December 25, 2024 • 15 mins
Join host Kahn Ellmers as he delves into the musical journey of Karina Lopez, an inspiring Adventist musician. Karina shares her life story, her deep connection with music and faith, and the creation of her soul-touching song 'Heal.' Discover how her music has become a source of healing and hope for many, and learn how you can support Adventist musicians like Karina.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Background
00:26 Musical Inspiration and Early Years
01:25 Expressing Through Music
02:30 Describing Her Work
04:06 The Story Behind 'Heal'
07:26 Impact of 'Heal'
08:43 Supporting Adventist Musicians
10:19 Building a Musical Community
12:27 Conclusion and Farewell
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Yeah, so my name is Karina Lopez. I was born in Moses Lake, Washington, very small town.
(00:12):
I lived there up until I was about six and then moved to California.
Lived in California most of my life. Recently moved to Oregon about three and a half years ago.
So currently residing in Oregon right now and yeah, kind of what inspired me to start doing music or getting involved in music.
(00:34):
I think it's my family. My dad grew up playing guitar. You know, I grew up hearing him play and it was always just a pleasant, positive experience that I had with music.
And music kind of just was in my family and then my older sister played guitar growing up so I kind of got to see her play.
My brother was also into music as well. So around the age of about 10 or 11 years old, I really took an interest in guitar.
(01:04):
And that was something that it wasn't like even forced on me. It was just something I just really had a desire to do.
And so I just remember spending hours sometimes a day just playing at the guitar and trying to, you know, get the chords right and make it sound as good as it as it could.
(01:25):
Yeah, I think for me, especially when I got into my teenage years, it was really a big outlet for me to kind of just express myself.
I was very introverted, which I mean, I still am, but it was hard for me at the time to really express how I was feeling and kind of emote that to everyone around me, even my own family.
(01:49):
So there was a lot of things I kept inside. And so being able to, you know, have a space where I could just, you know, let out my thoughts, let out my heart, you know, my emotions.
And, you know, not really have to do that in front of like anyone or an audience to just kind of have that open space was really meaningful for me.
(02:13):
And I think it really helped me to just have an outlet at that point. And so being able to express myself through music was a really powerful thing for me.
And I think that helped me to just kind of connect with myself a little bit more.
(02:36):
What would you say to someone? How would you describe your work to somebody who has never heard it before?
Yeah, I think maybe the simplest way I could describe it is that I write songs about my own block with God and just the experiences that I've had.
(03:02):
And, you know, I use that to kind of express my own journey with other people. And I also kind of just use it to connect with God and also allow others to connect to God as well, like through that.
And when I found to when I am able to be that vulnerable and share that with other people, like other people also receive that in a positive way and they feel more free to kind of share and open up as well.
(03:34):
And, you know, at the same time, like it can feel really scary to, you know, be vulnerable and to share your heart or to share your, you know, raw experiences of people.
But, you know, actually seeing the effect that like even just sharing my songs with people and hearing back from some people where they can say, you know, I really related to that song or I really resonated with that song or I've had an experience like this.
(04:01):
It's really special and really powerful to to see how we can use music to just connect with other people and relate with other people to.
I want to dive into that piece of music that you've chosen.
Can you share with us about that piece of music and bring us back to the place where you created that piece of music? What was it like when you were writing it?
(04:29):
Yeah, so that this name of the song is called Heal, which is also the name of the album that I made recently.
(04:59):
And that song really came out of a time when I was going through my own I call healing journey.
(05:29):
And I know when I know that I'm going to move past this, going to be the best that I can be, going to let my Savior lead my life.
I'm going to heal. I'm going to heal.
(05:51):
And, you know, I was raised in the church, you know, I knew all the principles and, you know, things that we believe in.
But it wasn't until that time that I really felt this very deep heartfelt relationship with God.
And I think because I was going through a lot of like emotional pain, it really opened me up to see and experience this deeper part of God.
(06:19):
And this song, Heal, kind of came from that time.
And I remember at one time I was writing in my journal and I drew this little picture of like a mountain and like myself kind of climbing up the mountain.
And I remember writing, you know, I'm going to see my way to the top.
And so which crazy though, which is crazy because that line ended up being in the song.
(06:45):
I'm going to move past this, going to climb up the mountain.
I'm going to see my way up to the top.
And I know and I know that I'm going to move past this, going to be the best that I can be, going to let my Savior lead my life.
(07:06):
I'm going to see, I'm going to see.
And it was just, it was a really cool moment.
I think when I wrote in that journal entry, because I, at that point, I was kind of coming out of the clouds and I was feeling a lot more hopeful.
(07:29):
And so the song Heal talks about like going through a lot of pain, seeing a lot of cloudy days and wondering if things were going to feel better and if things were going to get better.
(07:59):
And so, you know, this song Heal talks a lot about hope in the midst of pain and hope in the midst of sorrow.
Knowing that like God doesn't always take our pain away from us.
(08:21):
Sometimes he allows us to kind of go through the pain, but he carries us through the pain.
And he gives us that hope that that pain isn't going to last forever or be there forever.
(08:57):
Heal talks about hope in the midst of sorrow.
(09:26):
You know, that was kind of, you know, my experience with having these moments of healing and seeing God actually bring healing into my heart and into my life.
And it was, it was just so powerful for me.
It was very life changing and I grew so much from that and definitely grew a lot stronger in my relationship with God for sure.
(09:49):
Yeah, it's definitely one of the ones I do like sharing with people and kind of sharing the story behind it too, just because there's so much hope in it.
And I think it's, it's also a favorite one I like to play because this is a song I've gotten a lot of feedback on from people where they can say, or they have said, this song has touched me and I can relate to this experience or, you know, talk about maybe like a loss that they had or something hard that they went through.
(10:18):
Or sometimes just, you know, feeling the hope from this song, like, you know, things are going to be okay.
Like, you know, we're going to get, I'm going to get through the hard times. God's going to carry me through this.
When I first was kind of sharing, sharing my music, you know, she had reached out to me online and, you know, she had mentioned like, hey, you know, my name, this is my name.
(10:41):
And, you know, she was like, I heard your song. I forgot where she said she heard it. I think it was maybe on YouTube. There was like a video I had posted.
And she was like, I just want to let you know that this song really touched me and it helped me to get through a really hard time that I was going through.
And we ended up later like meeting more in person. And yeah, now we're like really good friends. And so sometimes when, you know, I'm with her or, you know, we're talking, she'll be like, let's hear that song.
(11:12):
He'll want to hear it.
That's really nice. It kind of, to me, it really shows me the heart that you have for people and the way that you want to help people, to minister to people.
And you're using music for that reason. You want to use music to minister to people. And I really like this song because it really resonates with the ministry that Jesus had and the ministry that he wants us to do as well.
(11:43):
And to bring healing to the hearts of people. So Karina, if a listener is wanted to support Adventist musicians like yourself, what are some ways that they can help support them?
Yeah, so I do have an Instagram account. It's at Karina Lopez Music. And that's usually where I post most of my updates with music and I have links on there just with like a website where you can purchase the album.
(12:15):
My current album Heal is available to stream on all music platforms. So like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music. And then I do have a music page on Facebook as well. I think it's K.L. Music called K.L. Music.
(12:38):
Yeah, I think so. I think probably most effective has been being able to share music like live either like at different churches. And so it's been hard to do that lately just because I've also been working too.
But even here locally where I am, you know, we did an album release concert when I released Heal. And that was such an amazing time. We had a really good group of people come out and just support.
(13:08):
And so definitely want to try to make more opportunity to be able to kind of share, like do more concerts and kind of get around. But that's been really effective.
Yeah. Have you found any other things helpful when building a community? You said like doing live concerts and doing social media. Is there any other things that people can help musicians to build community?
(13:37):
I think even doing what you're doing with your podcast is really good. I think just, you know, fostering an environment where we have people that are curious and interested to see what kinds of people are out there in the church and especially in the
urbanist church that are like doing music or in the music area. So I think just having people that can kind of even leave that out or say, you know, I'm curious, I want to see, you know, what what people in the church are doing, you know, with music and just fostering that
(14:12):
environment and encouraging just that creativity, I think is is super important.
And so in your opinion, like, do you think how do you think we're doing with that in terms of the church? Is there anything that you could any gaps that you could see in in fostering that global community and for the musicians?
(14:34):
Yeah, I mean, I have seen some good, you know, some good effort and some good things where people are fostering that kind of community. Where I was living in Fresno, one of the churches there in Clovis, they had a really cool thing that they would do is like it was called
a songwriter circle. And so they would meet up once a month and encourage anybody in the church that, you know, writes music or sings to meet up and come together. And, you know, sometimes we would share like pieces of music that we had written or poems we had written.
(15:09):
And it was a beautiful time to just come together and fellowship and connect with music. So I think, you know, things like that having, you know, maybe even programs in the church or events where we could say, hey, if you're in the church and you like seeing music or you like writing, like, let's meet up and let's talk and connect.
Well, thank you so much for spending time with me today, Karina, to talk about music and the advent of space and your music.
(15:36):
Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's been a great exploration of your music and I pray the listeners will be blessed from your music and that the song Heel would touch their hearts.
We'll see you next time on Adventist Webster.
Yeah, so my name is Karina Lopez. I was born in Moses Lake, Washington, very small town.
(00:12):
I lived there up until I was about six and then moved to California.
Lived in California most of my life. Recently moved to Oregon about three and a half years ago.
So currently residing in Oregon right now and yeah, kind of what inspired me to start doing music or getting involved in music.
(00:34):
I think it's my family. My dad grew up playing guitar. You know, I grew up hearing him play and it was always just a pleasant, positive experience that I had with music.
And music kind of just was in my family and then my older sister played guitar growing up so I kind of got to see her play.
My brother was also into music as well. So around the age of about 10 or 11 years old, I really took an interest in guitar.
(01:04):
And that was something that it wasn't like even forced on me. It was just something I just really had a desire to do.
And so I just remember spending hours sometimes a day just playing at the guitar and trying to, you know, get the chords right and make it sound as good as it as it could.
(01:25):
Yeah, I think for me, especially when I got into my teenage years, it was really a big outlet for me to kind of just express myself.
I was very introverted, which I mean, I still am, but it was hard for me at the time to really express how I was feeling and kind of emote that to everyone around me, even my own family.
(01:49):
So there was a lot of things I kept inside. And so being able to, you know, have a space where I could just, you know, let out my thoughts, let out my heart, you know, my emotions.
And, you know, not really have to do that in front of like anyone or an audience to just kind of have that open space was really meaningful for me.
(02:13):
And I think it really helped me to just have an outlet at that point. And so being able to express myself through music was a really powerful thing for me.
And I think that helped me to just kind of connect with myself a little bit more.
(02:36):
What would you say to someone? How would you describe your work to somebody who has never heard it before?
Yeah, I think maybe the simplest way I could describe it is that I write songs about my own block with God and just the experiences that I've had.
(03:02):
And, you know, I use that to kind of express my own journey with other people. And I also kind of just use it to connect with God and also allow others to connect to God as well, like through that.
And when I found to when I am able to be that vulnerable and share that with other people, like other people also receive that in a positive way and they feel more free to kind of share and open up as well.
(03:34):
And, you know, at the same time, like it can feel really scary to, you know, be vulnerable and to share your heart or to share your, you know, raw experiences of people.
But, you know, actually seeing the effect that like even just sharing my songs with people and hearing back from some people where they can say, you know, I really related to that song or I really resonated with that song or I've had an experience like this.
(04:01):
It's really special and really powerful to to see how we can use music to just connect with other people and relate with other people to.
I want to dive into that piece of music that you've chosen.
Can you share with us about that piece of music and bring us back to the place where you created that piece of music? What was it like when you were writing it?
(04:29):
Yeah, so that this name of the song is called Heal, which is also the name of the album that I made recently.
(04:59):
And that song really came out of a time when I was going through my own I call healing journey.
(05:29):
And I know when I know that I'm going to move past this, going to be the best that I can be, going to let my Savior lead my life.
I'm going to heal. I'm going to heal.
(05:51):
And, you know, I was raised in the church, you know, I knew all the principles and, you know, things that we believe in.
But it wasn't until that time that I really felt this very deep heartfelt relationship with God.
And I think because I was going through a lot of like emotional pain, it really opened me up to see and experience this deeper part of God.
(06:19):
And this song, Heal, kind of came from that time.
And I remember at one time I was writing in my journal and I drew this little picture of like a mountain and like myself kind of climbing up the mountain.
And I remember writing, you know, I'm going to see my way to the top.
And so which crazy though, which is crazy because that line ended up being in the song.
(06:45):
I'm going to move past this, going to climb up the mountain.
I'm going to see my way up to the top.
And I know and I know that I'm going to move past this, going to be the best that I can be, going to let my Savior lead my life.
(07:06):
I'm going to see, I'm going to see.
And it was just, it was a really cool moment.
I think when I wrote in that journal entry, because I, at that point, I was kind of coming out of the clouds and I was feeling a lot more hopeful.
(07:29):
And so the song Heal talks about like going through a lot of pain, seeing a lot of cloudy days and wondering if things were going to feel better and if things were going to get better.
(07:59):
And so, you know, this song Heal talks a lot about hope in the midst of pain and hope in the midst of sorrow.
Knowing that like God doesn't always take our pain away from us.
(08:21):
Sometimes he allows us to kind of go through the pain, but he carries us through the pain.
And he gives us that hope that that pain isn't going to last forever or be there forever.
(08:57):
Heal talks about hope in the midst of sorrow.
(09:26):
You know, that was kind of, you know, my experience with having these moments of healing and seeing God actually bring healing into my heart and into my life.
And it was, it was just so powerful for me.
It was very life changing and I grew so much from that and definitely grew a lot stronger in my relationship with God for sure.
(09:49):
Yeah, it's definitely one of the ones I do like sharing with people and kind of sharing the story behind it too, just because there's so much hope in it.
And I think it's, it's also a favorite one I like to play because this is a song I've gotten a lot of feedback on from people where they can say, or they have said, this song has touched me and I can relate to this experience or, you know, talk about maybe like a loss that they had or something hard that they went through.
(10:18):
Or sometimes just, you know, feeling the hope from this song, like, you know, things are going to be okay.
Like, you know, we're going to get, I'm going to get through the hard times. God's going to carry me through this.
When I first was kind of sharing, sharing my music, you know, she had reached out to me online and, you know, she had mentioned like, hey, you know, my name, this is my name.
(10:41):
And, you know, she was like, I heard your song. I forgot where she said she heard it. I think it was maybe on YouTube. There was like a video I had posted.
And she was like, I just want to let you know that this song really touched me and it helped me to get through a really hard time that I was going through.
And we ended up later like meeting more in person. And yeah, now we're like really good friends. And so sometimes when, you know, I'm with her or, you know, we're talking, she'll be like, let's hear that song.
(11:12):
He'll want to hear it.
That's really nice. It kind of, to me, it really shows me the heart that you have for people and the way that you want to help people, to minister to people.
And you're using music for that reason. You want to use music to minister to people. And I really like this song because it really resonates with the ministry that Jesus had and the ministry that he wants us to do as well.
(11:43):
And to bring healing to the hearts of people. So Karina, if a listener is wanted to support Adventist musicians like yourself, what are some ways that they can help support them?
Yeah, so I do have an Instagram account. It's at Karina Lopez Music. And that's usually where I post most of my updates with music and I have links on there just with like a website where you can purchase the album.
(12:15):
My current album Heal is available to stream on all music platforms. So like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music. And then I do have a music page on Facebook as well. I think it's K.L. Music called K.L. Music.
(12:38):
Yeah, I think so. I think probably most effective has been being able to share music like live either like at different churches. And so it's been hard to do that lately just because I've also been working too.
But even here locally where I am, you know, we did an album release concert when I released Heal. And that was such an amazing time. We had a really good group of people come out and just support.
(13:08):
And so definitely want to try to make more opportunity to be able to kind of share, like do more concerts and kind of get around. But that's been really effective.
Yeah. Have you found any other things helpful when building a community? You said like doing live concerts and doing social media. Is there any other things that people can help musicians to build community?
(13:37):
I think even doing what you're doing with your podcast is really good. I think just, you know, fostering an environment where we have people that are curious and interested to see what kinds of people are out there in the church and especially in the
urbanist church that are like doing music or in the music area. So I think just having people that can kind of even leave that out or say, you know, I'm curious, I want to see, you know, what what people in the church are doing, you know, with music and just fostering that
(14:12):
environment and encouraging just that creativity, I think is is super important.
And so in your opinion, like, do you think how do you think we're doing with that in terms of the church? Is there anything that you could any gaps that you could see in in fostering that global community and for the musicians?
(14:34):
Yeah, I mean, I have seen some good, you know, some good effort and some good things where people are fostering that kind of community. Where I was living in Fresno, one of the churches there in Clovis, they had a really cool thing that they would do is like it was called
a songwriter circle. And so they would meet up once a month and encourage anybody in the church that, you know, writes music or sings to meet up and come together. And, you know, sometimes we would share like pieces of music that we had written or poems we had written.
(15:09):
And it was a beautiful time to just come together and fellowship and connect with music. So I think, you know, things like that having, you know, maybe even programs in the church or events where we could say, hey, if you're in the church and you like seeing music or you like writing, like, let's meet up and let's talk and connect.
Well, thank you so much for spending time with me today, Karina, to talk about music and the advent of space and your music.
(15:36):
Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's been a great exploration of your music and I pray the listeners will be blessed from your music and that the song Heel would touch their hearts.
We'll see you next time on Adventist Webster.
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