There are no wasted characters in Jenny Youngman's "The Girl with Good Intentions."  On this record you will meet Mrs. Preacher who tries to keep appearance in front of her hubby's church. Dressed impeccably with matching pressed outfits for her kids, she tries to be prim and proper regardless of what she's feeling inside.  You will get to meet the over fatigue Mom struggling to keep her head up in the midst of dirty laundry, a messy home and rebellious kids.  You will get to be invited to the thought world of a girl as she is exposed to the ads of charities asking for money.  Listening to the ten songs on Youngman's sophomore album is like reading someone's personal blog.  Her stories chronicle in such ways that will get you engrossed.  Her characters are so three dimensional that you can't help but identify.  And undergirding these narratives are sublime issues we need to unpack in our own systems of thought: why on earth do we give to charities?  How do we balance between work and grace in our daily lives?  How do we strike a balance between keeping appearances as well as being authentic when we are placed in leadership?  In these regards, "The Girl with Good Intentions" is an important album: it gets our minds, hearts and ears all working conterminously.

Stylistically, the music of Nashville-based Youngman falls within the pop/folk singer-song writer genre.  Like Sara Groves, Ginny Owens and Shawn Colvin, Youngman writes with intelligence, wit and large doses of the heart.  On album opener "Half of It," she has a way of melding the 90s pop style of Colvin's "Sunny Came Home" days with questions all of us have wrestled with at one point or another:  do our existence really matter?   For those of us who are lounge chair Christians never lifting a finger to help the billions of our fellow human beings in need, the title track "Girl with Good Intentions" slaps us right across the face.  Being an artist-partner with International Justice Mission that fights against human trafficking, Youngman challenges us to get beyond good intentions and actually make a change in this world for the sake of Christ.  Youngman continues to push the envelope of our comfort zone with the beat ballad "To Be Brave."  While it is our natural inclination to teach our children to be safe, God challenges us to do the opposite.  We are called not to be safe, but to die.... We are to die for Christ.

"The Preacher's Wife," one of the album's most interesting tracks, is somehow autobiographical. Youngman is also married to a pastor; here she details some of the pressures churches have unduly placed on the behaviour of the pastor's spouse.  Though some of the details such as the pastor's wife needs to press her own clothes and make sure her kids are well groomed may bring a chuckle, it actually spells out an important issue we have to deal with.  Is there room for authenticity and vulnerability for those of us in leadership?  With 80s sounding Police drum line, "Grace Enough" speaks directly to moms  who struggle with guilt trying to live out their calling with faithfulness in the face of all the demands of home.  Corollary to the motherly theme of "Grace Enough" is the "The Places You Will Go."  This beautifully crafted ballad is a prayer of release as Youngman encourages all moms to give their children into the hands of our heavenly Father.  This is a must-hear track for every parent.

Youngman never fails to surprise us:  the album ends with the piano-backed hymn "I'll Praise My Maker."  Instead of hyping up this hymn with modern sensibilities, Youngman has kept her rendition simple and straightforward bringing out the reverence and beauty of this chestnut.  Listening to Youngman's "Girl with Good Intentions" is like staring into a well.  Though we see the ripples of the characters' struggles, fears, faith and hope, we also see ourselves.  Just like the protagonists of these songs, we too have to deal with raising children, dealing with global poverty and injustice, being overwhelmed by stress, searching for life's meaning and so forth.  Through these songs, Youngman struggles with us.   She shows us what the deeper issues are and how we are to cope.  But most importantly she brings us to the feet of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ pleading for his grace and mercy.