ABOUT TERRIE

Terrie Howard is a very blessed and gifted Christian artist, with a story to tell... Terrie is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and was raised near the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. She is the mother of three adult children, Andrew, Jonathan, and Emily. She has been a Flight Attendant for American Airlines, a Travel Agent in Europe, an Executive Secretary for the TJ Maxx Corporation, an Operating Room Scrub Nurse, a Substitute School Teacher, and, most recently, an assistant in Physician Recruitment for the hospital CEO. Terrie currently resides in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and teaches private piano and voice lessons, leads women's ministry events, and performs the National Anthem regularly at national sporting events.

Terrie's second release: "A Soft Place to Fall" Is now available!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MY STORY

"I have been singing and playing piano since the early age of eight, and have sung in numerous choirs and performed special music in church from grade-school through adulthood. It has only been in the last few years that I felt a calling to minister to others through music.

"I was 44 years old before I recognized that God had given me a  very special gift, and that for many years He had been calling me to use it. I found so many reasons and excuses not to … until He sent a friend into my life who gently reminded me that God works in His time, that He was ready to use me now, not twenty years ago, and that God even used Sarah when she was in her nineties.

"Once I surrendered the gift to Him and promised Him I would share my voice – His voice! – with others, He began to bless it from that very day. Thus, my first CD, Bless These Hands , was born. I began to see that God truly had a plan for my life. He began putting people into my path almost immediately to help me with this project … they were among His most precious gifts to me. He showed me that He meant business and that ‘when God leads you to it, He will bring you through it.’ In other words, what God appoints, He ANOINTS! He did not let me down.

"It was I, however, who chose to try a different plan ... to do things my way, instead of God's. I diverted my focus for a brief time, which lead to several moves between three states, a very dangerous living situation, the loss of some very good and caring friends, loss of my home, stress on the relationships between my children and me, and almost the loss of my life. All because I moved ... God didn't! I owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to my sister and her family, for their protection and provision at a desperate time in my life. Thankfully, life has a way of getting our attention sometimes. Through it all, He has been so good, so patient, and so forgiving, in spite of my own selfishness and stupidity. He has, once again, held out this beautiful gift to me, the gift of music and ministry, when I LEAST saw it coming! I don't feel like I deserve it, sometimes. Believe me, I've questioned it many times! 'Why, Lord? What can you possibly do with all of this?!' But He has placed a calling on my life, and even though I tried to run from it, He gently and patiently called me back to Him, to do the work He has planned for me. He loves me too much to leave me where I was ... He came looking for me, He pursued me, he beat the bushes as though searching for a lost lamb, He shouted into the canyon that He loves me, and let me know loudly and clearly that He wasn't finished with me yet. He won't let go. For that, I am so grateful and blessed.

"I put things back in order and set out to finish the second CD, A Soft Place to Fall. It is a project that chronicles the journey and the struggles in the years following the release of Bless These Hands. Again, God put a strange mixture of people into my life, who encouraged me back into ministry and music. Without their words of love and strength, it would still be sitting 'on the back burner'. I am captivated to think of the things He can use for good, for His glory. So, I'm turning this over to Him again, and praying that this time I truly will be a child He is very proud to call His Own!

"My music IS my testimony. I sing from my heart. Anyone who listens to my music, or sees me perform, will know that is when I am the closest to the Lord. My story is so similar to many others' stories, yet it is so different, because of the way God has allowed me to use those hurts, and to recognize pain in others and lead them to a place where they can rest in Him. My story's different because of the lessons I've learned and am still learning. When God guides, He provides! It is a relationship that He and I have nurtured through many years of running and seeking answers, and through it, I have found Joy, Fulfillment and Promise.

I want to lead others into that same relationship and assure them that HE has a purpose for their life, and that we were not created with a spirit of fear, guilt, depression, shame, anger, anxiety and down-trodden hearts ... I want them to know what a wonderful, unconditionally loving and forgiving God we serve. I want them to feel wrapped in that same warmth, and help them find that same freedom, healing, restoration and fulfillment that I have found thru Him. I want others to know that they, too, can know the wonderful love of God, and can experience and become all that God has designed them to be.

"God recently sent a wonderful man into my life, Steve. He has loved and supported me through some dark days and rough waters. Every day is a new blessing! He makes my heart sing! After a three-year dating relationship, we were married in April 2010, and we both feel very blessed that the Lord has given us this life together.

"I am an 'heir of God through Christ' (Galatians 4:7), and I do not ever have to wonder who I am, nor WHOSE I am. He chose me, adopted me, and for God, there's no turning back. I never need worry who my Father is .... Because of His Grace, I am in His heart, and He is in mine! I am God's child, and He will give me the blessing He has promised, because I am His child."

Find me on Facebook .... Terrie Gladney Hoelscher.....

Watch for my next release, "What Can I Give Him?", a Christmas album mix of eclectic and rare tunes, and timeless Christmas favorites! Due on time for Christmas 2011!