Ms. Lara,
Good Afternoon. I've been listening to The Fish for about 3 months now. I
found the station one day while flipping through the radio channels. I
really like the music that is played, always before I didn't like the
Christian station music. Guess things do change when you really ask Jesus
to take over your life.
I'm at work right now on lunch and I heard you say that we could e-mail any
prayer requests that we may have to you. Well here is my prayer request:
I'm currently looking for permanent housing and I think I found a place.
Please pray that it is the place that God wants me to be at. Also, I just
want to send a thank you prayer to God for the job that He has blessed me
with.
And here's my response:
BILL!!!!
WELCOME!!!
And thank you so much for your kind email.
I discovered Christian music a few years ago. I had gotten a satellite
radio to hear a certain raunchy talk show host who was going to Sirius, and
ended up listening to the channel that played Contemporary Christian music.
Soon after, I rededicated my life to the Lord, and found out about The Fish.
:-)
And yes, it is a dangerous thing to let Jesus take over your life! And I
mean that in the best way--when you truly trust Him, things might get shaken
up, and even a little scary, but you will be able to look back and see His
hand at work, growing you and shaping you into the person God created you to
be. I am so happy and excited for you!
That is wonderful news about your job! CONGRATS!!! And yes, we will be
lifting you up in prayer regarding your housing.
Would you join us in prayer for Bill? And isn't it amazing to see that God is already working in his life? Please know that you can email a prayer request anytime to lara@thefish959.com. Just let me know if it's one that stays between us, or one I can share with our listener family. I want you to know that this is a safe place...there is no judgment, just a community that wants to support you and love on you.
I know that holidays can be tough, and how hard it is to be alone when it seems like everyone else in the world is laughing and enjoying a home-cooked meal with their family. I hope that you will spend some time with us this weekend, and let this positive music comfort you and uplift you. And I wanted to share the lyrics to one of my favorite hymns, one that you may have sung in church many times. I always thought that it was just a nice, pretty song until I heard the story behind it.
The song “It Is Well”
was written by Horatio Spafford, a man whose four daughters had just drowned after their
boat collided with another. He received a telegram from his wife, who
had also been on the ship, and it said only two words.
“Saved. Alone.”
As he sailed to be with his wife, he paced the decks of the ship. He asked the captain to tell him when they were passing over the bodies of his daughters, and when he was notified, he said, "When sorrows like sea billows roll...whatever my lot, though hath taught me to say, It is Well, it is well with my soul."
What happens to your heart in a moment like that?
There are just no answers to a tragedy like that.
Could I respond to losing my son with the words, "It is well with my soul?"
I pray that I could. I know that I want faith that allows me to. I want to trust God so completely that I am at peace no matter what happens, whether that is a day that goes badly or a loss so unimaginable that you don't know how you will ever recover.
Maybe this Memorial Day Weekend will be the best weekend of your life, or maybe the worst. Chances are it will be somewhere in between.
Know that God will meet you where you are. And that sometimes we might sing the words to this song and be experiencing peace like a river. The next day not so much. Through all of it, hold on to the fact (and it is a fact, not some fairytale) that Christ has shed His own blood for YOUR soul. That as He was being beaten, as His beard was being pulled out by the roots, as He breathed that final breath on the cross, it was YOUR face that He saw. And my face. And Bill's face. And it was Horatio Spafford's face, which was why Mr. Spafford was able to write this after his whole world came apart:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. Refrain: It is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul. 2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. (Refrain) 3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! (Refrain) 4. And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soul. (Refrain)
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