At the beginning of the year, Mickey Rosenfeld and his band Stronghold got some great news – they were nominated for Contemporary Artist of the Year at the Independent Artists Summit in Franklin, Tenn.

The band is ending the year on an equally high note – earning a Top-10 hit on the largest Web-based Christian music site, as well as landing local airplay on WGPS 88.3 and its affiliate stations.

“It’s been a terrific year,” Rosenfeld said. “You don’t see it until you get to the end of it, but we just learned to be patient, and a lot of things came through.”

Rosenfeld’s latest single, “Sweet Breath of Life,” is a Christmas tune released specifically for the holiday season.

This past spring, Rosenfeld was listening to the radio, when he heard some words and phrases that instantly resonated with him.

“I can’t even tell you what the song was now,” he said, “but after I heard it, I flew down the stairs and wrote the whole song out for ‘Sweet Breath of Life.’”

Writing the music for the lyrics took a little longer, however.

Over the course of two months, Rosenfeld played around with different sounds and different keys until he got it right.

“It was like, well, I got this beautiful song…but no music,” he said. “I just kept playing with it, and finally I hit on a very nice chord progression and worked the melody into it.”

After recording his new song, Rosenfeld uploaded it to IndieHeaven.com, a leading organization that supports more than 800 active independent artists.

Less than a month after Rosenfeld uploaded the song, the single jumped from an entry point #142 on the charts to #7.

That exposure led to the song being picked up for rotation by local station WGPS 88.3. Rosenfeld said he already has received a lot of feedback about the song.

“It’s a very pertinent message for the season,” he said. “It’s just Scripture come to music come to life. It’s gotten a lot of excellent comments. I’ve had a couple of people call me and say, ‘Oh I heard your song on the radio, we loved it.’”

Rosenfeld said he and the band are “elated” with the opportunities that have come this year, and they are thrilled to be able to share their ministry with more people. On Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, Stronghold was booked for performances, and Rosenfeld said they are just patiently waiting for what next year holds.

“Sweet Breath of Life” is available for download at Stronghold’s page on the IndieHeaven.com Web site.