Hi,
This is April and welcome to the April Sings a Lot podcast,
Where each episode I'll share a story and then a song and invite you to sing along.
This is my story.
This is my song.
I had the opportunity in 2018 to sing the national anthem for a Saints game in the Superdome.
And it's a natural question when people find out about that to ask,
Well,
How did you get that gig?
Who do you know,
Basically?
And here's how convoluted this chain of events is.
In 2017,
A former choir member's daughter,
Who I met maybe twice,
Texts me out of the blue and says,
My best friend's boyfriend's dad is looking for someone to sing the national anthem for a Pelicans game,
Which is the basketball team.
I texted her back and said,
Of course,
That I would be interested and that I was available and all that stuff.
And so then she says,
OK,
I'm going to pass your contact information on to my best friend's boyfriend's dad and he's then going to pass it along to the person that makes the decision.
So best friend's boyfriend's dad is not even the decision maker here.
It's best friend's boyfriend's dad's boss or coworker or something like that.
So this is like five people removed from the person I'm texting with.
As soon as she says the name of this contact person,
I think to myself,
I think I've emailed her.
I think I know that name.
Turns out,
Back in 2016,
I was on a kick and I wanted to sing the national anthem for sporting events.
And so I reached out to the booking people for all the major sporting teams and sent them my audition video.
And this woman had emailed me back and said,
We're full up for this season,
But I'll definitely keep you in mind for the future.
And then she went on with her life and I went on with my life and we totally forgot about each other.
Well,
Here we are a year later and I realize,
Oh my gosh,
She's going to get my name and information from this best friend's boyfriend's dad,
But I can also email her.
So I reply to that email from a year before and say,
Hey,
I hear you're looking for somebody to sing the national anthem on Veterans Day.
Here's my info again.
I'm available and you may even actually get my info from this other person as well.
So she gets back in touch with me.
Oh yeah,
I totally forgot about you.
Yep.
That'd be great.
Here's all the details.
There we go.
So I sing the national anthem for the Pelicans game in 2017 and I do a very good job.
And because I do a very good job,
The people at the Saints facility are like,
Oh,
Here we are in 2018.
We're doing a salute to service.
We need someone to sing the national anthem.
Oh yeah.
How about that girl from last year?
And so that's how I got the gig for the Superdome.
Isn't that incredible?
When you are ready and God wants to put you on a stage,
There is nothing that will get in the way of that.
Nothing.
He will literally move heaven and earth and have someone's best friend's boyfriend's dad put in a good word for you.
Right?
Which brings me to the song today.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus because genuinely I need to remember that more than ever right now.
That when the future of singing in public is scary right now and that's something that I love to do.
I absolutely love to lead people in singing together.
And now that's not something that's possible and it's heartbreaking.
So I'm very glad for the opportunity to start a podcast because at least now I can reach out and help people sing wherever they are.
You know,
Maybe you're singing in your car or in your shower or while you're doing the dishes.
That's often when I'm doing my singing.
I'm glad for this opportunity.
And I wouldn't have started this podcast if I was still able to lead music in the public settings that I was doing.
So I'm thankful.
And this is helping me so much to reframe it as something that it's like a new chapter.
Right?
Maybe you're facing the same thing.
I have no doubt that your life was also turned upside down recently with this COVID crisis or chaos or however you want to describe it.
And it honestly is so easy just to get like I'm going to pull my hair out or scream into a pillow or just run away.
But instead,
I invite you to trust in Jesus.
Look for the door that he's opening because there is a door opening when all the other avenues have shut.
Something is out there and it might be something as crazy as starting a podcast like it was for me.
Or I honestly don't know.
But I think you do.
If you get really honest with yourself.
Trust in Jesus.
Let's sing that together.
To trust in Jesus,
Just to take him at his word,
Just to rest upon his promise,
Just to trust in Jesus.
Jesus,
Jesus,
How I trust him,
How I've proved him o'er and o'er.
Jesus,
Jesus,
Precious Jesus,
Oh,
For grace to trust him more.
Oh,
How sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust his cleansing blood,
Just in simple faith to plunge me,
Need the healing cleansing flood.
Jesus,
Jesus,
How I trust him,
How I've proved him o'er and o'er.
Jesus,
Jesus,
Precious Jesus,
Oh,
For grace to trust him more.
Yes,
It is sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease,
Just from Jesus simply taking life and rest and joy and peace.
Jesus,
Jesus,
How I trust him,
How I've proved him o'er and o'er.
Jesus,
Jesus,
Precious Jesus,
Oh,
For grace to trust him more.
I'm so glad I learned to trust him,
Precious Jesus,
Savior friend.
And I know that he is with me,
Will be with me to the end.
Jesus,
Jesus,
How I trust him,
How I've proved him o'er and o'er.
Jesus,
Jesus,
Precious Jesus,
Oh,
For grace to trust him more.
All right,
That concludes our episode.
Thank you so much for listening.
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