Saturday, April 14, 2007

A Divine Appointment


Well, I'm sure all my faithful readers are wondering...how did the audition go?

Okay, you probably haven't given it a single thought. After all, you do have lives.

But just in case you were wondering....

It was a divine appointment. This sweet woman walked through my front door, sat on my couch, pulled out her digital voice recorder, and listened to me serenade her to the best of my ability.

After I was done, she said I was hired. Unless of course, upon hearing my audition, her mother-in-law ("mil") decided otherwise. This woman, we'll call her "R", is married already. She and her husband were married a couple of years ago by the court and have decided, now that they are Believers, to get married in the church. That is the happy part, but in other areas, she's really struggling. And R cried. And cried, and cried. Suffice it to say that she does not have an easy life. She and her husband are living with her mil currently, and mil is paying for the wedding. Mil has made every decision about this wedding, including what dress R will wear. She has decided to pull them out of their church home and place the entire family (they have four children between them) into a completely different church for silly reasons I won't even get into here. R has an eight year-old daughter and triplet two year-olds, and her mil spends every waking moment telling R how she can do a better job raising them. And I am only barely scratching the surface here.

I didn't intend on getting into so many details...but my heart really went out to her. She feels powerless to control anything about her life, let alone her wedding. Her husband is supportive, but it seems he too has to bow down to mil's authority on pretty much everything since she is footing the bill for everything.

I prayed with her, attempted to encourage her, and just tried to listen as she poured out her heart in frustration and sadness.

We closed our conversation with her saying, "Well, once my mil hears this recording of you singing, we'll get back to you and let you know for sure if you've been chosen to sing in the wedding. If it were up to me, I'd hire you on the spot." We talked about price, how many and which songs she'd want done, but again said she had to defer to her mil on this.

My parting words to her were:

"Well, be sure to let her know that I only deal with the bride on these matters. Be sure to tell her that I will only talk to the bride. "

She gave me a coy smile, wiped her tears away, and I haven't heard from her since.

5 comments:

Glass Half Full said...

Divine appointment indeed -- talk about GOD!!!

Stephanie Wilson she/her @babysteph said...

Wow- I just can't imagine that! I mean, it sounds like something you'd only see in a movie! I pray for her, and hope she can get out from under that Mother in law's claws! I hope she does call you back and hopefully you can be a beacon of light into her life. Let me just announce right now I am so blessed with the in-laws God matched up with me!

Steph

Tonya said...

Sounds like God placed you in this women's life for a reason if only to encourage her that day. She will be in my prayers.

Kari Lynn said...

By the way, I was wondering. I would hate to be in that situation but I sure whatever has brought them to their current arrangement was necessary. I was just talking to a bride-to-be today about family and who really matters in the end.
Still want to talk to you, just finding the time!

Anonymous said...

You made her day. For sure.

Hats off to you. And that's a great picture you have there.


Mike
http://somethingaboutparenting.typepad.com/