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Free to Sing!

by Tonja Taylor
12/13/2020 / Christian Living

I'd wanted to gather a group of fellow Believers and sing Christmas carols to unchurched people in my community for years. I'd suggested it to a few others at my church, hoping they would take the lead.

And I waited. And waited. Then I realized the LORD had given me the idea, and He was waiting on me to take the lead! So I did.

I suggested the idea to my husband. He was not interested.

"But if you are going to do this," he said, "you need to get approval from the management."

He was right, and I appreciate his wisdom.

"Even if we have to wear masks, we are going to do this!" I said. "I trust the LORD to put His super on our natural to touch people!"

He nodded, not quite convinced, from what I could tell.

I went to another room. "Okay, Jesus, that's fine if it's just You and me. With You, I'm never alone!" I said, knowing He hears me, even if I don't speak out loud. But that day, I needed ot hear myself say those words.

I was certainly not afraid to do this, even "alone," as some would wrongly look at it.

Having made the decision, I made a plan. I asked the LORD to guide me in what date and time, especially in consideration of fellow Believers whom, I thought, would surely want to join me. However, I also knew that Christmas is a very busy season for almost everyone, and that even a week's notice would be considered short at this time.

I knew I was going to do this, one way or another. After all, I reminded myself, we Believers in Christ Jesus are on this planet to help others know about Him. Otherwise, we'd be in Heaven already! This may be a small thing to some, I knew, but I also knew that even if one person was drawn to Christ, or revived to get close to Him again, that the whole world could be affected!

On the way home from church, I saw the apartment complex where I knew the LORD wanted me to have this outreach. I was reminded to stop and ask for permission.

Our faithful God is always going ahead of us to make the way smooth, when we are in His will! This Sunday afternoon, not only the manager, but her assistant and secretary were all in the office! What are the odds of that, when normal office hours are Monday-Friday?

I was wearing a mask as I approached them, but they were not! That was a good sign! I quickly explained my plan, and they were all smiles and the manager said, "Sure, no restrictions!"

Hallelujah, the LORD had made the way and we were free to sing!

We had a Christmas party for the praise and worship team, on which my husband served weeklly and on which I had served many months. Taking advantage of the time, I passed out information about the outreach. Many seemed interested, but I still knew it was short notice and was not sure if anyone would come.

Still, I was determined to do this! I had done and enjoyed various kinds of outreach for decades, and it was time to get going again!

Anyway, I decided I would give candy and print the location and service times and dates of my church, where my husband and I had been greatly transformed, covered, and blessed by the LORD since He'd led us there over 156years ago, and also where our pastor had married us 15 years before!

On the other side of the church information, I put John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believer in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." I added the exhortation that we all need Jesus and then I listed a very short prayer for Salvation.

Computer layout and design is not my highest skill, so after working with the document for many minutes and still not being able to get the margins like I wanted them, I knew I needed a break.

I trusted the LORD to have my darling husband, who is very good a layout and design, to help me.

He did. In the process, my husband, who is a gifted musician and band director, decided that, since he had already been creating instrumental tracts to Christmas songs for my mother and others to enjoy, he could modify them to be used as background music for me and any other carolers to sing with!

HALLELUJAH! GO, GOD!

Then, my dear husband took pity on me and, with a few quick tweaks of his great skill on computers, fixed the layout challenges and made everything line up perfectly.

Thank You, LORD!

I had also been praying that the weather would be sunny and clear, but not too warm. My dear Father answered and it was, of course, just right!

A day or so before the event, my dear husband decided he would come after all. I told him he could lead us in the music, since he had so much skill in that, and since he had created the music! He also

I had also told him that, after, I was going to take him on a surprise mini-trip to celebrate his birthday early! So he was happy about that too.

I advertised the event on Facebook a few times, and the day of the event, I still had not heard from anyone except one person, who said they were otherwise engaged and would not be there. But I knew that, with Jesus with me--and also with my dear husband, with whom I'd done numerous outreaches through the years--that the LORD was going to work somehow, some way, in the lives of at least one person!

I didn't know yet if we'd wear masks or not, but I did know that we were free to sing!

I had been praying and asking the LORD to send His holy angels to arrange the schedules of those that were supposed to be there so we could encourage them and invite them to church.

Right before time to start, I heard from the wife of our praise and worship leader. She was coming and bringing her 4 kids--even the darling baby--and then her husband would join us later.

That was thrilling to me, and I knew that, not only us taking the time and effort to celebrate the LORD and invite the people would be a witness to these precious souls, but the fact that I look like a mature white Caucasian woman, and my dear husband is half Japanese and looks Asian; along with our
African American praise and worship leader and his wife, who appears Caucasian, plus their four children who appear to be of "mixed blood" would be a great statement of the true unity that occurs when Christ is the head and in the heart of our lives!

(The real us is a spirit, one with Christ Jesus, when we are born again by our faith in His blood shed on the cross for us! We have a soul and live in a body, which is our "house"!)

So we gathered and prayed, and started walking. We knew the LORD would guide us to the right souls to receive what they needed from Him through us.

(We had decided not to wear masks, which we could do in our state, as long as we kept a proper distance from others.)

I gave the kids the bag of candy and the church/Salvation tracts, and while my friend pushed her darling baby in the stroller, we started knocking on doors. Almost everyone who came to the door was pleasantly surprised, and those who didn't want to listen were at least not rude. I think they appreciated the effort, even if they didn't undertstand it and where themselves in a negative mood!

But some even wanted pages of the words to sing along with us. So we were free to sing, and sing we did! A few people even took videos of us on their phones.

I believe the people God touched through us could tell that we were there purely for the love and joy and thankfulness of the LORD Jesus Christ and all He'd done for us, and that we wanted others to remember and know how good He is, and that there was a loving church Family right over the bridge (literally!) waiting for them to come join.

Many told us they would visit our church. I believe many of them will! And, the bottom line is, We are the Church! Church is not a building, thank goodness! "Church" is we, the Body of Christ, in motion--free to sing His praises!--lifting Him up so that all men may be drawn to Him, amen and amen!

Now, what has the LORD put on your heart to lift Him up and help people know Him? Go with it. Decide to do it, and He will be faithful to work out the details and help you be a catalyst for positive change--free to sing--in whatever form He shows you!

Through books, courses, presentations, service, prayer, worship, and more, Tonja and her husband live to exalt God. Her series for girls, P.O.W.E.R. GIRL ADVENTURES, is now out (books I-V), along with LEGACY; YOUR HOLY HEALTH: VISIONS OF THE KING, and more. See the "River Rain Creative" YT channel.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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