Winans - Born for this: my story in music

I will sing to the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Psalm 104:33

Ive been so many people in my life: a kid, a son, a boy, a brother, a friend, a grocery store clerk, a choir singer, a husband, a father, a Grammy winner, a Grammy loser, a producer, an entertainer. As Ive followed the path set before me, Ive experienced a world tailor-made for me, just like yours is tailor-made for you. And each experience has taught me just that little bit more I needed to get by, to overcome, to find success, to mend fences, to realize a dream.

My father used to tell me, Know who you are before you walk out that front door, because if you dont, the world will decide for you, and youll lose your way.

Boy, was he right. Ive had plenty of opportunities to lose my way in this world. But my fathers words always rang in my ears like church bells. Its one thing to remember those words of warning, but quite another to live by them. Ive come to realize that its the living day by day that tells you who you are. We unravel throughout this life, learning from our mistakes and victories. We become who we are by the decisions we make and the people we meet and the friends we keep. This is true of every person on the planet. Im no different from anyone else. Im flesh and blood with feelings and dreams, with concerns and questionsquestions that found some answers along the way and questions that linger in my brain like a suspended D chord. Although disappointed and knocked down at times, I always found strength to rise again. How?

Well, it was a combination of things. But it all begins with my family. I know Im blessed to come from a family of ten children and two parents who were strict but loved us unconditionally. I dont take that for granted, ever. It all started with Mom and Dad and the strong faith they instilled in all of us when we were kids.

As I spoke with my mom and siblings while writing this book, my life opened up before me in a profound way. Mom reminded me of how our current family formed; unorthodox and unapologetically filled with music. My brother Marvin helped me see into our familys past. He reminded me that though my roots still remain in Detroit, they also reach further back to another time, another place. And it was in revisiting and reviving some of the places in my memory that I found clarity for my life now.

These memories and discoveries reminded me that life can be difficult and wonderful, beautiful and ugly, brilliant and messy. But its precisely those times when everything gets cloudy and our confidence grows thin and our belief in where were going falls into question that we reach back to the roots that shaped us. Because you and I are more than our most recent failure or our greatest achievement. We are parts of history unfolding. You and I live in the to be continued moments that our parents, and their parents, never dreamed about. You and I are like notes in a chord, giving the song rise, giving the melody symmetry with our sad and glorious moments of life.

My story is like yours. Ive fallen. But I rise again, over and over. And like you, Ive experienced times of happiness. Were born for both. And Ive found that wonderful moments make life worth living and living well. And inevitably its those moments we rise that we look back on and say, Wow, look what I learned there. Look how that changed me.

I was born to write songs. Yes, most days. I was born to be a father. Yes, and two is enough, which is funny to me coming from a close-knit family of ten crazy kids.

But life has shown me that our sweet spots grow from the bitter moments. This truth tells me now that I was born to be ridiculed. I was born to be lied about. I was born to be mocked. I was born to be hated. I was born to endure emotional pain. And best of all, I was born to be misunderstood, and who wants that? These moments made me just as much as all the bright moments the world sees.

God reaches out for us. And we must reach back. Without God as my source, I am nothing. And I am who I am today only because of Him. When I searched for meaning in life, He gave me purpose. When I stand tall in this world, I do so only because He stands next to me. He showed me how my failures and pains add to lifes journey. And it is only with them that I was able to arrive at a place of wholeness and joy. Ive only now begun to live out my purpose.