Hospital and Buses

Today we rose at around 6 and fit in an hour of rehearsal, 7-8, before leaving to catch the bus+train+bus to Inova Alexandria Hospital, with our packed tuna and ham and cheese to make sandwiches (and we actually left the tuna on the street when we took off on our first bus...then we stopped the driver and elaine ran to get it) When we got there, we found the volunteering services office and met the lady who we had contacted about our coming to sing. She asked to hear a song, and we sang "That's the Way It Is," which she loved =D

We then proceeded to go to the cafeteria to sing a few songs, and then we had the opportunity to go to some of the ICU units and emergency room areas ....what a blessing. There was some hesitation about having us sing in the main emergency room unit...but God eventually provided a path! And although we weren't permitted to particularly sing to the patients because of privacy matters, there were some looking, some listening, including doctors and nurses (who are, we often forget, just as broken spiritually although not so much physically)...and we hold faith that His Word has been sent forth, and we pray for Him to continue His changing of hearts through the mere trivial efforts we set forth, which to our gracious King, are most valuable.

We returned to the volunteer office, and each of us were given $3 certificates for use at the cafeteria! Thank you Lord! =D So we went down and bought random things (some of us cakes, some of us chicken, some of us fries) and ate them with our tuna sandwiches. =D

Then we went up to the volunteer office again, and met a group of the staff (I think associated with the volunteer) and ended up singing a few songs for them...then one of the chaplain's of the hospital walked in....and he wanted to connect us to the system to get us on one of the channels at the hospital! we were entirely willing, so decided to just catch the next bus. We went to sing...and were blessed by the opportunity God had provided a way for areas of the hospital we might not have been able to actually go to...to hear His message in our songs.

After all this, we walked out of the hospital and while we waited at the bus stop, we were practicing Held. Sometime in the middle of the song, an elderly woman came along and stopped to listen to us. To us it seemed she was another person that would come, tell us "good job" or perhaps ask us where we're from, and what we do. But when we finished, she came around to ask "prayers to God?" After a moment of confusion, we all nodded, saying yes, yes. She explained that she was from Greece and didn't speak much English, but thought that we were giving praises to God because, according to her words, we "seemed nice" and....she began sharing about how she had lost two loved ones within a year...and we were all amazed, and blessed. How was it that she had not understood the words, yet known that we were believers? Or even more, how is it that she had happened to share of her loss of loved ones right after Held, when she had not understood the words of this song written for those that have lost loved ones? God is so good, so sovereign, and so loving. We were all so thankful, so showered with God's love, in His bringing this beautiful woman to us, at the perfect time (what if we had caught the earlier bus?) while we were singing the perfect song. His plan is always perfect. We began singing Still for her as she showed us pictures of her grandchildren...and as we began singing she began crying, and at this our hearts broke even more, in amazement and gratefulness for God's providence.