Award winning singer-songwriter Matthew West on Tuesday explained on the Glenn Beck Program on The Blaze how losing his voice put him on the path he is on today, and ultimately allowed him to tell the stories of countless others.
“About seven years ago, my career was about to take off to the next level, or so I thought. And my voice left me,” West explained on The Glenn Beck Program. “They told me I was going to need to have career-threatening vocal cord surgery and warned me that my voice may never sound the same again.”
West had the surgery, and said that for two months, he was unable to sing or speak.
“You do some pretty intense soul-searching during that time,” he remarked. “It was during that time that I began to think, ‘Well if my voice does come back, how could I use my voice differently? What if God is going to give me my voice back to give a voice to other people?’”
“Fast-forward, I feel like that’s become my mission in life, using my voice as a singer and songwriter to tell the stories of other people’s lives and in doing so, hopefully empower people to realize that their life is a one in a million, unique story that can go out and change the world,” West said.
“There are so many people that are so defeated, they don’t even believe they can change their own life,” he continued. “But I believe that every single one of our stories, as broken as they might be, was designed ultimately to become a redemption story.”
West said he has collected over 40,000 stories, and some of them are shared on his new album “Live Forever.”
“When we begin to live our redemption story not out of defeat but in hope, the world can’t help but change,” he concluded.
Showing posts with label The Blaze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Blaze. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Playboy's Famous Barbi Twins Become Conservative Christians
Shane and Sia Barbi became familiar faces after posing for Playboy Magazine in 1991. Their meteoric rise tossed them into the Hollywood limelight, as they were regularly seen with A-list actors and were among the most famous models of the 1990s. But where are they now? Years after strutting on designer catwalks and posing for fashion magazines, the twins now reveal their stance on politics and their Christian faith.
In an interview with TheBlaze.com, they talked about their partial conservative upbringing and the self-image issues that led them to pose nude, and even shared their passion for animal activism and their involvement in current affairs.
Growing up, the twins spent time between their divorced parents' homes. They both described their father as a "very hardcore, Republican, Christian, Reagan-living Jimmy Stewart type," and their mother, a lesbian, as "an active 12-stepper" who taught them the importance of believing in a higher power.
Despite Shane and Sia's career choices in their adult life, their parents' conservative and religious influence did have an impact on them during their childhood as they even aspired to become nuns at one point. Now they consider themselves Bible-believing, born-again Christians.
"I believe Christ has saved me because Christ is unconditional love," said Sia.
During their Playboy modeling years, their belief in God was a faint thought and one that never fazed them enough to turn down a project with the magazine. Shane told The Blaze that Sia had second thoughts about their first nude shoot, saying that at one point Sia said, "I'm not going to do this. God just won't like this."
However, they did it regardless and from then on they became known as the famous Barbi twins. They also revealed they entered the modeling world with reservations about their bodies after struggling with bulimia, but they had believed that baring it all would put an end to their eating disorders with the hope to become role models for women enduring the same issues. However that never happened.
"My life led up to that. I can't go on in my life having regrets and trying to do things again. I am who I am today because I did that … I was in a very bad place," said Shane.
Now with their past behind them, both Shane and Sia have found another way to make themselves known, through animal advocacy and charity organizations. Their strong interest in politics has even led Shane to coin the term "veGUN" to encapsulate her support for a healthy vegan lifestyle and the right to bear arms.
"I love to care, nurture, protect, the fetus or any living creature. Being an animal activist to me is pretty consistent in my life to being pro-life," said Shane.
"My sister and I call ourselves 'the Green Tea Party,' which includes the freedom to be who we are. I, too, am pro-life for all life and believe in the Second Amendment - not so much to hunt, but for us to not be hunted by the government."
The duo currently aims to put their principles ahead of their political beliefs and anticipate becoming more open about their views and in calling Americans to confront key issues together.
In an interview with TheBlaze.com, they talked about their partial conservative upbringing and the self-image issues that led them to pose nude, and even shared their passion for animal activism and their involvement in current affairs.
Growing up, the twins spent time between their divorced parents' homes. They both described their father as a "very hardcore, Republican, Christian, Reagan-living Jimmy Stewart type," and their mother, a lesbian, as "an active 12-stepper" who taught them the importance of believing in a higher power.
Despite Shane and Sia's career choices in their adult life, their parents' conservative and religious influence did have an impact on them during their childhood as they even aspired to become nuns at one point. Now they consider themselves Bible-believing, born-again Christians.
"I believe Christ has saved me because Christ is unconditional love," said Sia.
During their Playboy modeling years, their belief in God was a faint thought and one that never fazed them enough to turn down a project with the magazine. Shane told The Blaze that Sia had second thoughts about their first nude shoot, saying that at one point Sia said, "I'm not going to do this. God just won't like this."
However, they did it regardless and from then on they became known as the famous Barbi twins. They also revealed they entered the modeling world with reservations about their bodies after struggling with bulimia, but they had believed that baring it all would put an end to their eating disorders with the hope to become role models for women enduring the same issues. However that never happened.
"My life led up to that. I can't go on in my life having regrets and trying to do things again. I am who I am today because I did that … I was in a very bad place," said Shane.
Now with their past behind them, both Shane and Sia have found another way to make themselves known, through animal advocacy and charity organizations. Their strong interest in politics has even led Shane to coin the term "veGUN" to encapsulate her support for a healthy vegan lifestyle and the right to bear arms.
"I love to care, nurture, protect, the fetus or any living creature. Being an animal activist to me is pretty consistent in my life to being pro-life," said Shane.
"My sister and I call ourselves 'the Green Tea Party,' which includes the freedom to be who we are. I, too, am pro-life for all life and believe in the Second Amendment - not so much to hunt, but for us to not be hunted by the government."
The duo currently aims to put their principles ahead of their political beliefs and anticipate becoming more open about their views and in calling Americans to confront key issues together.
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