Missy White

I've been writing music since I was twelve years old. As a little girl, I would dance and sing songs I made up like "I love my mommy, and my daddy, and my sister, and JESUS, and ice cream"--very talented I know :P . It wasn't too long before my mom nicknamed me her "Little Praise Baby". Music played a big role in my family growing up. We would sing in the car in 4-part harmony and spontaneously break out into song during conversation. (It is no wonder why I like to think of the world as a musical fairytale, where birds sing to you in the morning and you are greeted with big smiles and cheerful "hello's" in the marketplace. It's not much different from what I believe the kingdom of God is like, which is like one big love song. Anyways...) My family also had a traveling music ministry in my younger years, so I was used to being on stage at an early age. I still remember those frilly-butt dresses that I secretly loved that my mom would “make” my sister and I wear as we would sing at mother-daughter banquets (barf) Beautiful Feet by Sandy Patty, complete with foot-wiggling choreography.

Fast forward a few years, and when I was five years old something awesome happened! My family visited a church and a lady prophesied over my whole family! She told my mom and dad things that were impossible for her to know, including the answer to a prayer that my dad had prayed secretly to God a few days earlier and what we discussed while driving to the church that evening. I don't remember that night, but we have it on tape, and she prophesied that I was "a little psalmist and prophetess". Within the prophesy, my Dad was also called into the ministry. She said, "Money will come from five different directions" and it sure did! My dad became a United Methodist pastor and his first appointment included five small, country churches! Some of the prophesies have yet to pass, but I believe they will.

It wasn't until I was twelve that I gave songwriting a shot, but I love it and have been doing it ever since. I believe it is one way for me to glorify God. I really enjoy the creative aspect of writing music and the meaning behind it. I love Switchfoot, The Normals, and Leeland probably for those reasons. Not only do their lyrics inspire me, but their music sets a mood or a scene that makes my heart want to sing and dance. My music is very diverse. Sometimes it is really simple and other times complex. My music falls into several categories: (Pop, Soft Rock, Emo, Folk, and Classical), but almost all of it falls into the category of Contemporary Christian Music.

The biggest reason of why I want to share my music with the world is because I believe God has given me this talent for a reason and I want to honor him. I want to inspire, uplift, and encourage others. I feel like this is my part to making the world more beautiful by singing a message of hope and about the character of God and how the world should be and will someday be. It has been a long journey, including moving ten hours away from home, as a shy kid, to Greenville College to major in CCM, to coming home discouraged because I hated it. I was terrible at music theory! For my adult life, I thought that I had to become an expert in the field that I loved and do whatever I could to be the absolute best. So when I came back home, I felt like a failure. I felt like I was a disappointment to others and to God. In my own strength I thought I could overcome all obstacles and through discipline I would rise up like Rocky Balboa and prove myself to the world, but I have learned that God has uniquely made me the way I am, with my very own likes and dislikes. I have my own mold and don't have to try to cram into shoes that don't fit. I don't have to know what I'm doing to create. I don't have to have a powerful voice like Whitney Houston to sing. I don't have to be perfect for God to love me or use me. I can be myself. God uses those who are willing to be used, and the weak things of this world to demonstrate his strength--Thank goodness! :) That gives us all hope! After all, it was God who made us the way we are, and he probably gets tired of us trying to be everything except what he created us to be.

My story is this…I am just a normal girl who has a song to sing and wants others to sing along. I believe God is calling all of us into a deeper relationship with him and I would love for my music to be a part of his plan. I am now celebrating the freedom that I had as a little girl, where I just sang songs about the things I love--carefree, without a worry in the world, not caring too much about what I sounded like or looked like, just spinning in joy for all the things I love about God and the things he has made.

I have this picture in my mind of a place I would like to be, out in an open field, under the stars, in the middle of nowhere, singing my songs to God along with a large group of believers, and everyone singing along praising God and dancing in freedom and jo