Unexpected Blessings

On Tuesday, August 13, Trust was continuing to make weekend plans shopping for some clothes for an upcoming big Labor Day extravaganza. On Wednesday, August 14, the weekend plans drastically changed.

Buzz had an impromptu meeting with a local pastor and as result, called each of us to find out if we were available for a Sunday morning concert. I had a commitment to speak at an afternoon service at a local retirement home. After discussing it with some valued and trusted advisors at our church, I made the decision to do the concert and then leave immediately to be back in Vero in time to fulfill that commitment. Later that evening, my pastor telephoned me and offered to change some plans for me to be able to stay through the day's events with Trust.

After our Saturday morning of shopping (and ladies, the men of Trust came out very well, thank you very much!) we headed to the church to set up for our Sunday morning concert. I had never been to this facility before and that is always exciting to me. This particular one was a beautiful structure. The stage was huge ~ and every square inch of available space covered ~ with music and sound equipment! Three keyboards, saxophone, and a steel guitar, plus stands for guitars accompanied many speakers and monitors! We were amazed! We set up on the floor in front of the stage where the portable pulpit stood.

Doing our soundcheck, we discovered the building had some incredible acoustics. As far as the sound of the music, it was going to be good! We had a little bit of a rehearsal before calling it a night and going to get some supper.

Here's the sad news of the day. We've been to a lot of church buildings that are big and beautiful. We've set up on huge stages and had grand and glorious ideas of what the concert will be like when the auditorium is filled with eager friends longing to hear from God. Then when the service time arrives, it is barely half filled with people who sometimes seem less than half eager to hear from anyone, let alone, God.

We arrived at the church on Sunday morning at 8:30 and a few people were already beginning to gather for their service that began at 10:30. We knew the Praise Band was to do their sound check at 9:30, but even showing up an  hour early for that? We began to do our sound check to make sure things were still in order with our equipment, and people continued to arrive. Spence and I stayed in the sanctuary to listen to the Praise Band's sound check. When they started playing / singing Blessed Assurance, both Spence and I got our of our seats and wanted to grab a microphone and sing! We refrained and sat back down and listened to the music ~ and worshiped the God who provides our assurance. We had a WOW moment before the concert ever started!

Going back to the bus for our prayer time, we made it to back to the building for our pre-determined prayer time with the pastor and worship team before service. The church was buzzing with excitement. May I remind you, dear reader, that this concert was not planned before Wednesday. I'm not completely sure many people knew we were going to be there. When we came out of prayer time before the service started, we entered the sanctuary again and it was filled! The front pew had reserved on it so that we'd have a place to sit before we started singing. There was an excitement in that room that I've not seen in a long time.

As the service started, people were still coming in. There was not many more seats to be found. The ushers were bringing people to the front of the overflow section of seats to the side. People sang with enthusiasm, and Trust Quartet wants to take that Praise Band with us to our services to open for us and then be our accompaniment! They were fantastic!

Since school starts the next day, the pastor called all the school students as well as all those who work at the school system to the front of the church. The front was filled with students and adults alike. A prayer of dedication was prayed over them. I almost wanted to go back to school! Well, that may be a stretch, but you get the idea!

When Trust got up to sing, the people were so eager and responsive to what God wanted to say to them. We were so blessed to be able to be in the presence of God's people. Their responsiveness and obedience to listen to the Gospel through song was a huge encouragement to us. When the concert was over, people passed by our product table and encouraged us more. As we were beginning to pack up our equipment, we were stopped and asked to gather around the front of the auditorium. One of the leaders of the church wanted to pray with us.
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One by one, he came to us and laid hands on us and prayed for us. Specifically for us. First, Spence, then me, then Jeff, Rhonda, Beverly, and Buzz. One by one, he prayed for us. What a blessing and encouragement.

We determined that this unexpected concert was God's way of encouraging us and preparing us for the Labor Day weekend of concerts coming up. We had no idea that anything like this was going to happen. It was nothing short of unexpected blessings from God.

I hope you've experienced those occasionally. Why not write us and tell us about YOUR unexpected blessing from God? Maybe you can encourage someone else with what God has done for you!