Middle Mini (Your Home Is Holy Ground)

What do a double wide trailer, a stained nursery carpet, and the Bluebird Cafe have in common? They’re all holy ground. In this mini episode, Hannah talks about how God has been showing up in her house, even in those middle of the night moments and her backyard that’s overrun with clover. She shares the story behind her new unreleased song, “Holy Ground” and some impactful moments that have happened when she has shared it recently. Stay to the end to be let in on a secret and even hear a sneak preview of the song recorded right there in her house! Make sure to subscribe to the show and download this episode! Stay tuned for a new episode next Wednesday.

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Transcript

Welcome To A Middle Mini

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hey friends, welcome back to In the Middle of It. I'm your host, Hannah Kerr. Welcome to a middle mini. I think that's what we're calling them. Middle mini episodes. These are gonna be more in the moment kind of just what I'm in the middle of right now, um, more conversational. Just gonna be most of the time, probably just me sitting here. I've got my coffee. I'm sitting in our studio room at my house on this comfortable couch, and we're just gonna chat. I feel excited about this because I feel like I don't know, it's gonna be a little bit more real time. If you have anything that you want me to talk about in this format, um, you can let me know on Instagram or Facebook, I guess. Yeah, I think it's gonna be

New Mom Life And Growing Pains

SPEAKER_02 0:52

fun. But today I wanted to talk about just something that God's been teaching me and then a song that I wrote out of that. So I, as I'm sure a lot of you have realized by now if you've listened to the podcast, I'm a mom, a new mom. Um my son Owen is almost 10 months old, which is crazy. Time is flying. And if you're a parent, you know it's like time is not even time flies so fast when you have a kid, it's like not even real. But anyway, I am a new mom to Owen, and my life has changed so much in the last year and a half. I went from being on the road most of the time, living out of a suitcase, just having a super busy life, being gone all the time, to now being home. I'm basically a stay-at-home mom that works occasionally. So I I do right now like one show a month or two shows a month, and then I write every Wednesday and do, you know, random interviews and things like that other days. But right now, um, I'm basically a stay-at-home mom, and so things have really changed for me in the past year and a half, and I love it. It's for the best for sure. Like I'm so thankful for the season of life, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't without some growing pains, honestly, just changing from this crazy lifestyle that I had to now being home. It's just a big adjustment, and it's a good one, but it's hard to. So, anyways, I was sitting in our nursery

A Starter Home Becomes Holy Ground

SPEAKER_02 2:23

room. This was probably three, four months ago, and just looking around at our nursery, which to give you some background, we live in, I would say it's a starter home. Like it's a small house, it's kind of on the older side. Um, this is not a house that we thought we would live in for a long time, but we're here and this is where God has us right now. And there's nothing about it that's really flashy or awesome. Like, I rarely film content here just because it's not like, you know, our dream house. It's not like an aesthetic place to film videos normally. If you could see what's behind the camera right now, by the way, like this, what you're seeing right now probably looks really like, oh, that looks really nice. And I might have to insert a clip of what behind the camera looks like because it's actually kind of funny. There's stuff everywhere, okay. But we live in this starter home, and you know, it's not it's not where we really want to be. Like we have dreams for moving to a different house someday soon. And anyways, this is where we are right now. And I was sitting in the nursery room just rocking Owen and feeding him and just kind of making a list in my mind of all the things that I wish were different about my house. And I so gently felt the Spirit of God just whisper to me, this is holy ground. And it was so convicting because I think I had been focused on everything I wish was different, or the things I wish I could change about my house, when really I should have been focusing on the presence of God being in that room with me. Um I just remember being so tired and worn out. Owen has been kind of not sleeping for five months or more. Um, it's starting to get better, but at the time we were really in the trenches of not sleeping, just sleep deprivation. And anyways, once I felt that whisper, this is holy ground in my spirit. I all of a sudden just started writing this song. I had these verses that just poured out of me, um, just talking about the house that I live in. Like I don't know, it just I wasn't trying too hard. I wasn't even really trying to rhyme like a lot. I was just writing down in my notes on my phone the things that I felt like God was speaking about my house and the fact that his presence is here, and so it's holy ground. So, anyways, I wrote down the verses exactly as you hear them in the finished song, and I brought it into a co-write the next day with two of the best writers, Michael Farron and Cindy Morgan, and they loved the verses that I had, they loved the idea, and so we finished the song in like an hour and a half. It just poured out of us, which was such a gift. Like sometimes songs feel like a wrestle and things are really slow moving, and like you're trying to make rhymes, and just every word is a fight, but this song really just poured out of us, which was so cool.

Sharing The Song And A Trailer Story

SPEAKER_02 5:17

And so we wrote Holy Ground, that's the song that I'm talking about, the lesson that God's been teaching me, and I've just been sharing it, and it's been so special. I shared it at a um like a marriage event a couple months ago, and I had just written it, and so I was like, well, I'm just gonna share this because I feel like a lot of people at this conference can probably relate. Anyways, I shared it, and it was so special just to see the response that I got from all these different couples in different seasons of life, a lot of them parents. I feel like for me it's kind of like a parenthood anthem, but I feel like there were people that came up to me that were not parents or their kids were much older that still related to the song, which was really cool. And I wanted to share just one of my favorite stories from that night. The sweet couple came up to me and they both had tears in their eyes. And the wife looked at me and said, You know, Hannah, my husband and I, we live in a double-wide trailer, and I've never been super proud of where we live. Like I rarely have people over, and I I don't host because I just don't feel super proud of this trailer that we live in. But hearing your song tonight just really opened my eyes to the fact that our trailer, our home is holy ground. And when I go to sleep tonight, I'm gonna lay down in my bed and know that God is there. And it makes me emotional even talking about it now because that's the hope for the song. That's what I am so grateful that God is using it to remind people of. Um, that our homes, the places that we live, our mundane daily tasks, our holy ground. It's it's a place where God is. And the more we can open our eyes to that, the more we can just be aware of that, the better we're gonna be. Um, just so much more grateful, so much more in tune with what God's doing in our homes. Um so, anyways, I just thought it was cool that this this song that I've written for this season of life that I'm in with a baby crying and feeding him in the middle of the night and trying to find God in my home, you know, related to someone in a totally different situation, but ministered to them just the same. So I don't know, just take that encouragement for what it is today of just whatever home that you're in right now, whether it's your dream house or a starter home, or if you have a million dishes in your sink or laundry that needs to be done, like it's holy ground. God is there, and I hope we can all open our eyes to that today. But I am so excited about this song.

Bluebird Cafe Nerves And Breakthrough

SPEAKER_02 8:05

It's just one of my favorites that I've ever written, and I think something interesting. I I played it at around um at the Bluebird Cafe here in Nashville, which is like an iconic venue, and I played it there, and it was one of the sweetest moments of my whole career, truly. Like to set the scene for what this night was like. It was Dewan Hill, Jen Johnson, Ben Glover, and me. So if you're familiar with the other writers, part of that evening, which I'm sure you are, I definitely was kind of the odd man out a little bit. Okay. The other three writers have like multi-number ones, like platinum songs, just all the songs that you know and love, like on the radio and in church, like those people write, you know. So I show up and I have my little songs that, you know, I know that you guys know them probably, and people know them, but just not in the same way, you know, as the others. And so I was feeling a little bit insecure, just like, okay, I'm gonna show up with these songs. But the other layer to that was that we left Owen with babysitters for the first time that night, and I was feeling so emotional about leaving him. He was overtired and didn't nap well, and I was worried about bedtime and all the things that moms worry about, you know, I was worried about. And I literally cried like the whole way there, the whole drive. I cried like my makeup off, I had to redo it on the way there. That's just being real, okay. I was really sad to leave him, but also like excited for this round. And anyways, so we get to the show and I pulled myself together and shared holy ground um at that show, and it was just such a special response. Like I finished the song and the room erupted. Like it was just this really special moment, and I started crying. I guess I was just feeling emotional that day, per usual. And it was just really, really special. A moment that I'm gonna hold on to no matter what happens with the song, if it does nothing, it mattered in that room to those people, and it matters to me. And it was just really, really special to hear like some of my songwriting heroes, Jen Johnson, Ben Glover, Duan Hill say that they loved the song. It was just really cool. And somebody that was there at the show, I talked to him later on, and he said, you know, I love that motherhood is woven into the songs that you're writing right now because I feel like a lot of times artists are moms, but they feel like they're an artist in spite of being a mom. Like, you know, you almost don't advertise the fact that you're a mom because you want to be so driven and you know, you're doing your career and that's important and whatever. But he was like, I love that motherhood is woven into your artistry, like it's part of what you're doing. And I thought that was so interesting because I hadn't thought about that. To me, it's just I'm writing songs where I am, and what I'm doing right now in my life is being a mom. So that's what the songs are about right now, for the most part. But I also think it's so interesting because so many of the people that listen to Christian music are moms, and so we should be writing songs about the experience that we're walking through, you know? So I was pretty inspired by that comment. Just like, yeah, I'm I'm gonna unashamedly be where I am, where God has me. I'm a mom, and I'm proud of that, you know? Even in the messy, mundane washing bottles, loading dishwashers, changing diapers, keeping a house running, playing with a baby, like there's just not as much to show for that, but it's a really beautiful thing, and a lot of people are going through that. So I'm gonna keep writing about it, you know? But yeah.

Motherhood Woven Into Artistry

SPEAKER_02 12:05

So this song is really special to me, and I hope it's an encouragement to you. I've been posting about it on Instagram and just my socials and everything, and it seems like people are really connecting with it, and I promise that I am trying my best to get it out as soon as I can. I feel like people are getting mad at me in my comments, like, it's time, Hannah, put it out. I'm like, I know. Trust me, we're working on it. Um, when you're listening to this, we're gonna be even closer to having it released, probably, because time will have gone by a little bit. So, anyways, also one little thing that's like just for you guys that are listening, a little secret I'm gonna tell you is that we are recording a version of Holy Ground with a featured artist. And when I tell you that this is the best case scenario, okay? It is someone that I in my wildest dreams never thought would say yes to this, but this person said yes, and they're gonna feature on Holy Ground. So I can't tell you who it is yet, but I can tell you it's gonna be awesome, and I'm really excited. Anyways, I love you guys, and I'm now going to leave you with the recording of Holy Ground that Jason and I did in this room, sitting in this exact place. This is not the official recording, but I just wanted to share the song since I've been talking about it. I hope you can find God in your home today, wherever you are, because he's there. He promises to never leave us or forsake us. And when God speaks and when he's in our home, um everything is different in the best way. So your home is holy ground, and I'm gonna leave you with the song. This is holy ground. I love you guys.

Holy Ground Live Room Recording

SPEAKER_00 14:03

The carpet in the nursery needs to be replaced. My bare feet dragging on it. Another midnight wake. I'm tired, he's crying. I'm feeling so worn now, but maybe this is holy ground. The grass in our backyard is really mostly cover. I wish it was greener when we have people over, but we sit there in launches and watch our babies run around, and it kinda feels like holy ground. I've seen beautiful things, I've heard saints and angels sing, I've seen fire fall from heaven, changing everything. But the moments that I love the most are when God Himself is leaning close, making this simple humble house. Holy God. Like my heart when my prayers didn't get what they expected. And I wonder if God heard me with my grief pouring out, but even then it was whole. I've seen beautiful things, I've heard saints and angels, I've seen a fire fall from heaven changing everything. But the little is that I love the most. I've winning God and so busy and close, making the simple house We've got three bedrooms of chaos and glory. I guess our birded bush is in my life in the time's story. I've seen beautiful things, I've heard saints and angels sing, I've seen fire fall from heaven changing everything, but the moments that I love the most of when God himself is leaning close, making this simple humble house Holy Grand Making our simple humble house holy.