Overwhelmed by God’s Love
By Lou Juan Mignogna
Entering the Christmas
season, all started out as usual for me. As choir director, early preparation for our
Christmas music is important, and when working on a cantata it is necessary to start in
October. Praying about the music and desiring to glorify God visually as well as
musically, the thought of displaying a banner and crown for emphasis came to mind. Feeling
confidant that I had someone to take full responsibility of getting the banner made we
went ahead with plans. Unforeseeable circumstances changed that, and I became much more
involved than I had planned to be. Thank God for the ladies that came forward and did most
of the actual work.
By late November it became evident that all my
Christmas preparations would have to be completed by December 12. We had made a decision
to leave for our holiday visits with family in Pennsylvania and Maryland on that Sunday
right after the presentation of the cantata. That meant the completion of the banner, and
all my shopping, wrapping, cooking, cards, and packing would have to be done by the 12th.
I was beginning to feel stressed out, the tasks ahead seemed too much for me to handle.
Besides all that, I was having a problem with one ear, and a little sinus problem was
making it difficult to clearly hear the taped background music of the cantata.
As the deadline drew near I was feeling tired,
nervous about the music, and totally inadequate to direct the cantata. The weaker I felt
the more I knew I had to lean on my Lord. The scripture in II Corinthians 12:9,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" had a
lot of meaning for me. Well, as most of you know the choir and youth gave a
wonderful presentation of the cantata. Relief followed with the completion of each song.
When we came to the last song there was such a
sense of God's presence and a realization that God had taken control. I felt so
overwhelmed by His love and power as we sang the words, "He is Lord of all, Lord of
this world and the next...To the rock of our salvation, to God our redeemer, we sing a new
song and to Him our praises bring...He is Lord of all". I had sung those words many
times during rehearsals, but suddenly I knew the meaning.
Yes, He is Lord of all that we will let Him be. Praise God, I wouldn't want it any other way.