Singin' in the Rain

12.3.13

     There is a church in Florida called Free Life Chapel. We've never been there, we've never met anyone that went there, but somehow in the greater plan, Alex found their podcast on iTunes while he was deployed to Afghanistan. 

      I've never been a talk-radio person until Alex got me onto it. When he was stationed in Killeen, he would drive up every weekend and that drive is about 3 hours. He started listening to Dave Ramsey on the way to and from Dallas, and he said it made the drive go MUCH faster in his mind because he was engaged and listening to someone teach. I started listening to Dave's radio show during the day for a few months, but then they changed the time so I forgot when to turn the radio on to listen in. Enter the world of podcasts. 

    Anyways, Alex started listening to Free Life when he was deployed. After Alex had to return to work, I also started listening to Free Life podcasts. Let me tell you, these people have been such an amazing comfort to me. The pastor's wife that teaches sometimes is so engaging, and her teachings are completely founded on the Word. She has this funny accent which is a cross between Southern American and Puerto Rican. Her name is Cindy Thomas.

      So when I started back at work, I knew that I would have to drive sometimes an hour or hour and a half to get to certain accounts so I started padding my podcast downloads so that I could pick one that sounded interesting to listen to as I worked. One of the sermons that Cindy taught is called "Singing in the Rain" (5/12/13).  I really hope you take the time to listen to this one, its only about 45 minutes.

      Mid-talk, Cindy shares with the audience that she has buried two babies. She says, "What can you do to me now?" She talks about getting caught in the storm of loss, and that she was thankful that her "house" or life was built on Jesus so that her faith was not shaken.  She talks about making a point to build up that foundation before the rain hits, so that you are prepared with your faith. She also says that no matter what the nature of the rain in your life, God has already provided a way out. She also said "Remember, the rain is not always a bad thing. We need the rain to bring up the beautiful flowers from the ground."

     Another lesson that I listened to was called Limitless (part I). This one is taught by the main pastor, Scott Thomas (Cindy's husband). I was driving down the street (I can tell you the exact intersection) when he said in the sermon that "Your story is the key to the door in somebody else's story." Let me tell you, this is one of those God moments that you don't see coming. Its one of those moments where you get a glimpse in the thread of the fabric of the story of time. How in the heck was I listening to this church that I have never been to, don't know anybody to vouch for what a good church it is, nothing, and yet this pastor was speaking directly to my heart? This is the Holy Spirit, there is no question about it. God was loving me on that early morning as I drove to work, and he was being clear in His moment with me. He was reassuring me about the greater purpose in Kaitlyn's death. And I drove to work that morning with tears streaming down my face. Our God is so good.