Bobby sang in Hughes, Arkansas Wednesday night, February 13th to a crowd of about 20 people at the Hughes Church of God. A life-long friend of Bobby's, Daniel Attaway and his wonderful wife, Pat, pastor this little church. Hope sang and I shared for just a few minutes and we had an altar call. People responded in that little crowd and tears were shed. If I could sum the evening up in 1 word it would be "sweet." We dressed the children in their pajamas and drove on across the state to Texarkana after the church service arriving at Bobby's parents' home at 2:00 a.m.
We spent Thursday and Friday at Papaw and Mamaw's house just working on homework, cleaning out the van, going for a walk, playing Shang Hai and Farkle and of course watching TV. Bobby spent most of his time emailing pastors and making phone calls.
On Saturday afternoon, Bobby, Landis and Hope took off for Hugo, Oklahoma where Bobby sang in a concert put together by Jerry Tims. "JT" and his family group, Chosen, sang as well as a couple of other local groups. The next morning Bobby (and Hope) sang at a small church in Bogata, Texas - another booking by JT. And, finally, the highlight of the weekend, a Sunday night concert in Reno, Texas at Canaanland Church of God, JT's home church. My mother and father-in-law, Bob & Tena, rode the 80 miles from Texarkana to Reno with Grace, Faith and I. Bobby's sister, Judy, her son, Aaron and his girlfriend, Mitzi also drove out. The young pastor, Brien Sturgill and his beautiful wife, Shannon, have 3 great children and are the easiest people to meet and get acquainted with. They immediately made us feel so welcome and comfortable.
JT and Chosen opened up the evening with a few songs and my old-time Pentecost father-in-law told me later he felt the Holy Spirit so strongly in the room from the first song.
Bobby sang several songs and had Hope come up to help him sing a song. Hope has also started helping Bobby with the old favorite "Down By The Tabernacle" when Bobby splits the church down the middle and has the two sides duke it out with who can be the loudest when chanting their assigned phrases in the chorus. Hope stands next to Bobby and points to the side when it's their turn to sing. That's the "not-so-serious" part of the program and then after receiving the offering he's been having me come up and share for a few minutes. I only spoke for 5 minutes and then Bobby and I sang "Is It True" (Dan Smith) and then Bobby turned it over to Pastor Brien for the altar call. Many people responded and the praying and crying went on for several minutes. I had gone back to my seat and as the praying at the altars subsided, the Pastor took the mic and began to speak words of encouragement to Bobby and then to me. Then he hesitated just a bit but asked if it would be ok to pray for Grace. Of course that was fine with us and as we wheeled Grace up to the front of the room, there was a thick gathering of people around her. Bobby's nephew, Aaron, who is knowledgeable of the Word of God but doesn't know the Lord, came up to the altar and draped his arms over my shoulders and began to weep. I had been praying for Grace but then put my hand on Aaron's head and began to pray over him. Then I heard the pastor's voice on the other side of Aaron begin to speak, "Young man I don't what season of life you're in right now..." and he began to pray for Aaron. Praise the Lord!
Again, as the praying subsided, the pastor took the mic and again, hesitated just a moment but explained that although he doesn't normally do this he had such a strong urging from the Lord to say something to us that the Lord gave him to say. He began to prophesy some things over Bobby and I and it was powerful. He talked about God furthering and growing the ministry that He has for Bobby and he included me and then he said that we would see a "progressive" healing with Grace. Well, when he said the word progressive, what he was saying was confirmed in my spirit because that word has been a common thread over the past 9 years of Grace's life. There have been others that have prayed over her and have received that same word in their spirit.
Even though it took us an hour and a half to drive back to Texarkana and it was very late, we still didn't fall asleep right away when we got home. We were on such a high.
By noon Monday we were headed back to Tennessee and chatted with Pat Attaway from Hughes on the way. She told Bobby that something was started in their church the Wednesday night before and it was reflected in the altars on Sunday morning. She and Daniel were very excited. Praise the Lord!
We had a good drive back but there were so many poopy diapers on the way that it took us 10 hours to get home!!!
Here's the best part: when Bobby walked in the door after work Tuesday evening he told me he had spoken to Brien Sturgill from Reno, Texas. Brien had great news and said that 3 people were saved at their church Sunday night!!! Also, 2 young people told him that the concert Sunday night was the best concert they'd ever been to. Now...either those young people don't get out much or the Holy Spirit was working through a guy and his guitar, a 5 year old singing, "Jesus Loves Me," a wife who enjoys speaking and feels called to do so but is still very green and a silent little girl in a wheelchair. God can use anybody and I am so excited to be an "anybody" He can use. Wow. I've always heard people say, "I'm so humbled," and have believed them but didn't understand them. Now I understand. I know me and my family and how inadequate we are ...so I know it was GOD that moved in the hearts of those people Sunday night.
Another huge blessing was that the children missed NO school. I almost stayed home with Grace and Faith this past weekend because I was concerned about Grace missing so much school...3 days. However, Bobby encouraged me to go and I did. When we left Wednesday morning it was snowing heavily. School had been canceled because of freezing rain the night before and church was canceled that night - so we didn't miss that either! The children already had Monday off because of President's Day and when we arrived home we learned that Robertson County schools had been closed Thursday and Friday as well. Ha ha! Boy would I have been ticked if I had decided to stay home! God is good!
