As time goes on I would love to tell you more about myself but to begin I thought I would tell you about the background of "Sweet Jesus" and how it came to be written. First I think you should know that I do love music and I do love singing, but for the longest time I was scared to death to sing in front of anybody other than my own bathroom mirror. You know you do it too. :)
But it is amazing how God will prepare you for what he is planning for you, even for years down the road. I've been singing all my life in choirs at school and the sort, but I never really got involved (singing wise) at church until I moved to Murfreesboro, TN and started to attend World Outreach Church. We moved my freshman year of high school and during my sophomore year a friend of mine convinced me to tryout to lead worship with the youth praise and worship team. I don't remember ever being that nervous. It was so bad that I had to sit on the stage because I knew that my legs would not support me if I tried to stand throughout the entire audition. Amazingly, I made it and have been leading ever since. And through leading worship, God has been able to ease my fears to a point where I am able to sing in front of others, though I still get some pretty strong butterflies in my stomach. I look back now and see how God prepared me for Sweet Jesus and what he gave me through that song. So with that I'll explain where "Sweet Jesus" came from.There is a family here in Murfreesboro that my family is really good friends with. Within this family there is Mark and Julie and their kids Clay, Rachel, and Abby. This past summer (summer 2005) Abby was admitted into Vanderbilt Children's Hospital because of E. Coli poisoning. At the time Abby was three years old. While there, the E.Coli poisoning developed into HUS* (Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome). HUS is a life-threatening complication of an E. Coli 0157:H7 bacterial infection. Because there exists no way to halt the progression of HUS, doctors are left to support the HUS victim while the acute process runs its course. During her time at Vanderbilt, Abby suffered from multiple seizures and a stroke. At the worst I can remember was one morning around 4 a.m. My mom came running into my room and told me that she had to go to the hospital, that Abby wasn't responding, that Julie (Abby's mom) needed her, and that I needed to get up and pray. She left and I got up and called my two best friends, Allison and Amy. Amy ended up making her way to my house so we could pray together. While I was waiting for her to arrive, I pulled out my bible and opened it to Isaiah 53, where it talks about that by his (Jesus') stripes (wounds) we are healed. I remember almost begging God to save her and let her live. I prayed everything I knew to pray but at one point I stopped, not knowing what else to pray feeling completely helpless. Then God reminded me about the power in the name of Jesus. He reminded me that there is so much more than salvation (and I am not trying to diminish the enormity of that amazing gift in any way) in Jesus' death, that there is power and glory and healing and mercy. And from that idea, God gave me the words to "Sweet Jesus". At that point in time, I didn't know how to play an instrument well enough to complete the song so I simply had words and a melody playing over and over in my head. My brother-in-law, Ben (who is amazingly talented) ended up helping me complete it. I sang it for him one time, and he put guitar to it and we recorded it.To this day I am still floored that God gave me, a girl who feared singing in front of others and couldn't play an instrument to save her life, a song. And if this is the only song that I ever write I know that I am blessed to have this one, for I know it is from God and I would rather have one given from him than hundreds that were not.And abby, you may ask? She is doing amazingly. God is so good and awesome. She turned four in the hospital and after going through a couple of weeks of rehab in Georgia, she came home and is jumping on trampolines. God is restoring her sight, her speech, and she is eating on her own. She is laughing and simply doing beautifully. She is still going through therapy but God is restoring every last bit of health into her little body. Praise God!!! So I hope that this song will be a song that speaks of who God is and give you hope and strength in Him.*If you would like to learn more about HUS go to http://www.about-hus.com/
I edited my profile with Thomas€™ Myspace Editor V3.6 !
