Tears of Praise

My name is Kathy Jo and I am currently a Worship Leader for a Celebrate Recovery group and will be the Worship Pastor for Grapevine Community Church (www.grapevinecommunitychurch.com) which my huband and I are starting next year in the Pacific Northwest.

I started playing piano at the age of 5 and continued until I was 17. I was involved with Stage Band, Marching Band, Wind Ensemble & Honor Band in high school. I even played the tenor sax and the bassoon. Music was always a part of my life. My Father was my hero musically. He was a professional musician who played trumpet, organ and piano. He played nearly every day and I loved to play for him. Upon his death, I was 15 years old, I lost all interest in music and stopped playing for several years.
It wasn't until I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior & was saved in March 2002 at the ripe old age of 31, that I seriously considered playing for people again. I had performed and competed in Band and Piano as a child and was so paranoid of my mistakes that I couldn't enjoy playing anymore. As a child I played a lot of music, but my heart was really to sing. I never really had the opportunity to explore my voice until 3 months after my conversion, I spent some time with our church's worship team and discovered that I had a voice and a natural ear for harmony. After some coaxing I began to play piano and sing with that group.

As for my writing, that didn't start until my husband was deployed to Kuwait in 2003. While he was gone, God comforted my grieving heart by placing a song upon my heart that seemed to bring me great peace and a began a passion for songwriting. Realizing that I couldn't take my piano everywhere, I taught myself a little guitar so that I could play for the Worthy Music Christian Talent where "Gift of Love" was picked as a top 10 finalist. At the time all I could do was keep a basic strum pattern and try to sing along with a few of my friends from the worship team who blessed me by helping me perform the song.

As of March 2006, I have over 40 songs completed and now have a desire to complete my album and wait for the Lord to create opportunities to play for others.

Blessings to you all! -Kathy Jo