"Draw me deeper still Jesus, into Your infinite love, tell me some of your secrets, revelation from above..."
Johannah has spent the last five years in transition. She, her husband Daryl, and their then 3 year old son Zachariah, moved from Maine to Tennessee in 2004, leaving behind life-long friends, family, and a growing number of people that loved her music and faithfully followed her journey. Soon after the move, they learned she was expecting twins. With that news came overwhelming joy (she herself has an amazing twin brother) and overwhelming fear. Not only did God uproot them, but now they would be adding two to their family all at once, without the comfort of close friends or her mom and dad nearby. Johannah knew deep in her heart that God had it all under control, but each day required a new surrendering, a giving up of all she thought she knew about trust and faith. She found that God's grace became more real and available to her in her weakness, not in her strength. Two years after her twins were born, Johannah began working as a third grade teacher in a classical, Christian school. Now she not only was caring for her own children, but for seventeen other kids every day. In the midst of teaching and trying to balance life as mother, wife, teacher, woman, and friend, she still hung on to those sacred and seldom times at her piano. Almost every time she would sit to play or simply worship, three little ones would wiggle their way onto the bench to sing along.
"I learned during these difficult and stressful transitions and seasons in my life that God wasn't giving me an "out". There was no place to hide, no beach house to run to, no permanent retreat to get away from it all. This was my life, as I'd chosen, and it would require a grace and determination I'd never known before."
Johannah made a promise to herself and to God that she would write as many songs as she could during this heightened season of change and challenge. Most of the songs on her new album "Room To Breathe" were birthed in the midst of all the work. Some were older songs she'd written that found their truest meaning during the last few years.
Though Johannah has shared the stage with the likes of Greg Long, Tammy Trent, Kristy Starling, Margaret Becker, Charles Stanley and some other pretty incredible people, her most amazing moment on stage is when her son Zachariah joins her for a rendition of "In You", the title track on Room To Breathe. She boldly proclaims that it is only in Christ that she is able to live and move anyway. He faithfully walked alongside her through the darker days of early motherhood and full-time teaching. She has no doubt that He will continue to walk beside her as she travels a familiar path into musicland again.
"I can't just check out or "take off" somewhere to find peace and quiet. I've been searching for room to breathe and this album was born out of that concept, that quest for a deep rest even in the labor. There must be a place, in the midst of the work and the world, to lay my head and rest. I have found that place on the shoulder of Jesus as he carries the yoke and I come alongside him with the load of stuff I carry. He takes it from my hands and I am able to breathe again. My goal and my treasure is to live from this place, long enough to catch my breath, do what God's called me to do and stay beside Him confidently and courageously. It's my hope and prayer that these songs and the heart behind them create a little breathing room for the weary and the worn-out soul."
"Come to me, all you who are weary...and I will give you rest."