Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith
When You Don’t Feel Joyful, God Still Sees You At Christmas: Steve Wariner and The Isaacs
Though Christmas is typically a happy time of year, full of gifts and parties and celebrations, many find it hard to find joy at Christmas time. Maybe you’ve had a loss, or received some bad news, or a scary diagnosis. Through all the celebrating and good cheer, God still sees you. And in Him, you can draw strength that will never fail you. Jeremiah 33:3 tells us that God is just waiting to do mighty things if we’ll just reach out to Him. “Call to Me,” He says, “and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” We wish we could know what our future holds or if and when we’ll get out of a season of hurt and pain—but what we do know is that we can call on God and He will be there for us. His very existence assures us that we’re never alone. Our guests this week, country music star Steve Wariner and country gospel group The Isaacs know a little bit about what leaning on God looks like, and how He shows up not only in the Christmas songs and celebrations we hear and see at Christmas, but through times of confusion, doubt, pain, sickness and sorrow.
Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:
Past interview: Dave Pittman
Upcoming interview: Amy Grant
Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Interview Quotes:
“I remember the first time I played music was in church, the first music I heard was in church.” - Steve Wariner
“During those really hard times when you look around and so many friends are going away and friends of friends or relatives that it was starting to get really close, the circle closer, I found myself really turning into faith a lot. And really, you know, you get down on your knees and you go, Man, this is an unprecedented time we're in. And you draw back on those early experiences in your life lessons and turn to those things. It's very humbling, these times, that’s for sure. And I try to turn to some people that need some help and help them if I can.” - Steve Wariner
“It really does my heart good to play that music and bring it out and sing beautiful melodies, and the real lyrics that really mean what Christmas is.” - Steve Wariner
“We recorded when we were just small children singing in harmony. And so it was something that was just surrounding us. And so it was a very natural fit for us to grow up loving music, different kinds of music…faith has been the core of everything that we are and everything that we've ever wanted to do, just to be whatever God wanted us to be. ” - Sonya Isaacs Yeary
“There was a banjo and a guitar and prayer in our home all the time.” - Rebecca Isaacs Bowman
“To be able to be where I am now and look back on my past and know that God has ordained our family in the positions that we are, I look at it now and I could see it the alignment all the way from Mom and Dad getting saved into who we are today, who we are independently.” - Ben Isaacs
“We know how blessed we are to have each other.” - Sonya Isaacs Yeary
“I'm convinced that if you can just let your egos at the door and pray together, then you'll stay together.” - Rebecca Isaacs Bowman
“The minute my flesh hit the floor, God already knew my heart. He knew I was open to whatever He had. And it was a process.” - Lily Isaacs
“I think that choosing the type of songs that you sing and knowing that you can sing them anywhere makes a big difference in how you can spread the word and the word of hope.” - Ben Isaacs
“We do love to share what God has brought us through and His faithfulness and everything, because He is so faithful, He's been so faithful to us through all the things and so much more. And He still is leading us through.” - Sonya Isaacs Yeary
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Enjoy watching these additional videos from Jesus Calling YouTube channel:
Audio Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PrbuwH
Video Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PsmEkJ
What’s Good? Playlist: https://bit.ly/3i7VUlZ
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