Does anybody read these?

Shout out to Annie!

One of the first musicians I met when I got here to town was a gal named Annie Tate. Annie is a great songwriter, and as she and I started talking I realized she'd written some of my favorite songs and we really hit it off.

Annie mentioned to me that day that she'd written Rodney Atkins new song that was starting to get a little bit of airplay.

The song: "If you're going through hell."

Well, that was several months ago. And if you pay attention to country music, you know Rodney's song spent many weeks at number one. It's a great song.

What Annie doesn't know about that song is that it became my unofficial anthem this summer. Anytime the going got rough, I'd listen to that song. Everything it says is true. If you're going through hell, just keep going before the devil knows you're there. On a lot of days, that song's what got me through.

So, on my way home from church this morning, I heard it again. I had gone to mass to thank God for all His good work in my life, for letting me hang on until he delivered this perfect job to me. I just kept going and it all worked out.

Occasionally you hear a song that changes your life, that shapes the way things go. It's been tempting to give up on this dream many times along the way. Before I got here, since I've been here, sometimes I wondered if this is where I was meant to be.

I want to thank Annie for writing a song that helped me more than she'll probably ever know. I want to thank Rodney for singing it. I want to thank all y'all who called and requested it and made it number one. And I want to thank God for putting this woman in my path and reminding me to hang on until His plan became clear.

posted by Laura at 2:42 PM