Inspirations and encouragements

This morning I got out of bed and grabbed the clothes I was going to wear for the day. As I left my bedroom, I couldn't help hearing Ray sleeping in the other bedroom across the hall. How peacefully he was sleeping, drawing in long, deep breaths. _He seemed to be holding them in for a couple of seconds before releasing them, as if subconsciously just wanting to hold onto and appreciate every one of them as they came. He seemed to be drinking in the breath of the life that was coursing through his veins, the very breath of the God who made him. With every breath he took in and held, his spirit seemed to be satisfied that this life, and this sleep he was enjoying was created by God to rejuvenate him so that he could go out into the world and be Jesus to the least of these. God had created him, created life, and it was, it is, good. I went into the kitchen and turned on the coffee pot. Then, on the way to my bathroom, I stopped once more to listen to this beautiful, peaceful b...

So I want to continue, now, the story of my very musical spiritual journey. So Ray and I walked out of the church that fateful day, we went to my bank so I could deposit a check. As we walked out of the bank, a man stopped us. I didn't know him from Adam, so I was startled when he said: "you have a very beautiful voice." Amazed, I asked how he knew me, and that I could sing. He said he wasn't the most regular churchgoer in the world, but he sometimes went, and when he went, it was to Holy Disciples, the same church we went to at the time. I couldn't believe it. I was stunned. Two weeks later, Ray was diagnosed with MS. Six months later he was moving to Tennessee, and soon thereafter I found myself engaged. The next few months were a mixture of so many different emotions and thoughts that it was getting really hard to sleep at night. My fiance, along with his family and friends, started trying to get things donated to me for the wedding, up to and includ...

This is a phrase I have only heard a time or two, when Ray was reading to me out of a book he owns. It is very powerful. In fact, when I heard it, I had just moved down to Tennessee to pursue a music degree. I have always loved music, loved singing, but had not done much with it until I got back into church life and got started in the choir. This was back in 2005, and now it seemed that God was speaking to me here, in 2011, in musical terminology. Ray had always believed that I was called to uplift people with my singing, but I knew my musical skills and knowlege were definitely not where they needed to be. So now, here I am in Tennessee, listening to him reading these words, after having auditioned for the music department at Cumberland University. I was waiting impatiently for their verdict, and as he read those words, another memory hit me. It was 2009, and a lot of things had happened. My mom was two years removed from her diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, a family...