For as long as she can remember, music has always been a part of Katy Weirich's life. 

"Singing and playing the piano was something that I kinda started pretty intensely at around twelve. I always was singing as a little kid, but I remember around twelve, that was when I started to figure out chords on the piano and started to sing and accompany myself for the first time," said Katy.

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Weirich went on to attend the Bower School of Music at Florida Gulf Coast University majoring in Music Education, and this is when her life started to take a downward spiral.

"In college, I battled some serve anxiety issues. I started having panic attacks. I didn't know that's what was happening," Katy explained. "It was super strange. I ended up becoming super depressed. Finally, I was diagnosed with clinical anxiety and depression."

Once her symptoms were under control, Weirich found her voice again, learning to love music and performing more than ever.

After completing college, Katy ended up marrying her high school sweetheart. A short time later they became pregnant with their first child, and Weirich decided to put her music career on hold temporarily to focus on motherhood.

After the birth, Weirich’s previous battle with anxiety manifested once again with a bout of postpartum depression. “It was a whole new level of anything I’d dealt with up to that point,” Weirich shares.

Once she recovered, she got back to her music, but before long, she became pregnant with her second child. After her second daughter was born, she says she was at the lowest point in her life.

"I had postpartum anxiety and depression. It was severe after the second time," said Weirich. "It was debilitating. I was collapsing. My husband had to take six weeks off work to stay home with me."

Ultimately, she says it was those dark periods battling postpartum depression that inspired the songs for her new EP, Out of the Blue.

"It was out of that time where I met the Lord in a way that I hadn't before because it was very, very dark and I was very very frail. Coming out of that, I was somehow blessed with these songs that I was able to write and that I am hopefully going to release in the next couple of months."

Weirich says she hopes that the music that came out of that season will help others who may be struggling.

Filled with both comfort and adoration, Out of the Blue is a testimony to God’s faithfulness, a beautiful and inspired collection of scripture-filled praise. The project is set for release in 2022.

Today on Connections, Katy talks about her mental health struggles and the road to recovery. She also chats with us about her EP, Out of the Blue.