Good morning…
“Sue,” she wrote yesterday from Jacksonville, Florida. “I’m getting chills reading today’s reflection, He Closed His Eyes. When I pressed play and heard Christy Nockel’s stunning, distinctive voice, I was brought back to my Mom’s final moments last Valentine’s Day as I played Christy’s version of ‘Be Thou My Vision.’ Mom was ushered on to heaven to these words – and only weeks before I learned the words were written by a man from Cavan, Ireland where my Dad was born. God covered me in His grace and I felt the true presence of the Holy Spirit – such sacred ground. Will always connect Christy’s voice to those precious moments.”
“Oh, how amazing,” I replied. “Christy’s voice is so distinctive and so so God-given. I love hearing the story of your Mom’s gracious home-going to heaven. May I share our texts in our blog tomorrow with Christy’s version of this hymn? God is so boldly and actively at work among us. Chills. Chills. Undeniable chills.”
“Yes,” she responded, “and what is also so crazy I read an interview with Christy (Ann Voskamp reposted it, that’s how I discovered her) and she recorded this song just weeks before her own mother passed away unexpectedly. I had loved the words so much I framed them. Fast forward a year later on one of the most difficult days for Mom, I left memory care so overwhelmed. I got in the car and I hear a man talking about this hymn and it’s history – what?!! In that very moment! It was the hymn framed by my bedside written by a man from the small village where my Dad was born. I know it was a Godwink! The random radio program was literally called “Five Minutes of Church History” – what are the odds I would catch those five minutes? Never heard it before or since.”
Chills. Chills. Undeniable chills.
I will sing to the Eternal all of my life; I will call my God good as long as I live (Psalm 104:33, VOICE).
…Sue…
