Found in a Melody.. Interesting right? What is found in a melody? Well, in my opinion EVERYTHING is found in a melody, some melody, in some song, written by someone with a story to tell. Since I was a little girl music has been the key that unlocks every door in my soul. Music is where I find my answers, where I dwell when I am sad, happy, and every other emotion. Music is passion. Music is real. Music can pierce a soul and transform a life! Sounds powerful right? It is powerful, music is by far one of the most powerful forces out there.

The reason I started a blog is not because it is the popular thing, or because I am seeking attention. The purpose of this blog is to share my story and release many stories that I feel will inspire someone out there, some person who is wondering if they will ever get through the week, the day, or even the next 5 minutes. My story is only 22 years old (this October), I know I am young. I am well aware that I have experienced only a glimpse of what I hope to experience one day.

I will begin with this. I have the most amazing family ever. We are crazy, wild, loud, large in number, passionate about Jesus Christ, musically connected, full of love, unique, not shy, very blunt, and did I mention LOUD? I came into this world in October 1990. Born in Whittier, Ca, grew up for 9 years in La Habra, Ca, moved to Fullerton, Ca in 2000 and have not left since. God blessed me with one sister, and two brothers. My sister is someone who I am in constant competition with. Good and Bad. We love each other more than words could ever express. She is my companion. She has endured it all with me, and that will continue as long as we both are alive. My beautiful brothers are my babies. Simple as that. I try and be Mom, even though we have our mom. I look at them as little projects. Boys who I want to become wonderful men. I love them so much and they will do big things, I just know it.  My Mother is loud, just like I am, loves to talk, like I do and is very social.....just like me. She loves to help others around her, adores her friends and helping the community. She has been on about every committee possible, held many positions for our PTA at Sunset Lane Elementary. My Mother taught me how to be a lady, what to say, when to send thank you notes, how to not care about what others think of me and most importantly to be my self. She is someone who definitely marches to the sound of her own drum, and I do admire that.
 Then of course there is my Daddy. I have always been a daddy's girl, and that will never change. My mom always told me that and it has been extremely evident my whole life. I looked up to him in ways that he will never know. I used to get teary eyed when he would hold my mom, sit by her, say she was HIS girl...because I thought I was HIS GIRL. Oh, little girls. Full of emotion, irrational thoughts, jealousy, etc. Wait...have I grown up? Or is this me now? Some of this is still in me. My dad has taught me about many things over the past 22 years. How to sing loud and with a BIG VOICE. How to listen for harmonies in songs. How to properly clean a guitar, carry a guitar, look at a guitar, buy a guitar. etc. (Do you get the fact that he is a guitar freak, literally. ...obsessed). He taught me to be flattered when a boy or anyone, compliments me. He taught me to be second. Put the needs of others as a priority to myself. Live a Christ centered life. How to drive a car. ETC. The most important thing that he has taught me and ever will teach me is the love of JESUS CHRIST. Where would I be without Christ? NO WHERE. I have been a believer for as long as I can remember. I grew up going to church every Sunday, wanting to sing on the worship team since I could speak. Christ is the purpose of my existence today. He is the one who picked me up when I thought I couldn't walk any longer. (wow this is a lot longer than I thought it was going to be for my first blog post, oh well! not surprising! ) Like I said before, I want my stories to reach someone, touch someone and inspire someone. I want to know that I did not go through any of these trials in vain. Christ already promised me that I didn't, there was a purpose for each one. I am stronger. I endure more. I have stronger faith. I hope more. I pray more. I love more. Each trial that I endured HAD A PURPOSE. God is strengthening me to be the woman he wants me to be. He wants HIS KINGDOM built, and LINDSY DAVIS cannot do it alone or on her strength. Christ gives me strength, and through Him I can do ALL THINGS, not some.....but ALL.

Now when I say trials....I mean some heavy trials, or at least I felt that they were heavy for the age that I was facing them at. From 1999 on, our family has lost many members. My dads mother died in 1999 from a heart attack, dancing in my grandfathers arms. My grandfather died 9 months later from complications in the hospital, but I know it was because of a broken heart. Then it was death, after death, after death. The employees at Rose Hills Cemetery knew my name by heart. That is NOT normal for a 9 year old. I missed school many days from 4th grade til 8th grade because of funerals and family emergency's. I felt like God was punishing us for something. All of those years of praising Him and giving Him glory felt like they were in a blur. I had no song to sing anymore. There was no praise, only grief. I learned what it felt like to mourn. To sleep with tears and wake up with tears. God was doing a work, and he continues to mold me into this "woman" I am suppose to be.

Fast forward to 2009. I was in my first Spring semester at Cal State University Fullerton. I had a boyfriend who I swore I was going to marry someday. I had friends that I thought would never leave my side. We were all suppose to grow old together, watch each other get married, be there for the birth of our children...you know......all of those things that you assume will happen those people you endured high school and college with. Boy, was I wrong! What was in store for me was so much more! May 2009 came, I lost a dear friend named Miles Christensen. This guy was amazing. He smiled, laughed, loved life. Sounds cliche? However, in this case, it is so so so true. I spent many days and nights with him and our group of friends. He was in an accident with my best friend Jared. I had experienced a tremendous amount of death prior to this one, but nothing hurt more than losing a friend and especially someone my age. This experience was a turning point for me. I learned how short life was. I learned how one decision could change and possibly compromise life. I learned that God's plan is bigger than my plan. College is suppose to be a time where planning takes place. Career planning, life planning, all seem to co-inside with college. God doesn't see it that way. His plan is what wins in the end no matter what. Please, learn that lesson now! Along with losing a dear friend, my relationship of 5 years ended with my boyfriend. Comparing this to losing a friend is not even possible but it does, in some strange way relate. It was a death. It was a death of a relationship, a death of something that was so overpowering in my life for so long. Someone that meant the world to me, someone who I had many firsts with. Someone who endured a very important time of my life with me. I thought that the day Sean and I broke up would never end. It ended. I survived.  And I learned from that, that there is GOOD in goodbye. He is still a dear person to me. I will always love him as a person. I would do anything for him, to this day. Did the relationship need to end? Yes! It did! God showed me and taught me that my plan was not working! His plan needed to take over in order to perfect his Perfect Will! God had and still has something better in store for me. What that is...I still have no idea.

Fast forward to 2010, October. My parents were reaching the end of their marriage. 24 years. Done. Lesson learned? No. Still working on that one. But in the midst of another death, death of a family...GOD PROVIDED. God is in the business of restoring, rebuilding,redoing. Whatever "RE" you can make, he is doing it. God showed me that HIS love never ends! His love endures all things. Believes all things. Hopes all things. I know that I keep bringing up death, but there is a purpose. Along with death comes..........guess.........LIFE! People die every day, people are born everyday. These two things are related.With each "death" in my life has come new life. New beginnings, fresh starts, new relationships, new promises, new hopes.

Fast  forward to 2012. This was suppose to be the year of a new start. College was coming to an end. I was finally graduating, in the midst of a couple of rough years. My dad was unexpectedly diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Diffused Large B Cell Lymphoma. Yes, the big "C" word. Cancer. I don't care what anyone says, it is what it is, and it is horrible. Cancer is not good, and it never will be. But you want to know what is good? God being in charge of, and superior to cancer. God allows it in, and can get rid of it in the blink of an eye. He is the Great Physician. He is who we trust to heal my daddy, 45 years old....and putting everything on hold in order to live out God's plan.So, where is my attitude and thoughts on this illness and trial that we are faced with? I will not let myself be weak. I am meant to be strong, I was made to endure. Christ's promises are alive and evident. He has never left my side. He fights for me all day, everyday. He is our healer, He is our loving Father. He has shown me a pattern in my life, along with yours...I am sure.....That with each storm, there is eventually a calm. With each storm you build and grow. With each calm,  he restores, re-builds, blesses, and brings newness in your life again. He refreshes you, gives you water for the journey ahead. I am certain of this. This is my hope. This is what is going to get my family through a long 6 months or more. God is faithful. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Amazing right? Yes. Take it in. Breathe. Know that God is doing a work in you. The question is,  how are you taking that "work", that trial, that hardship. Look to Christ. He is the answer. He wants to love on you. He wants you to hold onto him so that he can be your strength and Win this battle that he has called you to. In Him alone...there is VICTORY. Please remember that there is beauty in surrender. Give it to God. He wants it. He can handle it.  Longest blog post ever? Probably, but this is the foundation that must be shown in order to understand my life today.

I will end with this...
I am hopeful. I am ready for change. I am ready to fight. I am ready to love more. I am ready to become the person that Christ has planned for me to become. Each of these trials that I have faced over the last 22 years are going to have a bigger purpose. I will grow. I will thrive. I will endure. Why?     Who is inside of me? CHRIST. He endured. He thrived. He grew. He did everything before me, he knows best and I trust him without a doubt.

Stay tuned for my chatty blog posts to come. Find out what really is in a melody.

Be ready to be encouraged.

Fight on.

ROMANS 12:12.

-Lindsy Rae