God Uses the Bad Things in our Lives to bring Healing

Last night on the bus ride from The Children’s Home to our new hotel in Richmond, Virginia we were given the opportunity to share where we saw God this week. This is my first C.H.R.I.S.T Choir tour and I was super excited to be able to share this week with some of my closest friends. The very first performance on tour was in Roanoke. Everything was going great and I was having an amazing time, until I started to feel very sick. I had to run off of the stage during “The Word is Alive,” and I was so disappointed. I learned how much our choir cares about each one of their members. I was feeling better and performed for the second service. Then, we traveled to Centerville for an evening performance. I got off the bus feeling very ill and didn’t know if my stomach would be able to handle to wonderful taco bar that the church had prepared for us. So, I didn’t eat which led to Mrs. Susan not allowing me to perform in the service. By this time I was so upset with myself. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get to feeling better. I was so excited the week before and felt that God was going to do something amazing. This was not what I had expected. I sat in the front row and watch the choir perform. I was so amazed by how wonderful our choir was. We had forgotten the normal attitude of a choir that everything must be perfect and uptight. Instead, the choir was moving, and some were even crying. I lost it. As soon as I saw tears in Julianne Knox’s eyes and heard Kayla Ketron sing “Your Name” I was done for. I began to cry and smile at the same time. I saw God in each one of the members of C.H.R.I.S.T Choir. It was then when I realized that God had done something amazing through my own friends. My feeling for worship was rejuvenated and I was reminded that sometimes God uses the bad things in our lives to bring healing. This week has been one of the most amazing weeks of this year, and I am so happy that each one of the members and chaperones that are on the trip have used their talents to reveal God, not only to the ones we have been singing to, but also to one of their own.
Valerie Cashin