Did I Tell You that Barbara Mandrell Called?

Might As Well Face it, I love Barbara Mandrell.

Okay, I am not “got” very often. Nor, typically, am I one who reacts to anything with extreme excitement. For instance, if you threw me a surprise party, my reaction would not be to squeal and jump up and down. I just don’t react that way. I don’t. Ever. I’m much too cool for that. Ha. But all that “coolness” went out the door the other day when I answered my cell phone.

Let me set the stage. It was Saturday, August 29th, the day after my birthday. Our family was fighting over what to eat for breakfast. We were seriously in a fairly heated argument over that, I’m ashamed to say. So when my phone rang, I walked over, looked at it, didn’t recognize the number, and thought, “I don’t know who this is, and I’m not in a ‘happy’ place right now, so I’m not gonna pick it up.”

About that time, I heard this still small voice say, “pick it up.” And I’m so glad I did, as I heard the voice on the other end say, “Melissa?”

“yes” I answered

“This is Barbara Mandrell…”

My first words to her, “OH MY GOSH!!”

I quickly ran outside so she wouldn’t hear my family yelling in the background :-)

She sang me happy birthday. I screamed in her ear.

She was speaking to me, and I was so stinkin’ excited, my mind was reeling, and all I could think of was a random mix of this:

“I cannot wait to tell my friends that Barbara Mandrell called”

“they are never going to believe this”

“Holy cow, this is Barbara Mandrell on the phone”

I was thinking all those thoughts and a thousand others, when that same still small voice said, “control your thoughts, Barbara Mandrell is speaking to you, listen to what she is saying.”

Thank you Jesus for that reminder.

So I listened to her sweet voice as she began telling me why she was calling me. And we actually entered into a conversation. My mind was still so shocked, and wound up that I know that some of my words were less than intelligent. Seriously. I remember everything she said, but I don’t remember some things that I said, or didn’t say.

For instance, I recall toward the end of the conversation she said, “I hope I get to meet you in person some time”.

I have no idea what I said to that. I don’t know if I said anything. Here’s what I could have said:

“well it’s about time you got on board, I’ve been wanting to meet you for 30 years.”

Or

“well, we’re free next weekend”

Or

“I can hop in the car and be down there in approximately 4 hours.”

Ha.

So, one might say that I was “undignified” in my conversation with Ms. Mandrell. And that would be true. I did not react in a cool professional manner that I would have liked to have reacted in. I did not speak with eloquence. I’m not sure of what I spoke at all. But my “undignification” was justified because it wasn’t just the fact that Barbara Mandrell called that had me so “got”. It was more the fact of where God has brought me, and trying to soak that up “in the moment”. Seriously.

Because, you see, when I was in junior high, my parents were going through a divorce. I was in a tough place, and I needed a role model, and God gave me Barbara Mandrell. I know, you may not initially view a “Country Music Star” as a great role model. But I can tell you that she was just what I needed:

At that time (middle school) I had a real complex about being short…she was my height.

I loved music and had already begun to play the piano, write songs, and sing…she was a musician/singer too.

And most importantly in nearly every interview that I saw her do on television or read about in a magazine, she would give glory to God, and talk about the priority that she placed on her family.

It’s funny, because literally on my birthday, the day before Barbara called, I had taken some time to ponder my life. And as I began that journey, I actually started it out in a little of a pity party, as I said to God, “God, what about my dreams? What about the things that I believe that you have spoken to me? As I said that to Him I thought back to what my dream was when I was a kid…which was to be a country music singer. And then just as quickly as I remembered that I, seriously, chuckled out loud as I said to God, “You know God as I look back and think about that, I’m not sure whether I really wanted to be a country music singer, or whether I just really wanted to get to know Barbara Mandrell."

So, the next day when Barbara called me, it was as if God was saying, “here ya go Missy, here’s Barbara Mandrell.” To me, Barbara’s call was a birthday gift straight from God. There’s no way possible to tell you all the details here on a blog post of all the events the led up to why this phone call meant so much. Let me just say in summary that in 1991 I renewed my commitment to the Lord, and I laid down my dreams in exchange for His. When Ms. Barbara called, I felt the truth of this scripture:

“delight yourself in the Lord, and He will GIVE you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 34:7

How about you? What place do you find yourself in? Have you let go of the dreams YOU have for your life in exchange for the dreams Your Creator has for your life. I don’t know about you but I want to surrender again…I want to let go again. For I love the way HE loves me, and I love serving Him in the manner that he has called me. Surrendering to the One who can do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we ask or imagine.

“O Taste and See that the Lord is good…” Psalm 34:8