Here's my story...

I was born in Cumberland, Maryland. I started singing when I was 18 months old. My parents traveled from church to church singing and took me with them. I could sing third part harmony by the time I was four.

I started writing songs at age 14, and began a public ministry in the 1970s that continued into the early '80s. I was influenced by such singer-songwriters as Scott Wesley Brown, Bob Kauflin (formerly of Glad) and Keith Green. I did concerts with artists D'Garmo and Key, Steve Camp, Honeytree, Pam Mark Hall, and other popular Christian groups of that era. I was chosen to sing at Fishnet 84, a large "Woodstock-like" outdoor Christian music festival. I had a fairly significant following by then and had published several songs. My music career seemed to be taking off. However, self-righteousness and spiritual arrogance blindsided me, and pride led me into sin. I had no accountability and began a downward spiral spiritually away from the Lord and into blatant rebellion. My whole world quickly unraveled. My Mother received news that she had lymphoma, and my Grandmother came down with Lou Gehrig's disease. I'd like to say that when both these foundational pillars in my life became terminally ill, I saw my sin instantly, got back on track, everyone got well, and we all lived happily ever after but that's not the way my story ends. Like the prodigal, I wandered around for years aimlessly sinning, doing my own thing. I stopped going to church, laid down my guitar, and stopped singing.

By 1990, Mom had died and my Grandmother was soon to die. In desperation, I cried out to the Lord to save me and pull me up out of this horrible pit I had fallen into. I had forsaken the fountain of all delights and had been trying to drink from cisterns that were empty and dry; this life I was living could not satisfy my soul. Back to my Church (Covenant Life Church) in Gaithersburg I went. C.J. Mahaney had always had a profound influence in my life and I was determined to position myself so that God's truth would pour over my parched dry soul and bring much needed change.

In 1989, I moved to Haymarket, Virginia, with a couple of friends. As time went by, I believed the Lord had forgiven me of my sin, but I felt embarrassed and ruined by my unfaithfulness. I thought I would never play or sing again, much less perform in a public context. In the quiet of my room one day, I picked up my guitar and out of grief over the loss of my Mom came words to a new song I called "The Road Home." It was the first song I had written in almost a decade, and the first of many the Lord would so graciously give me again. My brother plays piano, and he and I serve our local church by playing music in our small group or for other events we're asked to participate in.

My story is not one I'm not proud of, but it is one of redemption, unfathomable love, and forgiveness. I am a trophy of His mercy and of grace I don't deserve. Because I had been born into a Christian home, I thought I had somehow earned my salvation by being a "good" person for many years. The Lord has opened my eyes to the truth that nothing I "do" or "have done" enables me to earn my salvation apart from faith and trust in His sacrifice on the cross.

If you think you've sinned beyond Christ's ability to forgive you or bring you back from wherever you've been, you are wrong. No sin is bigger than the Cross and the Savior's finished work there. His sacrifice can make the vilest sinner clean (I oughta know). Nothing makes me happier than to know I'm His child, and that I'm saved from the wrath of God to come.

Visit my other pages if you're interested in hearing some of my music, and meeting some of my heroes and friends, or if you're interested in animals and photography. Thank you for dropping by...may God bless you!

All by His wondrous grace and for His glory,

Linda