Track 1: The Architect of Redemption:
I used to think my story disqualified me
Now I know it was the whole point
Verse 1:
Twenty years old and I thought I had it figured
Chasing everything that glittered
Calling destruction ambition
Calling shortcuts survival
Called myself grown
But I was just a girl
Running from the woman
I was too afraid to become
Two years building something
On a foundation made of lies
Then the marshals said
Excuse me ma’am
And I watched my whole life
Crumble before my eyes
Pre-Chorus:
Handcuffed on an airplane
Processed like I wasn’t human
And somewhere over nothing
A stranger leaned down and told me
This isn’t the end of your story
I wanted to believe him
I just didn’t know
How long the road was
Between that moment
And actually living like it was true
Chorus:
This is my life
Every broken piece of it
Every wrong turn
Every time I ran
This is my life
I’m not hiding anymore
Not behind the performance
Not behind the plan
I am the architect
Of my own redemption
I didn’t come here perfect
I came here real
This is my life
And I’m finally ready
To let you see
How it feels
Verse 2:
Fourteen months in Marianna
Made my bed with military corners
Learned that discipline in small things
Builds the foundation for the large
Got my GED in a prison camp
While the O.J. trial played on television
Wondered who I was going to be
When they finally let me go
Came out and built it
Thirty years of building
But I buried something deep
The girl who ran
The girl who hid behind a name
The girl so full of shame
She couldn’t let you see her
Even when she was winning
Pre-Chorus:
I performed success so perfectly
Nobody looked close enough to find her
But she was always there
Underneath the CEO
Underneath the frameworks
Underneath the business
Underneath the marriage
Waiting for the moment
I’d be brave enough
To finally let her breathe
Chorus:
This is my life
Every broken piece of it
Every wrong turn
Every time I ran
This is my life
I’m not hiding anymore
Not behind the performance
Not behind the plan
I am the architect
Of my own redemption
I didn’t come here perfect
I came here real
This is my life
And I’m finally ready
To let you see
How it feels
Bridge
The divorce woke me up
But it wasn’t the real story
The real story started
In a hotel lobby in my twenties
When I felt the handcuffs
And something in me knew
Every lie I ever told myself
Was over
I spent thirty years
Building success on top of shame
Thinking if I stacked enough wins
Nobody would ever find
The girl who called herself Natalie
The girl who ran
The girl who thought
Her past made her
Unqualified for purpose
But that girl
Was the whole blueprint
She was the reason
For all of it
I had to go back and get her
Before I could build anything
That actually lasts
Final Chorus
This is my life
Federal conviction
And a Fellowship of women rising
This is my life
Prison camp to boardroom
This is my life
Natalie to Leslie
Running to building
Hiding to here
I am the architect
Of my own redemption
I didn’t come here perfect
I came here real
This is my life
All of it
Every chapter
Every scar
Every season
Mine
And I’m not hiding
Anymore
Outro
This is my life
I’m not ashamed anymore
This is my life
All of it was preparation
Every fall
Every chapter
Every year I ran
This is my life
And I’m finally home
