Messages, Questions and Answers...and Actions.

I was sent a YouTube video today that was extraordinary. I listened and was moved immediately to tears. I forwarded it to several friends and kept feeling the need to listen to it as the day went on. The video featured a minister and gospel performer by the name of Wintley Phipps...and I was compelled to hear more, so I scanned through YouTube looking for more video and "googled" him to read info.
One of the videos posted was his rendition of "It Is Well With My Soul." I have always loved that song...I love singing it, I love hearing it and I especially love it's message. So, I was drawn to it immediately. However, there was a message for me...a strong one, that came just before Wintley Phipps started to sing. He said something that made an immediate impact...it touched my soul and again, I was in tears. I considered how I was so impacted by these songs and I started to think about the methods God uses to touch us all when He needs a conduit.
As a performer, I am always very humbled, a little embarrassed and many other feelings all combined when I get an email or someone tells me in person that songs I have written or my versions of a song have "touched" them. I do feel the connections that people speak of, I am always grateful and I always thank God for giving me the opportunity to touch someone in some way, if for no other reason than to be entertained for a while and take a break from reality.
I was given an extraordinary gift from a friend a couple of days ago. I sang at her mother's memorial service and knew as soon as the service started that there was a message for me and a reason I was there as well. However, I received a beautiful card and the gift of two stunning dolls that my friend's mother had made. I hardly knew how to accept them. I felt in my heart that I hadn't "earned" the privilege of having them. I knew there are grandchildren, other family members or friends who might have wanted these dolls, as there will be no more of them. Yet, I saw the importance to my friend to be able to share this part of her mother with me.
I have studied the dolls for the past couple of days. I have reflected on how one action begets another and another and another. I was supposed to sing one song, but in the midst of the service, I felt led to sing two songs. It was totally out of character for me to do something like that, but I went with it and am glad I did. Someone was touched...and that was conveyed to me. I was glad I followed my feelings.
Life has been confusing of late. Many things I thought to be real and true in terms or life, friends and people in general have served only to be disappointing at best. I have struggled with that because I genuinely want to see and believe the best in everybody...and especially people I think I know well. I know God works in mysterious ways, yet what's most shocking is when God works right before your very eyes. It's hard to believe, again, in terms of what you're seeing and feeling, yet you know it's real. God wants us to listen and we when we do, we find His peace is so many ways. Letting go gives Him a chance to comfort, to uphold, to strengthen and to encourage...even when we feel there is no comfort, strength or encouragement to be found.
When we are fearful, we tend to retreat...all of us do. I feel confident saying that straight across the board. Yet, facing fears, as scary as it seems, allows us to step past our own boundaries and see beyond the scope of a scary landscape. We can move ahead of what we fear and be open to what God wants to show us.
I was honored to be there for my friend and her family and humbled to have been able to help comfort them in some small way. (one action) Another friend sends a YouTube video, having no idea how much it would be both needed and touching for me today. (begets another action). I start digging for more songs and hear a message that not only applies to me, but I knew of others who certainly could use a boost...so, I sent the videos to them too. (begets another action and another and another)
The quote before the song started is this:
"It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and God's greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through." -Wintley Phipps
In my case, the statement (or lead in) that was said before Reverend Phipps began singing was what I was meant to find...I'm glad I found it.
Once upon a time, I might have said it's "funny" how things work out. I don't think like that anymore. I know that even the smallest of seemingly benign events can have an especially deep and timely meaning for someone else.
God has allowed me to be on both sides of the fence this week. I have been able to reach out to someone in their time of need and offer comfort...and in turn, my friend sent a video, and I received more comfort and support than he could know...which in turn I was able to share once again.
Life is about helping...when you have that funny little feeling that you "should" do something...go for it. You never know when YOU are the conduit that God needs to get a special or needed message to someone. When we all help each other in that way, we are all so very, very blessed.
Wintley Phipps said something that God wants us to know. I know I won't soon forget it...and will spread this message far and wide. Reverend Phipps reminded me that "it is well in my soul."

"It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and God's greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through." -Wintley Phipps

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