For three years of my single life, I spent my time serving at an incredible church in Grapevine, Texas. This church is known all over the country as being one of the largest mega-churches and having the most creative and entertaining ways of doing church. I had the privilege and honor of being a vocalist there from the time I was twenty years old until I was twenty-three. While I was there, I met one of the most talented women ever! Still to this day I can hear her voice singing like she were right beside me. She has a voice that is unforgettable! She sings like an angel, no doubt. Seriously, I do not know how she has kept from being famous because she is that good! Not only does she have the best voice ever but she is one of the most beautiful women I've ever known. I remember being excited to see what she would wear next because she always wore the most hip outfits. She is known for having impeccable taste! I will never forget her calling me one morning around 6:30am as I was getting ready to leave my apartment and drive to work. "Hey girl! I wanna take you to lunch today! Can you go?" She had just become full time at church in the music ministry so I thought maybe she needed to talk to me about something regarding ministry. She obviously knew I was confused by her call because we talked at church and hung out during music stuff but we didn't usually spend one on one time together. "Amanda, everything is fine. I just want to spend time getting to know you. I'm your friend and I feel like I don't really know you." So that day she picked me up from my job, The Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and we went to La Madeline's for tomato basil soup. I remember we both ordered the same thing. During our lunch, we laughed and talked about life, family and clothes. She had no idea how much that lunch meant to me. It was a time in my life where I felt ugly, alone and depressed and she called me her friend. That day, she gave me life.
As we left the restaurant and walked to her car, there was a fork in the parking lot. Yes, an actual fork. I remember us laughing about it. "Look there's a fork in the road." It may have been a simple lunch date for her but I looked up to her in so many ways and felt so incredibly loved that she would want to get to know me. The Holy Spirit used her to show His love. He wrapped His arms around me during a very lonely time in my life by prompting her to take me to lunch.
Tonight this precious one that brought life to me is now struggling for her own. A couple of days ago she complained of a horrible headache. But now she lay in a hospital bed with a blood clot on her brain and doctors are unable to do surgery. I don't know nor understand all the details of what is going on medically but I do know that she needs a miracle.
Before moving to Austin, I lived in the same neighborhood as her and often ran into her at Target. While I don't have a connection to her anymore, I feel a strong one from the past. I keep thinking about all the times I sang with her and the way she held her microphone and her stage presence and just how awesome she was at everything she did. I can see her gorgeous long finger nails and her big wedding ring! I would listen to her do the "welcomes" at church and now as I do the "welcomes" at my own church, I always try to do them with as much excitement as she did! She is incredible in front of people, incredible! This past Easter at my Church, I sang a song she was known for doing at Easter. The very first time I heard the old hymn, Were You There, was her singing it. Two weeks ago, on Easter, I sang it at my church exactly the way she did. Or at least I tried to! :) I can't quit thinking about her and her husband (they do not have children) and how much joy she has given so many people. Her ministry with music, women and so much more! I don't know if I have ever known ONE person to have SO much talent!
Please join me in praying for a miracle. I know she is surrounded by one heck of a church family but I ask you to pray for her and pray for her precious husband. She is in a medically induced coma but I believe now it is a coma due to the clot and the brain swelling. Please pray for this precious, beautiful and Godly woman, Vanessa.
