Reflections

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I am so thankful that God has brought you into my life! When I go to moderate your comment, I pray for you. I've said this so many times, but I'm so overwhelmed at the sisterhood and friendship that God has orchestrated through the land of blog.

Yesterday, Freedom's Call sang at one of Atlanta's housing developments. They were having a Birthday Party for Jesus. There were several hundred children plus a couple hundred adults there to party with us. We sang and the Karate demonstration team from our church presented an incredible display of bodily strength, but more importantly, the plan of salvation. I'm still in awe that God allowed us to be involved. The faces of those children are forever engraved on my heart.

After we sang, we made our way back to the back of the gym to watch the Karate team. I stood next to a very young girl holding her new little baby boy. He was beautiful. That caramel skin and his hair, oh that silky, dark curly hair this little boy was precious. I would say that he was less than a month old. His mommy looked tired, more than the new mommy tired. She was exhausted. Life appeared to be very hard. I can't get their faces out of my mind.

Friday, as I read my daily Proverb, God placed two verses on my heart.

Prov. 14:20 "The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends."

Prov. 14:31 "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God."

I journaled and asked God to help me to honor Him. While I was never afraid to go into this area, I was so nervous about saying the wrong thing. It's one thing to minister to a group of Bible carrying, sweet smelling, Jesus loving women sitting in a clean comfortable facility. It's another to stand before people who probably don't own a Bible, physically don't smell that great and the part that grieves me most, some of those precious people don't believe Jesus really loves them. It was hard, until....

We started singing and the sweetest group of ladies in the audience started singing with us. And I mean, SINGING. (I think someone told me these ladies are praying for a generation of change, they are the core group of Bible study and they want to see Jesus move in that development.) They engaged in worship, their whole body engaged in worship and it so ministered to me. Thank you Jesus for letting me see that. Oh, and the children! They swayed to the music, sang along when they knew the words and smiled at us. I kept looking into that sea of big brown eyes, thinking of what God could do if just 10 of them were sold out to Him. Saturday morning He gave me Galatians 2:6 "God does not judge by external appearance." I asked Him to help me see these children with His eyes, and He did. When we were singing "Who Could Imagine a King?" I felt Him tugging on my heart "that one, she's going to lead Bible study. and that one, he's going to be a teacher..that one will preach, that one will succeed in business..." It was overwhelming. I walked out of there so thankful that God trusted us enough to send us there.

By the time I got home, I was mentally exhausted. (it doesn't take much!) But God had so orchestrated Saturday December 15, 2007 for me. Chad had given me tickets (have I mentioned they were on the 3rd row?) to see my all time favorite artist: Jim Brickman.

We drove, in the rain praise the Lord, to the new Cobb Energy Center, checked our coats and made our way to our seats. (ON THE 3RD ROW! Oh, sorry I already said that.)
To be honest as we sat in this beautiful new hall, in our "dress up" clothes I teared up. I had seen extreme poverty just a few miles from where I was sitting just 8 hours earlier. Here I sat warm, dry, fed and ready to enjoy a couple of hours of quality time with my husband. That's when it happened. The lights went down, Jim took the bench and played "Joy to the World". The very song we started our concert with earlier that morning. God spoke to my heart, "Let me fill you back up. I've got great plans for tonight."

He used each musician at different points to speak things to me. Once again, I left ready to pull an all nighter and write away. It was incredible. I want to share some of the cool things that were said, but I'm still processing them!

I will tell you that, our seats (on the 3rd row) were close enough to see Jim's socks. Oh yes they were. AND I could see Ann's great shoes. They were stunning. BUT the coolest was being close enough to make eye contact and see the passion each one holds for music.

Chad, thank you for suffering through this once again.:)

All week, in my prayer time, God kept bringing back lyrics to a song I wrote a couple of years ago called "What Will You Give". I'm going to post them here. I hope they encourage you to ask God what you can do for someone in need.

WHAT WILL YOU GIVE

An aspirin for a headache, or a band aid for a knee.
Little things we take for granted can be the biggest need.
How can we be so blessed and keep it to ourselves,
When Jesus told us go, go tell.


Till the last person’s told,
We have to go, go and tell them who Jesus is.
Will your heart be generous, with what He’s blessed you with.
A dying soul is waiting to hear.
What will you give.



It’s just a cup of water, or a piece of bread,
But given in Jesus’ name brings life instead of death.
Its shoes for an orphan or a coat for the cold.
God will take the gift and heal the wounded soul.

Till the last person’s told,
We have to go, go and tell them who Jesus is.
Will your heart be generous, with what He’s blessed you with.
A dying soul is waiting to hear.
What will you give.

It’s not about your money, it's all His anyway.
It’s all about your heart child, are you willing to obey?
Just lay your yes down the altar and watch God make a way.
Eternity is waiting to begin, what will you give?

Till the last person’s told,
We have to go, go and tell them who Jesus is.
Will your heart be generous, with what He’s blessed you with.
A dying soul is waiting to hear.
What will you give.





copyrightStephanieParson2004