Sing with me...

"How great is our God. Sing with me..."

We all know this song. It's on the radio a lot, and has been for quite a few years. It's kinda old, in fact.

It's a song that brings with it a flood of emotions.

We sang it at Joy's funeral.

And I remember singing the words with all of my soul and spirit and emotions, and focusing on the "Name above all names" and reminding myself of the splendor and majesty of the One I served, and feeling His arms wrapped around me.

And after the service ended, a friend came up to me and said, "When we were singing that song, it felt like Joy was up in heaven, telling us "SING WITH ME!!! HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!"

And now, 4+ years later, every time I hear the much loved and over played song on the radio, I think of Joy, up in heaven, smiling and saying "Sing with me!"

I always get teary eyed, and I always do just that, I sing of the greatness of our God.

Last night I heard it again, driving home from working at my church.

(We are up-fitting a warehouse into a church, and its a LOOOOOONG and grueling and expensive and overwhelming and frustrating process.)

(And our entire church leadership team has been feeling the weight of opposition at every turn.)

(The enemy does NOT want us finishing this project.)

So, as I was driving home, itchy from insulation and coughing from all the drywall dust in my lungs, I was thinking of all that still needs to be done. (and by thinking, I really mean worrying and stewing and feeling totally helpless and paralyzed.)

And then the radio belted out these words: "The splendor of the King..."

The tears flooded, as they always do, and I saw, in my minds eye, my little sister up in heaven, grinning at me. But this time it wasn't just "Sing with me!" that I could hear her saying. No, she and I had a full-on conversation. (at least, in my mind we did. And before you think that's weird, its totally okay to have conversations in which you speak for your sister...ask anyone who has a sister. We know each other, and we speak for each other.)

"I'm not sure you're really understanding, Charity. You aren't here. You can't really see. But I can tell you, if you could, you wouldn't be worrying. You wouldn't be wondering how it was all going to turn out. YOU HAVE NO IDEA how great God is! There is so much light that I am glowing all over just from being near Him! Darkness flees before Him. Time is in His hands. He sees the whole world, and He loves and cares for every one of His people. If only you could see! You wouldn't be able to stop singing it with me! HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!"

I smiled, and I cried, and I praised my great God the rest of the way home.

Because my God is so very great.

And He does hold time in His hands.

And He wraps Himself in light.

And darkness tries to hide. And it trembles at His voice.

And He stands from age to age.

And still He sees my heart. And He speaks to me in exactly the way I need to hear Him.

If only I could see, through Joy's eyes, the greatness of our God.

But, the same way that sisters can speak for each other, sisters can also trust each other.

She's telling me that I can trust Him, and that He is greater than I can even understand.

And I believe her.

Today, in the stress, and in the worry, and in the hits that keep on coming from the enemy who stands against us...today I am choosing to sing. "How great is our God."

Sing with me...