... you can either watch the whole thing or you can scroll to about 17:00 minutes The New Covenant - June 26, 2011 from  Shadow Mountain Community Church on Vimeo . p.s. my dress = $15 at Ross. i have 2 more in the same style but different pattern. isn't it perfect for church singing? 

gosh this is long... oops! a few months ago i had an opportunity to live out what i say i believe when it comes to worship. musical worship. [because that's not the only kind of worship, you know?] if you hadn't picked up on it already, i am a singer and i sing in my church's choir/praise team. if you have read this post from awhile back , you know why i sing. and you know that i know it's not about me. but that's easy to say and to believe when you get to sing lots of solos and get lots of compliments from people, right? even though it's not about me, you still want to see some photos of me singing, right? what's a blog post without photos? do you know "revelation song"? it's my all time favorite. from revelation 4 and 5, it is John's vision of heaven. just breathtaking [the passages in revelation, AND the song]. for the last few years, i would sing the solo for that song, anytime we would sing it in church. one morning about si...

you already know where i'm going with this, don't you? do you hate saying "no" as much as i do? i don't like saying "no". sure, there are times when it doesn't bother me at all. usually when it's something i really don't want to do, or something that i don't feel obligated to do, that i know i haven't been "called" to do. those times it's easy to say no. but when someone asks me to sing or do something music-related, i feel guilty saying no. i have narrowed it down to this: it's not that i am a people pleaser... i don't think i am one. it's not that i feel like people won't like me if i turn them down, or that i'll feel bad they won't be able to find someone else in my place, or anything like that. nope. it's that i wonder whether i really should be saying yes to them. if God really wants me to say yes, but i'm saying no anyway without consulting Him. it may be because i have a ...

i sort of can't believe i'm posting this right now... just as much as i can't believe i actually got up and did it in the first place. this morning i shared a song that i wrote. i shared it with the women in my Bible study. it was the last day we would meet together, so they called it "sharing day" and lots of brave and beautiful women stood up and shared what God had done in their lives through the last nine months, as we all studied "Breaking Free" on our own and together. i ended the sharing time by sitting down to the piano and playing for them.  i was nervous and emotional, after all the testimonies i'd just heard, but i was also confident that God would use me. after all, His Word does not return empty, and most of the song is based on Isaiah 61. also, i know He asked me to do this, and He gave me every note and every word of the song in the first place, so i wasn't really thinking about anything but being obedient to His calling. the peace...

well, if we were meeting for coffee today, i'd tell you there was a lot going on. first, as soon as you walked in the door, you'd rave about the hoop art and this yarn wreath hanging on the wall. i'd tell you that while i was supposed to be getting ready for the Queen Bee Market next weekend, i managed to sneak in some time to make them, and i couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out! [okay, that's not true. i could be more pleased if it didn't look like m my two year old attached the trim. it's crooked and doesn't line up evenly. and don't get me started on the yarn that's fraying. i'm such a perfectionist with this kind of stuff, but i still do love it for being my first attempt] [totally  copied leslie on the pom pom trim . it adds that perfect finishing touch, huh?  i bought it here  from the sweetest gal] [embellishments have yet to be finished and attached. i'm sort of burnt out on flower-making for now] but t...

i go to a  large church . i sing in the choir and praise team, with the occasional solo. the music department is  bursting   with talent. i've often heard people say that they don't like our church because it's all a big production, a show. i can understand how it may  look  that way from the outside, but it's so far from the truth. we do have great music, and we have the opportunity to do things that other churches may not be able to do... but i wonder if it would be better to suppress all this talent and not allow it to be used for His glory, so as not to offend anyone? i wonder if it would be better not to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth through a growing television ministry, so we don't look like we're showing off?  i think you know the answer to those questions. anyway, i wrote an email to our choir director/worship leader today because i was completely overcome this weekend by the whole thing. overcome by the power of the resurrection, ...

tomorrow, at church, i'm singing this song: i love the message, and i love how it's the perfect song for me to be singing right now, in this season of my life.  out of the six potential songs that i shared with our worship pastor, this is the one that he chose for me to sing tomorrow. couldn't be more perfect. it's not a coincidence either, that's for sure... anyway, my favorite part about the song? in the chorus, it reads like this: Hallelujah, hallelujah whatever's in front of me help me to sing hallelujah Hallelujah, hallellujah whatever's in front of me i'll choose to sing hallelujah this is so true for me. how about you? there are times when "disaster" strikes and i need Him to remind me- "sing Hallelujah, this is for your good and for my glory. it is best and it is not a surprise to me. this is part of the plan. choose to see what I have for you." there are other times when i choose to sing hallelujah. not out of emotion, no...

i know, it's now january 8. i guess i hate the pressure of changing the entire course of my life, in 17 different areas, all in one day. so i take my time and start small [and late] . mainly, i plan to read daily . surprising as it may or may not be, i'm not much of a reader of anything besides the Bible. when i do read, it is always non-fiction. i plan to continue with the lean toward non-fiction, but i plan to make it a daily practice. my husband [who reeeaaallly does not read] has decided to do the same. we want to be like real adults :) so we're going to set aside at least thirty minutes a night, in bed, for just reading. we usually flip through the tv and let it drone on while our minds drift off into neverland. why not feed it with knowledge and words instead? that's the first plan. [i have already started by re-reading "mere christianity" and then the plan is to continue on with the six other major works of the great CS Lewis] also, i plan to blog much...

i always love "american idol" season. the part i don't love, is each time the new season starts, i start hearing it- everyone wants to tell me why they think i should "go on american idol". why they think i would win. why they think i need to try out next summer. i always politely say that it's just not something i'm interested in... the honest truth is this: i can sing, yes. and i sing regularly in my church. let's be realistic, first of all- there are 1,000's of people exactly like me in churches across America and around the world that can sing. they show up every Sunday to worship their God... people scoff at that like it's so silly, like "yeah, i just sing in church." like they haven't been discovered yet, or they haven't gotten their big "break" yet. a couple of things: 1) it would be quite presumptuous of me to think that somehow i'm extra "special". somehow i have that "it" factor th...