"Show us the Father, and that

will be enough for us."

John 14:8

Music

HOW DID THE SONG COME ABOUT?

Hold Me Father has been a big part of my life for 20 years! This song was written off the back of a preach about the Father heart of God which challenged and changed my incorrect perception and beliefs about God. I had always seen Him as a distant being; a man on a throne with grey hair and a big stick full of high expectations shouting out rules to us, His servants; a King with a short fuse that was just millimetres away from explosion point, and looking to discipline and reprimand every mistake I made. BUT this preach blew those perceptions out of the water and dismantled the lies I had believed. I discovered that God is a Father, my Father, and that He loves me, likes me, is for me, believes in me, is proud of me, has a plan and purpose for my life and that He enjoys seeing me flourish! I also realised He longs to hold me, be close to me and make me feel safe. Just like any good earthly dad would.

When you have believed your whole life that God is angry with you, and that you need to be afraid of coming close to Him in case He loses His temper, it is a massive step to choose to want to come close to Him, and to trust that He won’t hurt you. The whole concept of coming close to someone requires bravery and courage. I had often tried to avoid spending one on one time with God because I was afraid of Him, and this song was my attempt to break that fear and declare the new reality I had found to be true about Him. It was a big step to be vulnerable and to ask God to come close and to want Him to hold me. I always knew I needed God to save me, but I hadn’t realised I had needed God to be a Father to me, so this was a defining moment of understanding that actually, He is all I want, and in Him I find everything I need. The song was also an attempt to give Father God time and space to speak to me, to impact me, to recalibrate my thinking, to love me, to hold me and show me that all I need is Him amidst all the chaos in life, and to trust His bigger plans for me even if I didn’t understand or fully see what He was doing with me. The Father’s love is the one thing we need more than anything else in this life.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

When I got to sing Hold Me Father the first time, it touched many hearts and lives in ways I hadn’t anticipated. It brought healing, comfort, clarity and connection for people. It was beautiful to see how God could use the song in so many different ways for so many people. God was speaking to people uniquely and they were encountering Him through the song, and that’s when I knew that this was a song that He’d entrusted to me for a greater purpose. It was bigger than my own personal revelation.

Since then, I have had the privilege of singing it in so many different contexts: conferences around the world, various churches in South Africa, weddings, funerals, events, homes and even my final BAMusic Honours exam, with the same response every time – tears, healing, and deep heart connection with Father God. I have always known that this song needed to be captured and shared with the world,

and that it would need to be done with an orchestra when the time was right.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

This is not to make me look good. It’s to extend the heart of the Father to a generation that is crying out to be loved and to belong in a family. ​

If you want to see this song continue to touch, impact and change people’s lives and enable them to discover and encounter God as their Father, I would be so grateful if you would be willing to help me on launch day and launch week, to post links to the song on your Social Media pages so that as many people can get access to it as possible.

Quotes

Orchestra Recording day

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The orchestra recording happened on the 11th June 2019 at All Souls Church, Langham Place and it was a truly incredible day. The All Souls Orchestra under Noel Tredinnick’s conducting leadership were phenomenal, and Neil Costello did an outstanding job with the recording and mixing. I had the BEST team of people to make a truly memorable day in every possible way! The orchestra sounds EPIC!!!

I can’t wait for you to hear it!!!

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING 🙂

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Another great thing about the orchestra recording day, was that the last half hour of my orchestra recording time I gifted to Lawrence LJ Johnson and the other writers of “Strength to go on” which is a song that was recorded with over 100 members of the gospel community and some of the top UK Christian artists to raise funds for the countries impacted by hurricane Idai – so its a lovely thought to know that all of you who have given towards the project have actually given towards that amazing cause too.

LIV Choir Recording Day

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The LIV Village Choir recording happened in South Africa on the 17th August 2019 with Nik Fairclough at Northwind Studios.

I recorded my vocals there the following week. Geoff Pesche did the mastering of my EP at Abbey Road Studios. 

“Between who you are and who you could be.

Between how it is and how it should be...”

– SWITCHFOOT

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Sometimes it takes 20 years for a dream to come true.

Thank you

“If somebody goes the extra mile to help,

go the extra inch to thank them”

- Louise Campion

TEAM HMF

These are the incredible people who played a significant part in helping me get all the various

things in place to make the Hold me Father recording possible.

I feel so blessed to have had their input, advice, support, help and expertise on this project

and I will be forever grateful to each one of them for their contribution to HMF.