Fear and anxiety are two powerful emotions most people can relate to struggling with at some point in their life — even those with success and notoriety aren’t immune.
The 2010 American Idol contestant turned Christian pop artist, Moriah Peters, is no exception. She says her sophomore album and lifestyle brand, “BRAVE,” is a nod to breaking free from the chains of anxiety and fear.
In an interview with Faithwire, the singer explained the name behind her latest effort.
“The word brave has come to mean a lot to me. I’ve always struggled with fear and anxiety and worry.”
“I know that everybody struggles with that. But its been the kind of fear that puts you in a hospital bed and makes you sick and makes you feel insane.”
She’s referencing a health scare she had while touring for her first album “I Choose Jesus.”
Now Playing: Well Done by Moriah Peters on https://t.co/IPZKEpha8g pic.twitter.com/azJOySEog0
— GOD Speaks Radio (@GODSpeaksRadio) December 30, 2016
It was also an experience that put everything into perspective like the importance of prayer.
At the time of her health scare, doctors believed that she had Leukemia, a cancer that impacts a person’s bone marrow and lymphatic system. Later, her medical team scratched the diagnosis, finding nothing.
Those moments brought her new album to life, as well as the hashtag, #TeamBrave, created to encourage people to share their personal testimonies of faith.
According to Peters, the responses have been positive.
“People have come up to me and shared their experiences about some of the craziest things (which include) some of the most painful and hurtful and darkest moments…yet (they held) onto a hope that they were going to make it through and God would never leave them.”
“Sharing those stories has been selfishly very encouraging to me (and) accidentally very encouraging to other people as well.”
Take 22-year-old Jasmine’s story, shared in Sept. of 2014, who was profiled on the Moriah Peters website for her hope in the Lord. Jasmine waited seventeen years for a liver transplant. As a child, she was born with a chronic liver disease called, Biliary Artresia, and was in desperate need of a transplant to survive. Through God’s grace, the young woman got the transplant just in time.
Photo Taken From Moriah Peters/ www.moriahpeters.com
Peters also noted that thanks to her music and her faith she has finally found the freedom to really “let go.”
“I really clung to routine and saying yes to as many things as possible so I could stay busy,” she noted of her high school days.
As a musician, “I think that I have gotten better at appreciating the ambiguity and finding an encouraging space in those moments.”
But like all of us mere mortals, Peters is a work in progress. Admitting that she still deals with the fear of acceptance.
“I think now my fear has to do more with…wanting to make sure (I am) accepted with the platform (I) have,” she explained.
“I want to make sure everything I post on social media, every song we release, video we release, every cause I step behind…(is meaningful).”
I made this took a long time bit it was worth it @4kingandcountry @MoriahPeters pic.twitter.com/GOfN4aWYIH
— ✨cithaly flores ✨ (@lalypop0) December 27, 2016
In reflecting on the brief past snapshot of time, she said, “It is funny to think about it now because I auditioned in 2010, the year I was graduating high school and in that season of my life I (had) tunnel vision on a few things.”
“I was just focused on going to school because I had worked to get a scholarship to a University in California because I always wanted to study law and music was always something I did for fun and on the side and even down to the American Idol experience it wasn’t something that I was incredibly enthusiastic about. It was like, ‘hey Moriah, there are these interviews happening down the road and I have been praying and I think you should do it,’ that was my mom telling me that. “And I was like, ‘ok cool. I don’t really want to, but if you feel like I should then I can.’ So at the time,” Peters continued, “like I said, I was just focused on school.”
“So during the American Idol auditions they naturally asked about what I was interested in in high school and what my relationships were like so that kind of came up in conversation,” Peter’s explained.
But now the newlywed who is married to For King & Country singer, Joel Smallbone, said her “next (life) steps are pretty exciting.”
“I’ve got an all girl band, and we’ve been traveling together for over three years but in the last year we’ve written new music and produced new music and I am really excited to share this new music with our audience.”
Couldn't think of a better way to start #2017 than by sharing the songs @juliemelucci, @jesimariejones, @carriekarpinen & I created 2gether! pic.twitter.com/Gl1ZeDxlxE
— Moriah Peters (@MoriahPeters) January 2, 2017
“We play our first showcase of songs in Nashville on the 20th, so we just have a few more weeks until that comes around. I am really excited to share that with people. I think people are really going to love it and connect with it and find some real insightful truths in it and I just feel honored to be a part of each of these creative works.”
“I’ve written every song with all three of my bandmates, and they are the best writers I’ve ever worked with, so I am just excited for people to hear what we’ve been writing together.”
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