“EVERYBODY is creative, it’s in our spiritual DNA!”

Brenda DeKeyzer Lowry is passionate about the Creator’s gifts to his people, and our need to express and use them. She quotes St. Paul in 2 Corinthians when he refers to the Gifts of the Spirit.

“We all have been given gifts of the spirit. We need to use them, it is our nature. If we try to hold back, we’re miserable,” she said.

And express them, she has. This self-described ‘Samaritan Woman’ is musician, singer, songwriter, playwright, artist, actor, blogger. She’s made a spiritual journey paved with the urge to create.

Lowry began her life in rural Iberia Parish, was raised in a loving Catholic family who encouraged her creative talents. “When I was little, I wanted to be an opera singer. I told my mom, and she said, ‘Then you’ll have to learn to play an instrument.’ I was in dancing school at the time, and I told her I wanted to take piano. She told me it was one or the other, and I didn’t hesitate. I quit dancing and started piano.”

As a young girl, Lowry noticed the magic in nature, the orderly flow of seasons, the beauty and complexity of the universe. “The ‘magic’ is otherworldly — the divine force of God. All this beauty and intricate design did not come from ‘nowhere,’” she reasoned She tried to make sense of the conflicting theories of creationism vs. evolution. “This was another thing I remember asking my mom … did God create the world in seven days?? My mom just smiled and said, ‘Well, Bren, how long is a day?’”

Lowry graduated from Loyola University, and her liberal arts education encouraged more reflection on matters of faith. After college, she returned to her childhood community, She married, and when pregnant with her first child, Ian, she found what she calls her New Iberia church family at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. She says it was familiar to her, and the Book of Common Prayer spoke to her. She recalls words of advice from The Rev. Howard Blessing. When she told her about her transition into Epiphany’s congregation, he wisely told her, “Go where you are fed.”

While she dabbled in art, acting and other creative pursuits, music and singing did not really manifest in her life until attending an Acadiana Symphony concert — she spied an ad for the Symphony Conservatory offering voice lessons. She jumped at it, and started earnestly developing her instrument. Soon she began writing songs and singing, developing the Women at the Well, which she describes as a musical meditation, a collection of songs about the women who followed Jesus.

“They’re the story of how each encountered Jesus, and how they were changed,” she said. She has performed this program both locally and nationally, with her musical partner, Joshua Murrell, as B & B on the Rock.

After Women at the Well, Lowry started going to Blues Jams, and shortly she and Joshua formed a band with Gerald and Buddy Romero called Blue Merlot. Lowry wrote songs, sang lead and played guitar. Blue Merlot released a self-titled album in 2006, but there were dark days ahead. Sadly, the group broke up after the demise of both Romero brothers. And then, in 2014, Lowry lost the hearing in her left ear.

“I thought it was just another ear infection, my ear was not working and the hearing never came back. It was a long dark night for a while,” She prayed and learned to adapt, grateful to find a way to continue her musical journey.

Lowry and Murrell continue to perform together, in both liturgical and secular settings. Lowry, however, has found several other outlets for her boundless creativity. A few years ago, she began crocheting shawls. “It’s cheaper than therapy, and I just love making pretty things,” she said. Each shawl is meditation, and there is an intention woven into each one. “It’s a little prayer, sometimes for a specific person, sometimes for whoever,” says Lowry.

She has given them away as prayer shawls, and interested buyers can usually find her at the Shadows Arts & Crafts fest twice a year, or if you are lucky enough to be her friend, she may give you one to keep for your own.

Lowry, Regent of the New Iberia Daughters of the American Revolution, recently wrote a one-woman play based on her Revolutionary ancestors which garnered third place in the DAR American Heritage Award Contest. The work gives a woman’s perspective on her husband going off to war, leaving her to raise children and keep house alone.

She is also an avid blogger, readers can find her blog, A Samaritan Woman, Meanderings and Musings on & off a Spiritual Path at asamaritanwoman.com.

She says, “Sometimes they come up to me and ask how to make it singing. These are the rules I tell them:

Don’t smoke. Stop if you do, and don’t start if you don’t.

Take voice lessons.

Learn an instrument. Learn how to read music.

I think I disappoint them, like I was going to tell them how to get on “American Idol.’”