​For 24-year-old Anna Golden, the road to becoming a recording artist was anything but a predictable path from the church pew to the sanctuary stage. By her early teens, Anna had spent the majority of her childhood in LA audition rooms, landing a manager before she could drive and earning consistent work with Radio Disney and others!

"At 15, I remember having a moment with my parents where I told them the attention was too much pressure for me,” she shared. That honest confession changed the focus of Anna’s career and led her to her true passionworship ministry. “I loved leading worship because none of the attention was on me. All the glory is directed to God!”

While Anna and her siblings were growing up, their parents led worship so they were always singing and writing worship songs. Her father, a chiropractor, only played worship videos in his office where Anna was a frequent visitor. “I remember just sitting there watching videos and seeing Michael W. Smith lead worship from the piano, and I loved it so much!”

Anna Golden’s love for playing and listening to worship were set, but it would take an unexpected encounter with God to nudge her toward leading worship in the local church. But now, Anna's passion for Jesus is being shared with the world! Her debut project, Peace: The Album, releases THIS FRIDAY LADIES!!!

Isn't she amazing?!?! And here at Milk & Honey Magazine, we are lucky enough to have an exclusive article written by sweet Anna!

"You Were There" by Anna Golden

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, You are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, You are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalms 139: 7-10

I remember hearing this scripture in Sunday school when I was just a little kid. It was portrayed in a way that Jesus is always watching you under a microscope following your every move…this idea that Jesus is waiting for you to slip up or to fail keeping a tab to see if you are being a good Christian or not. 

It wasn’t until I got older and actually started to know the heart of God that this verse took on a whole new meaning to me. Like most of us, I’ve experienced some trauma that quite honestly, I didn’t know if I could bounce back from it. A few years back, I had pretty much lost everyone close to me. No best friends, no more boyfriend. I was away from family and it was literally just me. I started to really despise who I was. I thought I wasn’t worth anyone’s time, honesty, or loyalty. I saw myself as this damaged person. I remember having this mental image in my head of me and everyone who had walked out of my life in one room. One by one they all started to get up and leave. I was so overwhelmed by this visual that I just hung my head and cried. Finally, when I knew everyone had left the room I looked up, and to my surprise, I saw Jesus. He was standing by Himself in the corner of the room - looking right at me. His face was soft and full of kindness. 

“If I make my bed in the depths, You are there.” He’s there, never to remind us of what we did to end up in the scenario we might find ourselves in, but to show us that despite everyone walking out, He’ll stay. When rumors are spread about you and everyone is looking at you side eyed, He is proud to be seen with you. When you fall to your worst and you do all things you swore you would never do, He’s not shocked. He’s there.

The presence of God is the only consistent thing in all of our lives. He’s always there.

Follow @AnnaGoldenMusic on Instagram!