The Trilogy Conclusion
December 27
Friday afternoon, December 6th we gathered in the most immaculate barn you have ever seen. As my friend introduced me, she asked me to explain The Christmas Trilogy. My reply, "I have no clue, but my guess is the trilogy will be something totally different for each of us...God meeting us where we are at this point in our lives and blessing us.
That morning as I was praying for the afternoon, God gave me a song...music, words the works. It freaked me out as I sat plunking out the notes on the piano! A bit hesitant whether this was really for this particular event, confirmation came as the Louie Giglio was speaking in a video called "The Twelve Words of Christmas." He used a phrase straight from the lyrics of the song. I turned to my husband and pointed out the words on the sheets I had typed up. In this same video, Louie is making reference to Mary and says, "And her water broke." At that instance, the horse in the stall nearest us let his bladder go and the sound of water breaking had us all gasping in disbelief with the timing. Only God or a VERY smart horse could have made that happen. For days following the event that is all the guests could talk about.
Now remember, I did not know the individual whose home would be used for part two. My husband and I asked him to join us for dinner the Thursday before his event on December 10th, thinking it might make him more comfortable before these women descended upon his home. The evening was delightful. There were many overlaps in our lives, that made discussions easy. He grew up in the town my grandfather was from and where my grandfather's brother was the mayor for years. This man had lost his wife to a long battle of cancer the year before and his love for her as deep as any I've ever seen.
As he explained it was ovarian cancer that took her in the end, I shared the story of a young singer/song writer living in Nashville for whom we'd been praying having just undergone similar surgery. Calmly replied, "She sang at my wife's funeral and her father, an Anglican priest, offered my wife's last communion to her."
Returning home that evening I emailed the priest and told him how much he and his daughter had obviously meant to this man and his wife. The priest explained his daughter was home recovering from her surgery, but he thought they could drive to There was Rejoicing and his daughter could even sing!
Unexpected Blessings! All in attendance were in awe of what God had woven together.
Under the Stars was the evidence of spiritual warfare and how real it is. Not exactly the part I had hoped our home would play in the trilogy, but a reminder for us all that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against demons and principalities. After my husband spoke, the plan was to show a powerful video of the song…Mary Did You Know. I had literally wept when we previewed this piece. Each time Jesus was shown, the video would stop. It was quite distracting. Many of the people in the room recognized the attack and were praying. I finally got up and walked outside and shouted at the devil to be gone in the name of Jesus. When I returned, my husband had abandoned the idea of showing the video and was praying. As he finished praying, one of the women in attendance stood up, shaking she was so nervous and tears dripping down her cheeks…her message was the unexpected blessing for the evening.
Humbly, she shared her testimony of how she had prayed to receive Christ here at Shiloh when she was fifty years old. With honesty in her heart, she confessed how hard it was to get up and say what she felt the Spirit leading her to say, which was that if there was anyone in that room who had never asked Jesus into their hearts, to not wait another day. It was the perfect ending to The Christmas Trilogy…God had put these events together from start to finish! It was a wonderful wild ride!
Friday afternoon, December 6th we gathered in the most immaculate barn you have ever seen. As my friend introduced me, she asked me to explain The Christmas Trilogy. My reply, "I have no clue, but my guess is the trilogy will be something totally different for each of us...God meeting us where we are at this point in our lives and blessing us.
That morning as I was praying for the afternoon, God gave me a song...music, words the works. It freaked me out as I sat plunking out the notes on the piano! A bit hesitant whether this was really for this particular event, confirmation came as the Louie Giglio was speaking in a video called "The Twelve Words of Christmas." He used a phrase straight from the lyrics of the song. I turned to my husband and pointed out the words on the sheets I had typed up. In this same video, Louie is making reference to Mary and says, "And her water broke." At that instance, the horse in the stall nearest us let his bladder go and the sound of water breaking had us all gasping in disbelief with the timing. Only God or a VERY smart horse could have made that happen. For days following the event that is all the guests could talk about.
Now remember, I did not know the individual whose home would be used for part two. My husband and I asked him to join us for dinner the Thursday before his event on December 10th, thinking it might make him more comfortable before these women descended upon his home. The evening was delightful. There were many overlaps in our lives, that made discussions easy. He grew up in the town my grandfather was from and where my grandfather's brother was the mayor for years. This man had lost his wife to a long battle of cancer the year before and his love for her as deep as any I've ever seen.
As he explained it was ovarian cancer that took her in the end, I shared the story of a young singer/song writer living in Nashville for whom we'd been praying having just undergone similar surgery. Calmly replied, "She sang at my wife's funeral and her father, an Anglican priest, offered my wife's last communion to her."
Returning home that evening I emailed the priest and told him how much he and his daughter had obviously meant to this man and his wife. The priest explained his daughter was home recovering from her surgery, but he thought they could drive to There was Rejoicing and his daughter could even sing!
Unexpected Blessings! All in attendance were in awe of what God had woven together.
Under the Stars was the evidence of spiritual warfare and how real it is. Not exactly the part I had hoped our home would play in the trilogy, but a reminder for us all that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against demons and principalities. After my husband spoke, the plan was to show a powerful video of the song…Mary Did You Know. I had literally wept when we previewed this piece. Each time Jesus was shown, the video would stop. It was quite distracting. Many of the people in the room recognized the attack and were praying. I finally got up and walked outside and shouted at the devil to be gone in the name of Jesus. When I returned, my husband had abandoned the idea of showing the video and was praying. As he finished praying, one of the women in attendance stood up, shaking she was so nervous and tears dripping down her cheeks…her message was the unexpected blessing for the evening.
Humbly, she shared her testimony of how she had prayed to receive Christ here at Shiloh when she was fifty years old. With honesty in her heart, she confessed how hard it was to get up and say what she felt the Spirit leading her to say, which was that if there was anyone in that room who had never asked Jesus into their hearts, to not wait another day. It was the perfect ending to The Christmas Trilogy…God had put these events together from start to finish! It was a wonderful wild ride!
