Part 2 - He Knows Our Thoughts

“I am an open book to you, even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking” Psalm 139:2 (the Message)

The main lesson that God is teaching me, yet once again, is that He knows our thoughts. Here’s another example of something that He’s done just recently to show me that…

It was Sunday, June 24th, and I was at the Proverbs 31 She Speaks Conference. The conference was over, and I was just kind of hanging out waiting for my friend, Kathy, as she was talking to others. As I was standing there, I had this thought, “you know, if I’m going to be joining this ‘national ministry’ as a worship leader, it’s probably time to take things up a notch. I wish I had someone who could give me voice lessons…”

A couple of days later, I was on the phone with Mat*hew Du*ney, who is country music star Barb*ra Ma*drell’s son. I was talking with Matt about his wife Ch*isty Suthe*land. Christy is a wonderful Christian music singer/songwriter. In fact Sandi Patty has one of Christy’s songs on her latest CD. Anyway, I was booking Christy for a festival that we have here locally every year called the Marshall Autumn Festival.

In the process of booking Christy, I had mentioned to Matt that I lead worship at our church. When I mentioned that, it was kind of like a light bulb went off with Matt, and he said, “did you say you’re the worship leader?” and I said “yes, why do you ask?” To which he replied, “Christy has just started a ministry where she meets with praise teams and choirs and gives them voice lessons, would you by any chance be interested in that?”

I immediately thought, “God, you’re amazing.” I’m not kidding you when I said that just TWO days prior to that, I had been standing there thinking, “I wish I had someone to give me voice lessons.” What is even more cool to me is that God didn’t just offer it to me, but to our entire praise team!!

Here’s a couple of more interesting tid bits about how God worked this out. I had initially thought of Christy for the festival, but figured her cost would exceed our budget, so before I ever contacted Christy, I contacted two other groups to see if they could come in…both of them were already booked that day, so I went ahead and followed up with Christy, which is what I had felt God was calling me to do in the first place.

The other thing that is really cool about this is that as I was growing up, I LOVED Bar*ara Ma*drell. She is undoubtedly my favorite entertainer EVER!! In fact if you were to ask me the three top singer/musicians that have influenced me, my answer would look like this 1. Barbara Mandrell 2. Barbara Mandrell 3. Barbara Mandrell.

Yes, I listened to others, but she definitely had far and above a greater influence on me than any other singer/musician/entertainer.

That’s why at the beginning of this, I was sure to include the scripture that said, “I am an open book to you…” because God knows...He is so amazing to me.

I know that we’re not supposed to boast about what we’re going to do or where we’re going to go tomorrow, but I have to give glory to God for what He’s done thus far…and I totally trust Him with the rest.

I also want to take this moment to say that I have been thoroughly impressed with Mat*hew Du*ney. Not because he’s Barbara’s son, but because he’s God’s son. His passion for Christ is contagious.

And regarding Christy, she is an incredibly anointed singer songwriter, and I really hope that you will go to her website and get introduced to her. You can find her at http://www.christysutherland.net/ If, by chance, you know of a worship team or vocalist that would like to benefit from Christy’s training you can find info on that at http://www.myvoicecoach.com/ they have coached some of the best singers that are out there!

If you're from the Marshall area, Christy will be singing at our church in the 9:45a and 11:15a services on Sunday, September 16th. She will also sing at the Autumn Fest that same day at 2pm.