Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabrielle Stewart.
Hi Gabrielle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
So my story is a little different from most. For starters, I never thought I was going to be called into the space of music. I didn’t want to tell people I sang and refused to sing on command. However, I constantly was writing songs, not cause I wanted to, but it was a need. I would randomly feel a sense of overwhelming emotion that would only settle when I write. I never understood it until I read Jeremiah 20:9, “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. (NIV)”. This quite literally happened to me. Unless I wrote a song, poem, etc. what I was feeling wouldn’t go away. After a breakup, I realized the power of the words God was giving me but I didn’t know how to use it. Rather than just writing songs and moving forward, I realized everything I would write started to happen and play out in my life. Immediately I knew I needed to not neglect writing out what I was feeling and hearing but include how God did and will get me through it because if I released songs without making God the center, I didn’t want others to experience the same situations I was writing into existence without God.
Around this transition into Christian music, I still questioned my calling until I felt lead to re-read the story of David in the Bible. Now many have heard of David and Goliath, but God started revealing to me that prior to David’s anointing, he was working in a field God was using to prepare him for his calling. That’s when I realized that although this calling to music was new to me, the preparation was not. When my mom was pregnant with me, she said that every time the church choir would sing, I would move in her stomach. When I was born, my mom would sing “Jesus Loves Me” to help me fall asleep. Once I learned how to talk, one of the first sings my mom heard me singing was “Jesus Loves Me”.
In elementary school, I had to memorize Bible verses each week and every time there was a new verse, I could only remember it by turning it into a song. When I grew older, that’s when I started to write once I internally felt waves of feelings and emotions. When God brought all this into remembrance, I realized what He was calling me to wasn’t that foreign after all. Once I started releasing songs, I didn’t realize how much it was impacting others. My focus now is to continue to let God use and lead me because this is bigger than myself.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I would say it has been a mix of smooth and challenging but in a good way. I would say smooth in the sense that because God called me into this, there has been a lot of favor that has followed but it does require a lot of faith and trust. This time has really taught me how to rely on God for my strength in new ways because it’s a lot harder trying to do it on my own. Sometimes writing my music can get very emotional, especially when I am trying to understand what God is trying to say. I do enjoy it though because it helps me grow and learn more about who God is.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a Christian singer-songwriter but write more music in the urban gospel space about the real situations we can face in life with the reminder that God can get us through it. We don’t have to live this life doing everything from our own strength and power because we are not alone and there’s a God out there who loves us so much that He doesn’t want us to have to do everything by ourselves. I think what sets me apart from others is that I’m called to be set apart. What I mean by that is that I believe God makes everyone unique in His image with different gifting and callings so I’m just operating on what He is calling me to do.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I’m really grateful for my family and friends who have really believed in me and helped me when I didn’t have all the resources to do so! From my family support to my mentors who wrap me in prayer and my very talented friends, I’m really blessed to have the people I have in my life.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: linker.ee/GES19
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNQ3OKElfEz/?utm_medium=copy_link
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ges19
