At the Relevant Conference in October, I received a copy of “Frame the Clouds” for myself, and 5 CDs to give away to you! I’ve greatly enjoyed this album, finding encouragement for the place I’m at in my walk with God. She has a beautiful voice that reminds me of Sarah McLachlan.

Christa has an impressive list of other songwriting credits, including “I Will Carry You” (recorded for the Selah album “You Deliver Me”), a breath-taking song written for Audrey Caroline, Todd and Angie Smith’s baby girl who passed away the day she was born.

I don’t enjoy fluffy pseudo-Christian music, the kind that glosses over the hard things and sings about God as if He were your boyfriend — that music cheapens faith. Christa’s lyrics are not fluffy or cheap. They are written from a heart that has walked difficult as well as easy sections of the Christian life.

As I wrote in my post “Peace,” her song “On the Mountain” reminds me that we’re all climbing, that the struggle is the norm, the expected.

But of all the songs, “A Thousand Things” is my favorite. Christa sings God’s promise to take our pain and heal in and through it. These words…

But in spite of the ache that doesn’t go away
You’ll be sharing your story one rainy day
And at the next table somebody catches your words…

…You didn’t know

A thousand things are happening in this one thing
Like a thousand fields nourished by a single drop of rain
So honey, wrap yourself in promise
while you wait the morning light
A thousand things are happening tonight

But in the midst of the most exquisite pain…

…the praises you sing of a sovereign God reach the girl whose last hope is gone
she never thought there was purpose in anything here
now the seed has been planted and it’s taking root there
You didn’t know

…A thousand miracles you’ll have to wait and see

I am thrilled to bless five readers with their own copy of this CD. Think of it as a Christmas gift from me to you. I’m trying something new this time: you may enter up to three times.

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Please comment for each separate entry. I will select five winners using random.org after 9pm EST next Friday, December 10.

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