Singing again

Christmas of 2007, my dad kept saying that for Christmas morning, we (mom, my brother, and I) all had to get up and eat breakfast together, and that he just wanted it to be us (not Michael or Amanda there too) because he had something special planned. So that morning, we spent time together as a family that will forever been engraved in my heart. Dad had prepared a written letter to both Alan and I just telling us how much he loved us and encouraging us to fulfill God's will in our lives. He also had created a CD for each of us with Christian songs that reminded him of us, or that were his prayer for our lives. In our letter, he stated what each song meant to him and why he included that on our CD.

I say all of that to say this.....I have kept that letter in my bible since then, and have read it from time to time when feeling down or whatever. Well, I read it this past weekend, as I stumbled upon it, and pretty much the only thing I read was this:

"He (God) also gave you a love for music and singing. You need to continue to use these God given talents and blessings to point others to Christ."

Didn't think that much about it that day, except "yeah, I haven't sang in a really long time..."

So Sunday and Monday came and went....Tuesday gets here, and when I get home from work, there is a strange car in my parking spot, and when I walk in the door to our home, there are strange people sitting on my couch! Of course Michael was there talking with them....it was people from Calera Baptist, the church we've been visiting for quite some time now.

So we chit chat and talk about a bunch of random things, and as they're leaving somehow the subject of choir comes up, and of course Michael says that I like to sing. So I got the time that practice starts at church and that was that.

Wednesday comes.....I'm sitting at a visit with one of my clients, and her adorable 6 year old girl is pretending to listen to music through some headphones. Her mother says for her to go sing, and to put on a show for us. Then the mom tells her that if you are too shy and don't use the gift that God has given you, then He will take it away. She then said that she used to sing all the time as a kid in church, and that she quit because she got scared one Sunday and never sang again.

That didn't hit me then, but later on I was thinking about how it seems like God has been telling me all week to SING!!!!! And not just sing in my car with the windows rolled down and the radio blasting!

So I had pretty much one of the longest, busiest days EVER yesterday (including my visit with the lady mentioned above) and thought all day that if I wasn't tired by the end of the day that I would go to church/choir. Well, my 5:30 visit rolls around and I have more energy that I have in a LONG time!!! Went to that visit, and still felt great...and I even wore heels yesterday! lol!

So long story short.....I went to church, then choir was afterwards. It was great! We're working on the Christmas musical and I must say, it's only been about 5 years since I've sang in a choir, so I'm having to readjust! But everybody was SO SO SO nice!

The moral of the story is......use the gifts God gave you.....remember the good ol' times at Christmas.....and SING SING SING!!!