Welcome to “30 Days of Praise!” Every once in a while I go into a month long journey of fasting, praying and praising. It helps me re-commit my life to Christ, keep my priorities in order, slow down from the craziness of everyday life and take time to really listen to what God wants to tell me. I am always amazed and excited where my journey takes me, and this time I will be journaling everyday and sharing my experiences with you.
Day 6~
Today I went to one of my best friends dad’s funeral. Bro David was only 52 years old. Before he passed away I went to his house and personally told him my testimony of how I walked by faith and God healed me many times, including Cancer! We prayed together, his wife and I danced all around the kitchen singing praises to our God! As we were praying I felt a stronghold break in my life. I mean I physically felt pressure leave my body, like something that had a hold on me had let go! It was a great meeting! Bro David seemed to do better for a while, but he ultimately felt “sick and tired of being sick and tired” as he put it, and passed away last week. It has been especially hard for my friend because she was told for the past 8 years by her doctors that she would NEVER conceive, and she is now almost 5 months pregnant with her faith baby. Knowing that her father won’t be here when the baby is born has been very difficult. It’s been a very emotional spring Celebrating the new life, and fighting to keep the old. But God is faithful and through it all He has given us peace
I have been teaching myself ASL, American Sign Language, for the past year and a half. I interpret Christian songs in ASL while someone else sings them, almost every service at church. I have not yet signed for a deaf person, although there are several elderly people in the church who are hard of hearing and they really seem to enjoy it. It has been my great desire to not just sign because it is beautiful and expressive, but I really feel a burden for the deaf community and want to fully learn the language so I can minister better. I was on the schedule to sign at the funeral and as I was getting ready I was prayed and asked God to send 2 deaf people to the funeral whom I could minister to. I don’t know why I asked for 2, but I did. I am a Pastor’s wife, so before the funeral I was a very busy girl doing all the last minute details of making sure the service would go smoothly. I completely forgot about my prayer as I was preparing for the service.
Bro David was a very loved man and had many different passions, and because of this there were around 500 people at his funeral from all walks of life. It was one of the largest service, church or otherwise, that I have been a part of. And also the largest group that I have ever interpreted ASL for. To say the least I was very nervous. Thankfully the 2 songs, “Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone” and “I Can Only Imagine” came out with only a few mistakes. I tried to ignore all the people and just worship and interpret for God. As I sat back down and the woman beside me said, “Sarah look! Those two women did ASL along with you the whole time!” I hadn’t noticed and to be honest I’m really glad because it would have made me more nervous. But then I remembered my prayer and almost laughed out loud. My God is so good to me.
After the funeral one of the women ran right up to me to give me a hug. She was deaf and was so excited that someone was signing during the service. She said to me, “Your signing is beautiful and it made my day!” I nearly cried and hugged her again and thanked her. I told her I had been teaching myself and I was sorry that I wasn’t very good. She said again how beautiful I did, and very sweetly showed me how to sign “Imagine” differently so it had a more meaning. I was so thankful for her gentle instruction as well as her praise, and I’m sure it wasn’t all beautiful to someone who knows the language and saw my mistakes. I don’t know if the other woman was deaf, but she understood my ASL, so that was really cool. They both were smiling cheek to cheek when I looked at them after the songs! 
I love my God so much the he would bless me in the most unlikely of places!
You can watch me signing “Watch The Lamb” in ASL HERE!
About Sarah @ Stand By Faith
