Her name is Meredith Andrews. She is a worship leader, singer, songwriter and today she is giving us gems she’s learned from intensive counseling. Free counseling on the way. She also has some great parenting advice. You won’t want to miss info about her new song as well! Sometimes when you are working to find your passion and purpose in life you need to start in your own home. Let’s dig in!
Special thanks to Northwest University for sponsoring the Passion Meets Purpose Podcast!
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Watch: Make Room Video
Transcription:
Meredith Andrews: Why would I even want to be strong or pretend that I am? I want to stay in this place of vulnerability and reliance upon God, like completely depended on him because that’s when his strength comes through me. And that’s what changes people’s lives. And that’s what makes the biggest impact.
Sarah Taylor: Her name is Meredith Andrews. She’s a singer song writer, a worship leader, a wife, and a mother of three. And today she is giving us some really beautiful gems that she’s learned through intensive counseling. She did this four-day retreat about a year ago, and she had some strong takeaways. I feel like I got a chance to go to that intensive retreat. You will too, without even having to pay for it. Free counseling on the way and some great parenting advice as well from Meredith. Plus, she’s going to talk about a brand-new song. And so, let’s begin as we usually do at the beginning of the conversation, talking about her upbringing and how that affects raising her three kids.
Is their upbringing similar or different from your own?
Meredith Andrews: Well, I would say, I mean, I think there are similarities, but there are also differences. I think it’s both. You know, I think because we can all take the things that we learned from our childhood, the things that we felt like were positives, and then we can implement those things. And then there are things that we felt like maybe weren’t so positive that we can kind of go, I want to do that differently. Right? So, The approach that we take. And it is interesting, you know, just when you bring two humans together and their upbringings are different. I mean, Jacob and I were both raised in the south, but I was raised in North Carolina.
He grew up in Louisiana. So even those, I mean, we, you would think like, oh, Southern family, but there’s still some nuances within that and layers, you know, that you kind of have to unpack. And I would say maybe one of the biggest, not even differences, but maybe intentionality’s that we have gone after, is really creating a space for our kids, where they feel like they can talk about anything with us.
Just so they have a safe place to say, hey, I have a question about this, or this really hurt me. Or, you know, just a place where they don’t feel like they’re shut down, but they can just talk about anything and be safe to do so. And, and just know that they are loved no matter what the question is, right? Because if, if their home is in a safe place to ask those questions, then I don’t really know where else could be. So, just like laying that groundwork and that foundation for them to understand that, like we talk about everything. We want this to be a place of honesty and openness and vulnerability and there’s no, there’s no bad questions. There are no wrong questions. It’s, it’s good to be curious. And this is a safe place for you to be.
Sarah Taylor: What are some of the ways that you’ve seen that unfold?
Meredith Andrews: Well, I think even like my oldest son, he’s 11 and he is very much a deep thinker. He can tend to overanalyze things, maybe a little bit like his mom, but he’s also a verbal processor, like his mom. He looks just like me, but he’s got more testosterone, I guess. But you know, there have been, I would say in the last six months, we’ve had a lot of later night conversations, when my other two kids are asleep. You know, he’ll just be like, mom, I’ve got something on my mind. Can we just talk through this?
And two nights ago, we were literally in the water room, he was sitting on a pile of towels, and we were just talking and I was letting him just kind of unpack some things that he was wrestling with. And, you know, I think that he is a little bit of an anomaly. I know maybe boys aren’t necessarily always the first to be in touch with their emotions, or even like really keen about relationships, but he’s just a kid who loves connection and he’s very loyal to his friends, and he’s also a fixer. If things are broken in relationship, he wants to fix them. And so we talk through, what does it look like? ’cause, you know, nobody wants to try to be control. Nobody wants to be controlled if you go in and you’re trying to fix something, they might think like, oh, you’re trying to control this relationship.
And they don’t want to be manipulated in that way, but how can you approach it in a way where they feel cared for, or they feel like seen and heard and understood? And so, I think it is really just finding that and highlighting the value of how you make people feel seen and heard and understood instead of they need to be fixed.
Sarah Taylor: Do you have, you’ve got three kids. Do you have one that’s not so much a verbal processor that you have to take a completely different approach?
Meredith Andrews: Yes. My second son, Remi he’s nine. He is a man of little words, but, but he still feels things very deeply. I think that he just tends to internalize them more. So, with him, you know, it’s very interesting. Like he will, he’ll be the first to cry about something, and in a way where you feel like, why do we need to go to the hospital? You know? But the remedy for him, isn’t words. It’s touch. It is mom, I just need a hug, and then everything’s better. And it’s so fascinating to me how different they are and how for him it really is just, let me just sit and give him a hug or hold him or snuggle him. And he’s good to go. Like, it just fills this love tank like that.
Whereas with Maverick, it takes longer, and it takes more words and more patience. And then my daughter, I’d say she’s probably a little bit in between. She’s a little bit of both. And you know, she’s seven and she’s kind of like a, she, her name is Frankie, which means free one. So, she’s very free spirit. You know, there’s only so many words she can handle, being that personality type and being at seven. So, you know, I think it is very much just like, our kids so respond to, and this is what I’ve noticed about all of them, they so respond to just intentionality, eye contact, quality time.
You know, and it doesn’t even have to be a lot of time necessarily. I think it just is that, how do I just be present right now? They need my attention, my full attention right now, you know? So, setting aside every other distraction, and I’m like preaching to myself right now, you know, because there’s so many things that we can just be this squirrel. You know? Just distracted by, but look them in the eye. To my husband and I started saying to them, I love you, but I love who you are. It tends to speak to their identity. Like, you know, who you are is so unique and special and valued and valuable, right? And you can just see their little faces light up. When you say those things to them.
Sarah Taylor: That goes for so far beyond just parenting. And I know you are intentional about this with everyone, even as a worship leader, calling out the gold you see in other people and watching their countenance change. Why do you think that happens like that?
Meredith Andrews: Yeah. Well, I think it’s when people are reminded of their worth and they see that someone else recognizes their worth, And they go, yeah, that is who I am. And it might, and they might not have believed it before. They might not have, or maybe they had been feeling down. And I can get to that place, Sarah. Like we all can, where we just need someone to go like, Hey, I see you. And I see the value in you. And I see who you are and what you carry and how that changes, it changes the room when you walk in. Right? And I just think that that’s really, and it’s so significant when we just call people up and we go, I see who you really are. And it’s, it’s something.
Sarah Taylor: Do you have an example in your own life where someone did that for you and you felt yourself rise, or where you did that in your own household, or even for someone like a stranger that you felt the prompting, like, where have you seen an example of that?
Meredith Andrews: Well, the first thing that comes to mind, because it’s probably just the most recent, I was actually at church on Sunday, and I went forward for prayer. Our pastor was teaching on Hagar, and I don’t know if you know the story of Hagar in the Bible, but basically she feels mistreated and abused and she ends up in the wilderness running away from Abraham and Sarah. And in that moment, God meets her, and she says, I see you. And I see that you are the God who sees me. And so that’s what the whole message was about. And it was so powerful, and I went forward because, you know, I think there are times when I know that God sees me, but sometimes I feel looked over by other people or misunderstood, or, and that was kind of just in that place when someone was praying for me. And she just said, you are someone who, who calls people just from their true identity and you throw worth on people. You, you throw courage on people. You like, remind them of their worth and their value. And even just having someone call that out in me goes like, it just, for me, it was like, oh, this, this is who I am, and if I am going to, you know, remind people of their worth and their value, like, I have to also know my own. And that like, I love getting to do that for people. I love getting to just encourage people in that way and remind them of how significant their life really is, and that they’re needed that their, that their worth and their value isn’t even really, it’s not a dependent on what they do or what other people think about them or what they think about themselves. Like it’s just, it’s in them. It’s intrinsic, you know? So, that just really encouraged my heart.
And there’ve been many times where, yeah. I mean, I have a good friend and I, she comes to mind because she’s so good at this. My friend, Mia, we’ll just go to coffee. And we could both be in like a really hard spot, but we can be honest about the things that we’re walking through. And then it’s like, by the end of it, we both walk out just encouraged and like, okay, I’ve got this friend who can just give me some perspective and help me remember who I am. Who God has called me to be. The fact that I can just like, I can just be who I am and not have to prove anything. And it’s enough, right?
Sarah Taylor: Let’s try to distill your recipe if you can, for someone listening, and they’re like, I want to do that. I want to heap courage on someone. And so, next time they’re at coffee or in a conversation on a walk with a friend, what is sort of a recipe they can go through as they’re listening to their friend, talk, to find words to, to call out the gold in their friend, to encourage them, to watch what we’re talking about and to actively be a part of it?
Meredith Andrews: Well, I mean, I think it is really speaking to someone’s identity. Like, if that friend has been, you know, what are the unique character traits that they have that you’ve noticed that maybe you’ve never articulated before, and even just calling those things out and saying like, Hey, I’ve seen how you’ve handled this situation, or have I seen how you’ve endured or I’ve seen how you, like you’ve been more patient than I could ever be, you know? And like, even just things like that. I think when we notice, take notice when we’re paying attention to the ways that our friends or the people in our lives are responding to certain situations, and we can even just go, like, I see that about you. And it’s, it’s so admirable. It’s commendable. You know, whether you’re talking to a friend, you’re talking to your kids. I started even using this thing with my kids, especially with my daughter, because I listened to this parenting course. And she was talking about how it’s so important not to water the weeds, but to water the flowers. Right? So, you don’t camp out or energize the negative, but you energize the positive. So even with my kids, you know, Like, oh, wow. I see that you’re reading today. I love that you’re reading, you know? Highlight those things or I see the way that you cleaned up your room. I see the way that you treated your brother and I’m just, that’s amazing. I’m so proud of you, the way that you treated your brother and just like highlighting the things.
Cause there can be lots of negative things, but instead of harping on those things, I think it really is, choose to notice the positive and choose to energize the positive. Choose to water the flowers and not the weeds. And, you know, I’ll even say to my daughter sometimes like, thank you, thank you for doing what I asked the first time. And even before she does it, right? Like even just giving her the chance to rise to the occasion, like thank you for listening and obeying the first time or thank you for choosing to be kind with your words and your tone. And I think that that really does give them the opportunity to go like, yes, that’s what. And that’s what I am going to do.
Sarah Taylor: It’s so beautiful. You also wrote on your Instagram, cause you went, I think a year ago you went to a four day intensive in Denver and you shared a couple of your takeaways. So, I want you to expand on a couple of these. Give up the right to be offended.
Meredith Andrews: Well, you know, I think especially in the days that we’re living in, it’s easy to take offense. I don’t, I don’t want to say everyone is offended, but if it was like, if you watch the news, it feels like everyone is offended. And maybe it’s time for us just to drop the offense and to drop, I don’t need, I don’t, I don’t know exactly how to say it, except just to go, like I know for me, I can choose to take things the wrong way.
If someone says it the wrong way, I can choose to read into something. I can choose to see things through a certain filter of offense. So, maybe I actually need to change my filter. Maybe I actually need to look through a different lens where I go, I’m going to hear this in the best way possible. I’m going to believe the best about this person and what their intention was in saying those things to me, and I’m going to choose not to be offended. And I think it doesn’t mean that I become a doormat. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have things that I feel very strongly about, that hit my justice button that I do at times feel the need to speak up about. But it really is about personal offense because I don’t want to live in that place because if I’m living, if I’m personally offended by everything everybody says to me, or I’m like reading into things, chances are I’m going to be miserable. You know, chances are there’s resentment or bitterness that that can grow into, and I don’t want to live from that place. I want to learn how to live from contentment, from joy, from peace, and being able to speak that into the lives of others, because it actually does shift the narrative when we decide I’m not going to be offended. I’m just gonna, I’m going to take this to the Lord. That that’s how I process things. I’m just going to take it to the Lord, and I’m go, God, what is your perspective on. How do I see things the way that you do and how do I choose to see myself through your eyes?
Because if I see if I know my true identity, I see myself through the eyes of Jesus, then it really is going to shift whether or not I’m offended. You know, if I, and one of the things that my therapist has said to me is you, are you, no matter who anybody else is. Meaning I can stay in a regulated, peaceful, integrated grounded place, regardless of what’s happening around me. And that’s, that is something I have to work at, especially like with my kids and their big emotions, and everybody’s at all at once talking at me and it escalates and it’s his fault and it’s the blame shifting and all of that. And I, and I have to stay regulated because they’re kids and I’m an adult, so I have to stay in my adult self and choose to go, I’m not going to be offended. Can you choose not to be offended? Can you choose to see that person not in the negative light, but choose to believe the best? Like, maybe they were responding out of their hurt. Maybe they were responding out of their pain.
So, if I can choose to see it through that lens of going, maybe there’s trauma there that’s unhealed. So how do I respond knowing that maybe this is coming from a painful place, and how do I flip the script? And how do I, instead of adding to the offense or escalating the situation or adding to the negative, how do I instead kind of move in the opposite spirit? Or I think about the verse in Proverbs, it says a kindly answer turns away wrath. You know, it’s that kind of thing. Like I don’t have to be offended. I can choose to see this person the way that God sees them and love them and understand maybe their coming, I don’t know their backstory, or I don’t, you know, maybe there is a place of pain that this is coming from. So, help me learn to love them and to respond in kind.
Sarah Taylor: So good Meredith Andrew’s just given us like a free version of her four-day intensive and we all just get to reap the benefits. So good. I want to come back to the move in the opposite spirit. I want you to talk about that more because I find it fascinating, but first I just want to say what you were just talking about, reminds me of being a little girl and my arguments with my mom when I was the kid with the big emotions. Would happen in the car a lot, and they’d happen like on the way to school. Right? Has that ever happened where it’s like, by the time you get to school, it’s like, it’s like, you’re like, you don’t want to leave it in that moment, right? And both go about your day ruined because you’re still in the fight.
So anyways, my mom had a little piece of paper, not bigger than a post-it in her own handwriting. And it said, do not come down to her level. And it was on her visor. And it was so she could see it, but it was also so I can see it. And she, her, her eyes would go up to that because she, she, we got to the point where she had to write it so that her eyes could see it. And the funny thing is, is now I wish I had, I have to put it on my own visor with my three kids. But I, I just, that’s what you made me think of, you made me think of that, that little piece of paper that was very necessary for quite a few years in my upbringing.
Meredith Andrews: Well, and you know, I’ll just say something really quick to that, Sarah, because we all need those reminders. And its a, it’s a daily thing of, of almost retraining and rewiring old patterns, because our flesh, our emotions they want to get in there and just duke it out. But how has that healthy? Is it healthy? I don’t, I don’t know. Sometimes, maybe you have to have hard conversations, but I think it’s in the way that you have them.
And it really is about like remaining in my adult self. Regulated, integrated. Okay. I know who I am. And who you are, and this moment does not affect that. So, I’ve got to stay in my true identity and my true self and understand that like, what God has said about me is true, no matter what happens. Even in my weakness, even when I feel like I’m going to lose it, you know? And I just love this quote, and I might even not, I might even misquote it, but it’s basically like, you know how sometimes I think as parents, we think, well, we’ve got to be tough on our kids so that they learn how to be tough. But actually, people are strengthened through kindness and compassion. No matter their age, they’re strengthened through, hey, I see you. And I hear that, and I know that feels really hard and I’m really sorry that you’re walking through that.
That’s what brings people strength because they feel like they’ve been seen and heard. It’s not the well get over it, you know, get tough. That kind of language actually doesn’t do any good for anyone. I think when we feel someone is treating us with compassion and kindness that we, we feel heard and seen and understood. That’s when we can go like, oh, okay. That’s who I am. So, I can settle back into who I am and not go into false self and not feel like I have to defend myself and like put up my walls and my defenses. Like, I can actually just settle into who I am and speak from a place of groundedness and honesty and communicate effectively who I am and what I’m feeling in this moment.
Sarah Taylor: When you talked earlier about moving in the opposite spirit, can you explain that to someone who hasn’t heard about that term or idea before?
Meredith Andrews: Yeah, it’s basically kind of what we were talking about, even with watering the flowers and not the weeds. So, it’s basically like if someone comes at you with, you know, say they’re angry. Okay. And it, maybe it takes you off guard and takes you by surprise. So, I think, I think of it as moving in the opposite spirit is going, like, what is the opposite of that reaction, that emotional response, how do I move in the opposite way? Not in a patronizing way, not in a condescending way, but in a very true way. Like, okay. I, I see that you’re angry. I acknowledge why you’re angry. And I see that this is hurtful and maybe there’s some fear there, and it’s expressing itself through anger. But like really just going, not matching it. I think, what does it look like to move in the opposite way? What does it look like to do the opposite? Because I don’t think that this is actually, okay, this anger or this big emotion or this, you know, accusation, I don’t think is actually going to accomplish anything fruitful or healthy. So, how do I look a little bit further down the road and go, okay, I’m going to choose to respond differently. It really is just the opposite response.
Sarah Taylor: What’s a time where you’ve done that, and it’s gone well?
Meredith Andrews: I think in my, with my kids, I can point to many times where, you know, it has been this thing of like escalating and yelling and emotions and tears and, and it really is just going, like, touching them on the hand and going, like, I hear you. And I mean, so many times just like touch. Like touching someone on the shoulder, touching them on the hand or the arm and just going, like, I know how that feels. And I know it feels big and impossible right now, but like, let’s just take a deep breath and let’s get a different perspective, right? Like sometimes we just need to take a deep breath.
It’s so fascinating, even, you know, how our brains work in, in situations like that. You know, like when we get super emotional. It basically shuts down the logical parts of our brain so that we can’t communicate what we’re actually trying to communicate. So, if we can help someone, whether it’s our kids or someone else to be loved, get to a place where they’re not driven by this emotional part of their brain, but they can actually get to this place of like logic and like, settledness and taking deep breaths. Or even just like, I mean, these are all these grounding techniques, Sarah, that I’ve learned, you know, as I’ve been in therapy, because I think we all need therapy, I need therapy.
We all just need some, a safe place where we can talk and learn tools to help us cope. Not in a way that’s like sweeping things under the rug, but actually learning healthier patterns and habits, you know? And even just like looking out the window, identifying five things that you see outside of the window, and going to others in green, there’s a tree with green leaves. There’s a, there’s a dog that’s with spots. You know, just things like that, because it brings you back to the present, brings you back to reality, and then you can respond in your logical brain, you know, instead of just emotion, like, that can be damaging. And we ended up seeing things that we don’t actually mean.
So, I think it has been many times with my kids, touching them, looking at them in the eye and going, I know that’s hard. Now, how can we respond differently? Like, what is a different tone that we can take? What is it different, what’s a different word? What are different words we can use that don’t make the other people, the other person, feel accused or blamed or small, right? Like how do we build each other up with our words, and honor the things that are going on in your own heart?
Sarah Taylor: One of the times that I watched you respond differently, and I loved it and it really stuck with me. This is a shift from now from parenting and like personal work to worship leading and what you do in the church. It was years ago at the, for someone listening, all the Christian radio stations in the country gathered together at an event once a year, it’s called momentum, and Meredith was performing and there was a ton of technical difficulties. You, you know, you kind of just kept going, but then you started to sing holy spirit, and all the power of the band and your vote, everything went out. And do you remember this? Do you remember what you did in Florida? Yeah, we were in Florida. Do you remember what you did? Oh, it’s so cool. I will tell you exactly what you did. Power went out. Room was silent. And you stepped forward off the stage in such confidence and boldness, and you prayed, you declared over that room, and then you just kept going with the song, but almost with an intensity of like, these words will be sung. This will be done. And it was…
Meredith Andrews: I feel like I do now, Sarah.
Sarah Taylor: I feel like, I feel like if the technical difficulties hadn’t been there, that performance would not have been so memorable to me, but because the song itself is speaking about when the Lord’s presence comes into the room, it does what only he can do. It was watching your behavior of… you weren’t frustrated. You sensed that it was time for you to sing louder. So, you remember it, talk about that a little more.
Meredith Andrews: Well, yeah, well I think, you know, especially in situations like that, I mean, it can be easy to be frustrated and, and just go like, well, shoot, you know, this isn’t going to be what I thought it was going to be. And, and that. A very interesting conference, I think for artists, because it’s a radio situation, right? And we’re wanting to put our best foot forward, but I kind of stepped back. And this was the conversation that I maybe have with the Lord and with myself beforehand, before any of that even happened. It was like everybody that’s in the room, they are not what they do. They are people. They are sons and daughters. They are mothers and fathers. They are brothers and sisters. That it’s, they’re not what they do. So, I don’t need to be intimidated by the fact that like, you know, whether or not they play my song. That’s not what this is about. This is actually about God wanting to minister to them in this moment and to meet them right where they are.
And so, I think when we understand, like, what we carry and what our assignment is and what we’re meant to Just offer to people, because we understand our identity, like, I think that’s when we’re not shaken by those things and we can go like, oh, it doesn’t matter if the sound system doesn’t work, it doesn’t change who I am. Doesn’t change what I carry or with a message that God’s given me to say. And there are going to be things like that, that, that fail or don’t work the right way. And I think it’s like, I don’t take myself too seriously. This isn’t about me anyways. And I’m going to still say what I believe God brought me here to say. And I think that can be in every aspect of our lives.
You know that I don’t even know how you really learned how to pivot like that, except you just go like, well, this could go a number of different ways and I can just choose to be flexible and I can choose to roll with the punches and, and trust that God is still good and I’m still who I need to be in this moment, you know. And I don’t have to, it doesn’t have to be a performance. It can just be the overflow of my own identity, and the overflow of knowing that I’m loved, and knowing that I want to say something that’s going to encourage the hearts of these people, where they don’t feel like they just went to another thing, you know, another concert, but they actually encountered God. And they actually went away feeling like, oh, my heart is so filled up.
Sarah Taylor: I mean, that was what I took away from it. So that was accomplished. We have just a couple minutes left together, and I really want to talk about your new song that you do with Sarah Reeves and Chris McLarney it’s called Make Room.
Meredith Andrews: Yeah. So, make room, make room is a song that I didn’t write, but I love. And it actually Was written by several friends of mine, two of which live in Nashville. And I happened to be, this is kind of crazy, but I happened to be at Josh Farro’s house with Rebekah. They’re two of the ones that wrote it, and this was a couple summers ago. Yeah, and we were writing, and they mentioned make room and I hadn’t heard it yet. And I, so I was like, well, what is, what is the song? I want to hear it guys, you know? And they played it for me. And I remember in the room, just being so overwhelmed. Like immediately tears coming to my eyes because I just felt like, God, this is what I want to say to you. This is the cry of my heart. Like I want to say, look. This is my surrender here coming again. I’m just laying everything down, every distraction. And that night they had an, a worship night at Josh’s house, and the other two that wrote is actually a couple, they were there as well. So, all four of the people that wrote it were in the room. They sang it to the room. I was just on my face in the corner, you know, like just being so ministered to, and then I can’t remember if that was summer of 19 or summer of 20. Soon after that, you know, everything happened in the world, and it was just so crazy. And that was the song that I kept coming back to. Like, no matter what’s happening in the world, even though I, you know, I have no control over it. It’s very confusing and kind of infuriating.
And I’m just going, like, what is going on right now? But I can still come back to this place with God where I can just make space for him. And I can just make room for him. And, and when we’re in that place, it’s like, nothing else can shake us. Nothing can rattle us. Nothing can take our eyes off of the fact that our hope is anchored and it’s, and it’s not going anywhere regardless of what happens in the world.
And I do remember listening to that song over and over on repeat. I was in my living room, just sitting on the floor, spending time with God. I had this conversation with the Lord. I said, God, I’ve never felt, I’ve never felt so weak and unqualified. I was just in this space where, you know, I wasn’t traveling, nobody was traveling. It was like, again, it’s like, I don’t know what life is supposed to look like right now. You know, homeschooling my kids, what in the world? I never thought I’d do that. But it was, it was amazing. I mean, we did it for a year. It was really, really sweet just to have the extra time, but, I, everything was just kind of turned upside down.
And as I’m having this conversation, I just felt like the Lord said, this is actually where I want you. Understanding your weakness, understanding that like you don’t have to actually be qualified for me to call you. And so, I was like, Lord, I feel so weak. And like, I have nothing to offer, and I heard the Lord say good. That’s where I want you, because I actually am transitioning you from a place of where you’ve been good at operating in your own strength, to where you are just completely reliant upon mine. And, and that’s the best place to be. And I’ve just come to this realization, you know, 2 Corinthians, what is it, 12 or maybe 1 Corinthians 12 that talks about like, in our weakness, he demonstrates his strength, and his power is perfected through our weakness.
So, it’s like, why would I even want to be strong or pretend that I am? I want to stay in this place of vulnerability and reliance upon God. Like completely depended on him because that’s when his stress comes through me, and that’s what changes people’s lives. And that’s what makes the biggest impact. It’s not what I could do in my own strength. Right? So, make room is just kind of been as been with me through this journey. And so, it just made so much sense for me to record it because it was like, I didn’t write the song, but it feels so true to my heart and everything that I want to say to the Lord. And it, and I have sung this song so many times, just me and God. Right? And, and bringing Chris and Sarah in was just really special. They’re both friends of mine. I love their hearts. I love who they are. And it was just really sweet that they even agreed to sing on it.
Sarah Taylor: As we close. Why don’t you share, why, why does music do that? Right. It just unlocked all of that. And you said it traveled with you through that season. What is this gift of music that is hard to articulate? Why does it do that?
Meredith Andrews: I think that there’s lots of reasons why it does it, but you know, it’s it, you can go to the physiological part. Like the, the music itself, like the melodies and the instruments paired with the lyric, at it basically activates both sides of our brains. So, we receive music differently than we do just spoken word. Right. Because it’s, it’s working with the left and the right side of the brain, which is so fascinating. It also, when you sing, like if you’re in the car, you don’t have to have a microphone, but if you’re in the car to singing along to something, or like me in the living room or doing the dishes, just singing along, it actually lifts your serotonin levels.
You know? Like it’s all these things that God designed, he knew how music would be such an instrument in such a tool. And serotonin is like one of the happy hormones, if you will. So, it just makes you feel good. And that’s like, God did that. And he’s so, such a genius. And the way that he designed music to hit us and affect us and impact us for the positive. And I think, especially when you’re singing things that are true about God, about yourself, it points us back to this, this thing of like, this is bigger than me. And I think like when I hear a song that were even reminds me of scripture, like reminds me of say, 2 Corinthians 4 at the end where it says, so we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen. Because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. And music that points to Jesus, reminds me of what is eternal. It reminds me of the unseen and it helps me stay in that place where I can get bogged down and burdened by what I see in the natural. But if I just turn on worship music, or if I just start singing out scripture or singing out things that are true about God, it reminds me of like, no, this isn’t all there is. And actually, the greater reality is beyond what I see with my physical eyes. That’s why I sing, you know, because it’s so just like changes my perspective. It reminds me of who God is and who I am with Him.
Sarah Taylor: Meredith Andrews. See what a beautiful conversation. I’ve already written down. Like I took notes. Do you take notes on these episodes? The Passion Meets Purpose podcast is all about helping you discover what you’re naturally gifted at and good at, and then how you use those talents to give back to the world. And sometimes giving back to the world starts within your own home.
Her name is Meredith Andrews. She is a worship leader, singer, songwriter and today she is giving us gems she’s learned from intensive counseling. Free counseling on the way. She also has some great parenting advice. You won’t want to miss info about her new song as well! Sometimes when you are working to find your passion and purpose in life you need to start in your own home. Let’s dig in! Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3DBBMVk
Our thanks to Brian Thiel and everyone at Curb Word. Our thanks to Meredith, and Scott Karow, with Terrafirma. Our wonderful producer. I look forward to seeing you again in two weeks.
And special thanks to Northwest University for sponsoring the Passion Meets Purpose Podcast. NU is a faith-based and Christ-centered community, offering undergraduate and graduate programs in person and online. At Northwest University, your future isn’t canceled, it’s just beginning.
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