Voice of Grace survives severe ice storm against all odds… January 15, 2007

We didn’t get put in the Dallas newspaper so I had to compensate for the injustice on my site. Ok fine, so it wasn’t really big enough to warrant a newspaper headline at all and I’m being overly dramatic……*smile*

For those of you who don’t know, our ensemble, Voice of Grace Singers, traveled to Dallas this weekend for a ministry singing trip. We were asked to go up there by a friend of our family’s, Donnie Page. He was actually my Mom and Dad’s youth group leader when they were teenagers as well as a very close friend and best man at their wedding. Bro. Donnie heard the ensemble sing when he was in town last fall for their old church’s reunion. He’s now in Dallas at this other church as the music director. So, to Dallas we did go…………or plan to go.

The plan was to pull out at 7am on Saturday morning. Drive to Dallas and meet with John Cornish, the man who is recording our CD for us in a couple of weeks. He is an incredible choral director and lives there in Dallas as well. What a great opportunity to have him teach us all he could before the recording date!!!!!!!!!! Kill two birds with one stone.

Ok, so on Friday night we were all packed (most of us….the organized ones anyway……*wink*) and ready to embark on this ensemble adventure. HOLD IT!!!!!! Not so fast. I got a call from Megan informing me that the Sackett’s had warned us that there was an ice storm hitting Dallas!!!!!!!!!! HUH??? Ice storm??? Come on!!!!! Well, it was true.

We checked the weather and didn’t figure it would be too bad. Mr. Shaffer said he thought it was fine and full speed ahead, just pack warm clothes of course. Well, moving full speed ahead wasn’t the plan for very long. Things started to look even worse for the weekend and by 10pm on Friday night we thought the whole trip was off. Mr. Shaffer told us to call the ensemble. He would check the weather at 6am, converse with the other Dads and let us know if we were going or not. We were all put on standby.

6am???? We wouldn’t know we were going until 6am???? Botheration. How would I ever sleep?? After Mr. Shaffer left us to go to bed, Laura, Kristin and I talked. I felt like the Lord really wanted us to be there that weekend even though it seemed impossible at the time. We decided to pray about the whole situation. I prayed that if the Lord wanted us to be home that weekend that He would make it clear and we would respond with the right attitude, but that if it was His will for us to be there He would prevent the enemy’s attacks.

We went to bed that night praying and hoping. The next morning we woke up wired and wide awake…….Mr. Shaffer went to the computer to check the forecast. No internet. Were we really surprised?? Nope. Finally it did work and the conference call with the other Dads began. 45 minutes later they’d reached a decision.

Since we were headed to southern Dallas and the big freeze was more northern we would head to Dallas…..with the stipulation that if we got there, had our practice with John and the weather got worse we would head back home Saturday night. So…..off we went.

Uhhhh, yeah. Not so fast again. Mom called me as we getting ready to leave. Jon wasn’t feeling well and they weren’t sure if he should go. Mom hung up saying that Jon would decide if he felt up to going or not. If he came, ok……if not there was nothing we could do about it. Oh bother….here we go. I was beginning to wonder what on earth this weekend held. Well, we could hope for the best. We didn’t hope for long. 15 minutes later Mom called back. Jon had decided. The decision was made that he should stay home since he was throwing up and all. It really was the best choice, I mean, it would take a lot of time to get there if we had to keep stopping so he could throw up.

Well, off we went with three lone guys and half the group battling colds. The drive there went pretty well despite all the rain. We arrived in one piece amazingly enough and started our rehearsal. 30 minutes into it the power in the church went out. By this time it was just funny. Sooooooooooo, we found a flashlight for Amy at the piano and the rest of us used our cell phone lights to see the music. It was rather comical. The lights came back on toward the end and we finished up and headed to Bro. Donnie’s house for dinner.

Mr. Shaffer checked the roads and thankfully there was no sign of ice on them. The trees were iced over and there were icicles on the road signs, but none on the streets, just water. After another conference call with the Dads back in Houston it was agreed that we would stay.

Dinner went well and we split up to head to our perspective host houses where we were staying. Nothing tragic happened that night and we all slept fairly soundly. The next morning was even more cold and frosty but we forced ourselves out of bed to head to the church at 7:45am. We were supposed to sing in both morning services. Apparently this church was so large that they filled up two services!!! Yikes, that’ll put fear in you!!!!!! *smile*

We got there and found the other half of our gals in the bathroom. Amy and Beth had an amazing story for me. First of all their van wouldn’t start that morning. They tried to jump it and it still wouldn’t start, so they left the van and their host family brought them up to the church. Then, they got to the church and all of the sudden Amy felt really sick. As in, VERY sick. She thought she was going to throw up so she went into the bathroom. Beth started praying that if this was an attack that God would bind and rebuke Satan. Before she said Amen, the sick feelings passed and Amy felt great.

By this time it became so clear to us that Satan was attacking our group and the Lord was teaching us a lot about faith and His power in our lives. There were a lot of prayers going up on behalf of the ensemble including some of the people at the church in Dallas.

We warmed up through coughs, Josh losing his voice, and me threatening a migraine. The Lord sustained each of us and the service went very well. I was amazed how calm everyone was and that Josh seemed to gather enough strength with his voice to sing and to make up for Jon not being there.

I think regardless of how the group being there that weekend might have effected anyone else, the Lord used this past weekend to teach me specifically, but all of us that when HE calls us to do something, HE will make the way and provide all we need. We saw how little faith we had at times and how the Lord’s power and strength prevailed. Valuable lessons were learned and I was able to see God’s hand in the whole weekend. What an Awesome God we serve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were able to get the Bogner’s van started and all made it home safely last night. It looks like this trip might have even answered some prayers in regard to recording details. God is good!!!

Ok, now I’ll post pictures and let me just say if you actually made it through that whole post you deserve a BIG GOLD STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *smile* I am female and details are just part of it!!!!! *smile*

Pictures of us hanging around at Bro. Donnie’s house…