CONTRIBUTED BY
JANIEE RUSH
The night of Sept. 15 was much more than just a birthday celebration for new local Christian artist, Janiee Rush. Her debut single “Washed Away” was released to the public, and more than 100 guests gathered at the Auburn Dream Center to hear it for the first time.
Rush, a Nashville recording artist from Auburn, spoke to the crowd about what made her decide to pursue writing and recording her own worship songs. She mentioned that it was earlier this year that she decided to step into the calling on her life to reach people for Christ through music. She felt a new sense of urgency to reach the lost and knew it was time to take action. Once she made a public announcement about pursuing Christian music professionally, the community and other friends and family rallied behind her to help raise the funds needed to record her music.
Through the whole process, she knew she needed to walk by faith and in obedience, not focusing on the obstacles, and God would provide the rest.
“As I’ve grown so much closer to God over the past few years, I can see clearly now that He’s prepared me for such a time as this,” Rush said. “I truly feel like he has revealed life-changing revelations to me. It was in January of this year that I got clarity from Him about this calling for music. I believe he communicated this to me in different ways like through my dreams, other people and through what I was reading in the Word.”
Rush said that she began writing her first song “Washed Away” shortly after she took the step of faith to pursue music professionally. She said that “Washed Away” is a song about celebrating new life in Christ and praising Jesus for all that was washed away when He gave His life on the cross for [everyone’s] sins.
The first announcement Rush made to the public about starting to work on new music came around the time the Asbury revival was happening in February. Rush talked about the significance of all the revivals taking place this year, including the Unite Auburn revival on Auburn’s Campus on Sept. 12.
“I don’t believe that it’s a coincidence that I got clarity about the calling to write and record worship music around the time the Asbury revival was happening earlier this year,” Rush said. “I don’t believe that it’s a coincidence that this song is being released the same week that the revival night happened on Auburn’s campus Tuesday night. It’s all significant … God is using all of it. Revival is happening all around us. People are waking up.”
While sharing her music with others, Rush also wants to encourage others to follow their Kingdom calling too. She shared about her decision to take her focus off of herself and to see the bigger story — God’s story. She spoke about her struggles in the past with insecurities and rejection, but she was not going to let that have a hold on her any longer.
“Something that is so important to remember is that if there is something that you constantly feel attacked in, that is a strong indicator that it’s something the enemy is threatened by because of the impact that it was created to have for Christ,” Rush said.
Rush has more original music to come later on, as she is currently in the process of working on a worship EP. You can follow her music journey on her social media pages (Instagram: @janiee_rush, Facebook: facebook.com/janiee.rush).
Her new single “Washed Away” is available on all streaming platforms and can also be heard on local radio.