Hope Darst Announces the Release of Her New EP on Nov. 4

Fair Trade Services artist and songwriter Hope Darst will be releasing her much anticipated new EP If the Lord Builds the House on November 4. The new EP has been preceded by her latest radio single and the record's title cut "If the Lord Builds the House."

Darst announces, "I know you've waited a long time for me to put out a new project and I'm so grateful you are still here supporting me and this music. This project was a labor of love and one that didn't come easy. There where many days I thought this would never happen, but I kept sending God ask me to keep coming back to Him and ask Him for what I didn't have and couldn't create on my own.

"It wasn't easy, but let me tell you, this project and these songs are a testimony to God showing up and providing what I didn't have for a long time! I can't wait for you to hear them. I hope they remind you that God is Faithful, He never leaves you, He has what you need, and He deserves the Glory."

Darst has also revealed the cover of the EP where she is donned by a special quilt. "My late grandmother Marie Owen handmade a quilt for me and each of my siblings. This one was mine and it was really special to me to use it on this cover and throughout the project. Love you, Granny!" 

Growing up in Kentucky a pastor's kid, Darst began singing infront of the church before she could tie her own shoes. But by nineteen, she'd become emotionally and spiritually lost. Leaving college in Louisiana for Nashville to seek solace with friends, Darst found Jesus in an unexpected church service. Her entire countenance illuminates when she describes her life-altering encounter with the Lord. "I wasn't in a good place at that point in my life," she shares.

"I didn't understand freedom in Christ and was struggling with a lack of identity. I was looking for value in everything but God. At that church service in Nashville, I encountered God in a radical way, and experienced healing and freedom for the first time.I've never looked back since that day."

Darst decided Nashville was the place for her and, because of her musical background and gift for singing, believed the natural path for her life was to become an artist. God had other plans. After years of false starts and "almosts"-touring as a background vocalist, working in the music industry, singing on other people's records --- Darst felt God telling her to lay down the dream of being an artist.

It wasn't until her late thirties, nearly fifteen years later, her debut album Peace Be Still began to take shape. Those fifteen years were filled with the high highs of leading worship for her home church, traveling the world doing ministry, writing songs with fellow worship team members,as well as the low lows of struggling with infertility, post-partum depression, her parents' divorce and ultimately, crippling anxiety.

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