I have no idea how many parts this will end up having,
because there are quite a few miracles about which I could write. It recently occurred
to me that I have been entirely too quiet regarding testifying about the
miracles that I experienced along the journey of recording Hope Beyond Hope. And
when I read about an accident in Texas today along an interstate in which there was a 140 car pileup, that pretty much primed the pump for me. My heart goes
out to those who were in the middle of that horrible accident. It was less than
a year ago that God saved me from a 41 car pileup along an interstate on which
I was traveling -- the very interstate that was a large part of my journey
toward recording Hope Beyond Hope. More on that miracle later. That being said,
Thanksgiving Day is a good day to express thanks to God for all the miracles He
does for us, many of which we really don’t think about during the rest of the
year because they aren’t necessarily as dramatic as being saved from a
multi-car pileup.
I’ve been so focused on walking out the experience of recording Hope Beyond
Hope that I really hadn’t had the opportunity to process the multitude of miracles
that came with it. Now that the production process is pretty much over and I’m
paused as I wait for the next fluffy of activity, the realization of those
miracles is beginning to take a hold of me.
There have been miracles surrounding being in the right place at the right
time, financial miracles, miracles related to my car, travel miracles, divine appointments,
divine protection, and probably even more than that. As I mine my memory and
consider all these, it’s overwhelming to me
and I’m the one who walked through it all! I will also say that I had and have
an amazing little group of intercessors who have been very generous and
faithful regarding keeping me covered. God doesn’t need “many” to get His work
done – just a few who are dedicated.
There are two main reasons that I even ended up considering recording Hope Beyond
Hope. And I hope no one minds if I get real about this: one is because of a
crummy economy that had cut into my opportunities as a freelance writer. The other
reason was because of the persistent encouragement of a Christian friend of
mine, Mia, who is also a music mentor to me.
I ended up finding out about my label, Tate Music Group (TMG), through a
Christian organization called Actors Models and Talent for Christ (AMTC). I
heard a commercial about them on the radio, and after asking lots of questions
and putting the matter before the Lord in prayer, felt led to participate in
seminars that led up to a convention where actors, models, singers, singer-songwriters,
dancers and others who want to pursue the arts as a vocation get to have a
week-long opportunity to connect with entertainment industry professionals.
I’d say my first miracle in connection to all of this happened before I even
went to my first seminar. Seminars require money. Money was something I didn’t
have. So I began to pray that if the Lord wanted me to do this, that He’d
deliver the cash into my hands. The way that He chose to respond to that was to
provide me with a temporary job outside of my freelance writing. Though I wasn’t
crazy about the type of work it involved, the purpose that He had set before me
fueled my determination to endure a kind of race that I knew He had set before
me.
Carrying that thought out a bit further, training to compete in your favorite
sport can be grueling. So can practicing to master your primary instrument. So
I tried to look at this as a part of my preparation for where He was leading.
And honestly, there were some days when I did better with that than others.
Another drawback to this temporary job was that it wasn’t the best paying
position in the world. This meant that sacrifice was required on my part to get
where God was taking me. Between covering the bills and payments for the
seminars, there was little if anything left at the end of my paycheck. Things
like car repairs would sometimes get neglected.
I had an issue with my car axel crop up only days before I needed to leave town
for one of the seminars and the drive was about a two hour drive one way. I was
probably on the edge of testing the Lord, but I opted to make the drive anyway
in spite of the warnings of a couple of auto technicians.
I couldn’t see any other means to get to the seminar, so I prayed and asked God
to step in and help me and also asked every friend I had who was an intercessor
to pray for me for travel mercies. There was also a lot that I didn’t reveal…until
I got home. I am walking proof that God protects fools and little children. Incidentally, when I finally got the axel fixed,
it was certainly a testimony to an entire building of auto technicians – and I
really didn’t even have to say anything.
Switching gears a bit, something that God used to help prepare me for the convention
was a karaoke competition. I found out about it through a friend of mine. A restaurant
that had just opened near me was apparently doing it as a part of building up
their base of patrons.
This was a rather unusual competition in that the owner of the establishment
picked the songs for you and if you wore a costume, you would get extra points
with the judges. Since there were three rounds to every evening of competition,
there was usually just enough time to change costumes in between each song. I
was put in a position whereby I had to break out of the genres that I was used
to singing, and sometimes even think outside the box if I was going to stand
for what I believe and keep things focused toward positive values and still be entertaining.
This was a positive growth experience for me, and I was pleasantly surprised to
find that there were several fellow Christians who were a part of it too. We were often the catalysts that God used for
keeping things truly positive values and still entertaining.
I see this as a miracle from several angles: the way that this particular
competition was designed was not too far off of the pattern that was used for
the convention; I was given the opportunity to apply what I was learning through
AMTC and through each seminar before I ever went to the convention; I was
challenged to prepare on a weekly basis. In some ways, the competition was more
rigorous than the convention, so I felt very prepared not only because of the
seminars, but also because of the karaoke competition. Not only was it a
miracle of right timing in terms of the opportunity to participate, but also of
preparation for where I was being led by God’s Holy Spirit.
The convention was being held in Florida, and since I love long road trips and
hate what’s going on with the airline industry, I planned to get a rental car
and drive. God miraculously provided the travel expenses that I needed, and the
fact that I was driving to Florida in January seemed like a plus. No snow for
me! Visions of enjoying the hotel hot tub in between seminars that would be
provided at the convention and opportunities to showcase my music were dancing
in my head. Nevertheless, I had never driven that far before, and since I was
anticipating a 15 hour drive one way, I wanted the covering of my faithful
prayer warrior friends. I have no doubt that such a move is why I experienced
the miracle that I did in the midst of a 41 car pileup on the way to the
convention – an amazing miracle that will be detailed in my next post.
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