We Have Our Savior!

Our music minister, Josh, picked the most perfectly beautiful Christmas program for us this year.  Oh my goodness, almost every song brought me to tears from the very begining.  It was like a great worship service every time we practiced and especially as excitement grew for our Mission Tour on the 10th!  Since Josh came to be our music minister last January, we are so much more than just a choir!  We are a mission group who go out of our comfortable church home and into God's world to spread the Good News and share Jesus and love with the world around us!  He and his family are such a blessing to me and our church.  On the 10th we loaded up and went to Franklin Tn to perform our Christmas Program at Dickens of a Christmas, a street Festival.  We had a wonderful crowd gather around as we proclaimed the Glory of Christ!  There were many people worshiping in the crowd as we sang it was so great to be outside singing to the Lord, what a powerful worship service it was.  After leaving Franklin we headed to Cool Springs Mall to eat an early dinner before heading on to the Nashville Rescue Mission.  I was to give my testimony at the Rescue Mission and I was nervous but had been praying for courage.  I was excited to be given the opportunity because I had been praying for God to continue to use my cancer for His glory.  As we walked around the mall after having walked around at Franklin, I grew very tired, very exhausted.  My legs and feet wanted to give out and I didn't know how I was going to go on for the rest of the trip.  I was fighting back the tears as I prayed to the Lord to rebuke the devil because I knew he was attacking me trying to keep me form giving God his rightful Glory for my testimony.  I rested as much as I could on the way to the Rescue Mission and continued to pray.  When we arrived, I was awe of the paintings and scripture on the wall of the foyer to the chapel.  We met with the volunteer coordinator, Matthew, who shared a little about the Rescue Mission and about himself too.  He was once a client there, and after many church services he didn't want to go to, he finally responded to the call of Jesus, now he works there!  We were split into groups and I went to the dining area while Taylor, Rae and Jim went to put packages together for the men.  I had caught my second breath and was feeling much better to be able to serve the men and go around talking to them and taking their trays as they finished their meal.  I was so touched by the stories I heard, and blessed by the kindness and appreciation they had for us coming to be with them and perform our program for them. One of the men prayed for me and my health before he even knew that I'd had cancer.  I was in tears again as he prayed a very long prayer getting off track sometimes but always coming back to healing me of any sickness, taking care of me and my body.  He was such a joy.  As we performed our program we were so blessed to see many of the men worshiping freely raising their hands in praise to the Lord!  As we sang the song before I was to go down to speak, I began to get sick again, my heart was racing so badly, I was hot and sweating and felt like I might just pass out, my stomach was a mess and I prayed.  I didn't know how I was going to stand up there in front of all these men, much less speak.  But as Josh introduced me, a calmness washed over me and as I began to speak it was like I was just talking to a friend.  God took over, and as Josh says, He showed up and showed out! I will never forget the evening I got to spend serving the Lord with my family and my choir family.  It was the best Christmas celebration ever!