Leslie Woods On Her Music, Her Challenges & Being the "Extroverted Overcomer"

Leslie Woods has jusst released her new worship project, "Resound."  Often compared to the likes of Hillsng UNITED and Kari Jobe, "Resound" seeks to service the church in her praise of God.  This six-song EP features beloved worship music, including "It Is Well," "To God Alone" and "At The Name," and others. 

"Resound follows the 2013 release of "Just Me," which featured the No. 1 song "Fall Down." "Fall Down," which played on more than 250 radio outlets, topped the CRC Weekly, CRC Monthly and CRC Quarterly charts.

Woods, who calls herself an "extroverted overcomer," was diagnosed at age 14 with epilepsy. Through her journey of navigating the disease, which often left the teenager feeling ostracized, the vocalist has come to realize that, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission."

Hallels:  Thank you so much Leslie for doing this interview with us.  You have had many challenges in your life before including epilepsy.  How did these challenges affect you emotionally and spiritually?

First off, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to share my story and ministry with you and your readers!

Being diagnosed with epilepsy was a huge game changer in my life (and at the time, not for the better). It was a really dark time in my life. First, I should explain that there are many different types of seizures (petit mal and grand mal) and I was unlucky enough to have them all. One day, I was getting ready for school and curling my hair and the next thing I knew was waking up hours later in bed with huge burn marks on my legs and left foot from where the curling iron hit my skin during the convulsions. My parents took me to a doctor who sent me to a neurologist. I had no clue what a neurologist was and when my dad told me it was a brain doctor, my first thought was, "So I'm brain damaged?!??"

There may have been a bit of really loud screeching along with that question. In my mind it was bad enough that I was deformed from the burns, but now I'm brain damaged too? This was not cool. As if it wasn't hard enough being a teenage girl, going through puberty and the crazy changes our hormones throw at us, I had the wonderful gift of becoming a " deformed freak". All of a sudden things in my past school experience started to makes sense. Being accused of being a daydreamer and not paying attention in class, being called "stupid" in front of the whole class by a couple teachers (yes that really happened) because of mistakes I had made, not understanding why a teacher would put questions on a test when she never taught that material. I now knew, I wasn't daydreaming, I had been having petit mal seizures in class.

My self-esteem hit an all time low. I lost a lot of friends because they couldn't handle the "new and unimproved" me. I figured all of my teachers thought I was stupid, after all a couple of my previous teachers did. I had to be home-schooled for half of my high school career because I was having seizures everyday. I could no longer do things a normal teenager could do like sleeping over at a friend's house, staying at the church youth group's lock-in parties, and best of all, when I went to youth convention my mom was the chaperone in my room (insert annoyed teenager look here). The whole point of going to convention is to get away from our parents for a couple of days, but not me! I was constantly being watched. I became resentful and bitter. I was full of self pity and anger. All of those things quickly morphed into one emotion, hate. Pure unadulterated hate. I hated everybody and everything, including God. However, I was a very good actress, to everyone else I was still the same happy, if a bit less-bubbly, girl I always was. But we can't hide our heart from God, can we?

Hallels:  How did you overcome them? What advice do you have for our readers who may be facing challenges too?

Well, suicide became a part of my everyday thought process and Satan was loving it. He gave me all sorts of different ideas on how to go about it. I finally settled on the simplest way, slitting my wrists. I tried it once and sliced deep enough to have a scar there for a few years, but my mom came in and stopped me from finishing the job. And let me tell you, there was some holy fire burning in that woman's eyes when she saw what I was trying to do...scared the daylights out of me. I decided to try again a couple weeks later, but before I had the chance I had a seizure. But this one was very different from the others in my past. I had a dream during it. I saw myself having the seizure and my parents next to my body praying, in disgust and anger I yelled out "I hate you God! Why would you do this to me? I hate you!!" Whether is was the Holy Spirit or just my subconscious I remembering hearing in a very calm and soothing voice, "Why do you say things you don't mean? It's all part of a plan".

I came out of the seizure and after the mental recovery process, was stunned. It was as if God gave me a proverbial smack upside the head. I started to think back on all of the times I'd had seizures and looked at them with clear eyes. In every memory there were reasons where I should've done serious damage, but miraculously fell in a way that prevented me from hitting my head or injuring myself in any other way. I started to realize that maybe my epilepsy didn't make me a weak person as I had thought, instead, it helped to make me strong. It helped me to be compassionate and understanding. It taught me not to judge people because you have no idea what they are going through in their own life. It made me into the person I am today. And I learned that compared to many other people in this world, I'm extremely lucky that epilepsy is all I have.

Does that mean I'm never spiritually or emotionally effected by my epilepsy? Of course not! It is still a day to day struggle to stay positive. And it's still really hard to talk about, but if my story could help even one person then it's worth dredging up the horrible memories of the past. The initial hill is always the hardest to get over, but after you reach the crest, all that is left to deal with are the daily bumps in the road which are a lot easier than the hills. Besides, God told us in his Word that "His grace is sufficient for us".

Hallels:  On your website you said, "If I was a super-hero, I would be called The Extroverted Overcomer!" Can you explain?

LOL! Well, first I'm a nerd so I love the super-hero idea (just maybe not the tights and spandex)

I've had to deal with a lot of obstacles in my past and while I haven't completely overcome my day to day struggle, I was able to overcome the darkest hour of my life thus far, but only by the grace of God. I went from hating everyone and wanting only to be completely alone so I could dwell in my own self-misery, to my natural state of a 100% extrovert who loves people. I think if you looked for "social butterfly" on Google it wouldn't be surprising to find my face in the images tab. LOL

Hallels:  Let's talk about your new worship EP "Resound," what made you want to release a worship album? 

Worship is where my heart is. I absolutely love it! I love the intimacy and communication it provides between us and our Creator. I wanted an album where people could sing TO God and not just about Him. This album is a prayer, a declaration and a reminder of the wonderful things God can and will do!  Worship is something that is truly a necessity.  

Hallels:  Tell us more about your new single "To God Alone," what's the story behind this song?

I believe songs mean something different to each person. What one person may get out of this song could be completely different from what another person gets out of it. Also, I'm always getting something new out of a song each time I sing. That's another thing I love about worship music. It hits us all in different ways, and always in a way that is needed at that time.

When I was going to record the songs on this EP I made sure to find scripture pertaining to what I felt about each song. For "To God Alone" the scripture I found was, Psalm 89:5-8,11 :

"The heavens praise your wonders, Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; is more awesome than all who surround Him. Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord are mighty and your faithfulness surrounds you.... The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.

When I recorded this I was singing about the awesomeness of God. The song talks about the galaxies and the stars being like grains of sand to Him. It talks about the heavens turning in His hand. All I could think about was how magnificent He is that He could create such massive things with only a word. I thought about how insignificant humans are compared to the complexities of the universe and yet God chose us to be His children. He chose us to inherit the earth. I kept thinking about all of the other so-called "gods" out in the world and how they are so miniscule and puny next to The One True God!
Since recording it I've also thought of the pre-chorus that says "The universe, your symphony, composing one great melody of praise." Everything He has created comes together so perfectly and with such great synchronicity that it sounds like one beautiful orchestra playing a masterpiece of music written just for Him. Who knows what else I may get from the song in the future!

Hallels:  I was just listening to "It is Well," and all I can say is "Wow!"  Why did you choose to cover this hymn? 

Thank you!!!! I was blessed with parents who taught their children to appreciate all genres of music. Growing up I listened to contemporary, southern gospel, and traditional Christian music along with everything in between. And I'm glad I did! I think it's important that we remember our roots which are the old hymns.  It's hard to remember that at the time those were the contemporary worship songs!!! It's also hard to remember that there is a story behind every one of those hymns as well. In "Tis So Sweet to Trust In Jesus", the author's husband died and she and her daughter were left destitute, and yet God provided for them. In "It Is Well", the author lost his entire family in one fell swoop, and yet He trusted in God's plan and goodness so much that he basically said, "No matter what, God has my back and I'm just gonna have to trust Him"! There is so much doctrine in these hymns. Doctrine that should never be forgotten. So when I went to my producer I told him I wanted to update it, but to keep it as close to the original as possible. I didn't want any added lyrics because it was perfect as it was.

Hallels:  Where can our readers go if they want to purchase your new music or/and find out more about you? 

You can find me on Twitter @LWoodsMusic  or my page on facebook as well. You can also find me through  my websitewww.lesliewoodsmusic.com or www.inov8music.com where you can read my bio and also purchase my music. I'm also available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Amazon, etc.

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