Miracle Made

The Miracle Made Story by Joe Holder: In the summer of 2006 a co-worker of my wife invited us to her church in Mt. Airy, NC. Our invitation had come from Amanda Leonard, who I later learned was a singer and songwriter. After a few months of church together, Amanda asked me if I could help her with some songwriting for a CD she was getting ready to record. After playing in working rock bands for the last 15 years, I reluctantly agreed to help. Because I had enjoyed recording and writing music so much in the past, I thought this would pacify my needs for music, since my band had dissolved. What a blessing this turned out to be! After helping Amanda arrange some of her songs, I got the idea that I might write a few songs for her to include on her CD. One Sunday morning while missing church with a sick child, I sat down with my guitar and within a matter of minutes had completely written the song quot;He Livesquot; that appears on Amanda's CD quot;My Journey Herequot;. As the lyrics of this song poured out of me like water I was brought to tears with the awesome feeling of God's love and promise of salvation. That's when the gates of heaven opened up for me, I began to write song after song and unlike in the past, they actually had meaning, a purpose. Over the next several weeks, God gave me songs that seemed to come with very little effort and were so much better than anything I had written before. Even when Amanda gave me new lyrics she had written, it was like I already had the music waiting for them. As the songs piled up, I wondered what I would do with these songs. I didn't have a band anymore and wasn't sure where I was going with my love for music. So I prayed about the songs and just kept writing, soon I realized that God was not giving me these songs just to keep to myself. I had to get them recorded and share them. I had always dreamed of making a solo record and playing all the music myself, without a band, so now seemed like the right time. I contacted my friend Wesley Easter at Eastwood Studios, where I had recorded two original albums in the past with my rock band, and got the process started. This was my new passion in music and thus was born quot;Miracle Madequot;.