Today was an awesome day. After ten months of ‘life as we’ve known it’ and not really being able to commit to singing at church, #TeamBolton ministered a special selection today. Many of you may remember footage that was circulating on Facebook of a young lady running one of the most important races of her life and midway through the race, she trips and falls, but immediately gets up and within the last moment wins the race. As I watched the strength, will and perseverance of this young runner unfold, I was deeply moved by the song that accompanied the piece.
I’ve been on the schedule to do a special selection at church for a few months now. Quentin and I had planned to do another song, but when I let Quentin listen to this song, we knew we wanted to do it together. We have only sung together one other time, which was last year for Christmas (I’ll post that if I can find it). God has been so faithful to us. Despite what it looked like, felt like or what the ‘forcast’ was, God covered us in his love. There were many times I listened to this song and was reminded of a blog post by Rasheeda Matthews (Better Part of Me) that outlined the magnitude of peace and comfort that can only come from being wrapped in God’s love. It was so awesome to be able to minister this song.
Singing is ‘relatively’ new in our lives. I sang in a teen choir once and after singing a solo piece where my nerves were heard in every note, I never sang again. Well….there was the one time I got talked into singing Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s ‘All Cried Out’ at my 11th Grade Homecoming Dance. How that happened I don’t know, but peer pressure is a beast. Thankfully there is no video footage of that. Quentin sang in choirs throughout his childhood, but it had been twenty plus years since either of us had sang anything outside of the shower or in the car with the radio. About five years ago the desire to sing was so pressing that I decided to join the Adult Choir at my church. I’ll never forget my first rehearsal. I stood up, introduced myself and told everyone I don’t know what I sing, but I have a desire to do so. Gradually I became more comfortable with singing, but remember in a choir you are one of many voices, so if you’re not that great, the hope is that all the other voices mask yours. The more I became involved the more I enjoyed and look forward to singing. Whenever I was asked to do more I always said ‘I’ll try’ and over time I gained the confidence to do a quick part and even a solo or two. Quentin joined shortly thereafter and it became something we both really loved doing and being a part of. Quentin gets his pretty earnestly, my father-in-love has a beautiful voice and my mother-in-love sings too. To my knowledge, neither of my parents sang publicly, but they love music and can carry a tune.
So here we are….Thank you Lord for taking me out of the shower and placing the desire in me to do more. Thank you Minister Cottman, for recognizing abilities neither of us knew we had and challenging us to do more. I never imagined myself singing in any place by myself or without 20 other people with me. We’ve grown so much. Thank you Faith and Family Church for always warmly receiving and supporting us. Thank you to our children, our biggest supporters and cheerleaders. They sit through our rehearsals times and by the time we actually sing, they know the words, have thrown in some sort of praise dance and lots of hearty claps. Thank you to my Fashion Stylist, Mireya who encouraged me to wear a ‘pretty black dress’ and who selected the shoes for me to wear and lastly, thank you to our daughter Paris who really wanted to be at church today. She fell in love with this song the moment she heard it too and asked that I please, please, please have someone record it.
God’s love never fails and it reigns forever in our lives, so remember to ‘Stay in the Race’ (Norman Hutchins), ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ (I’m a big Journey fan) and most importantly know that your ‘Best and Brightest Days are Ahead of You’ (Pastor Calvin Duncan). God put a song in our hearts to share. We’re not the best singers in the world, but we have a true desire to worship God and to touch the hearts of people through song. Enjoy Hillsong’s ‘Forever Reign’ ministered by #TeamBolton!
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