Reviewed by Toby Fournier

Another beautifully crafted song by the Nashville-based songsmith you'll be hearing on Cross Rhythms in the coming months. "Missing Peace" was inspired by the battle her friend Joy went through prior to the birth of her son after being told by doctors that the child was unlikely to survive to term, and if he did, would be born with defects. A lonely but persistent piano opens the record and JJ sings from Joy's perspective: "Feels like my prayers are/Bouncing off the ceiling tiles/Like a helium balloon/I can't close the distance, between the way I feel/And what I know is true." The rhythm track is absent until the middle of the song and is all the more effective for it. Strings give us the tension in the story: "I'm tired of waiting, but I'm afraid of how it's gonna end/So I'm stuck here in between/Bracing for bad news, and hoping for a miracle/While I'm fighting to believe." The miracle of the story is that, to the astonishment of the assembled medical personnel, Joy's son, Webb Isaiah Prouty, was born completely healthy. God was the "Missing Peace." Beautiful.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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