Royal blue book cover, large happy eyes, and expressive white gloves welcomed children of all ages to enjoy singing at Sunday school. If a modern comparison is needed, he’s the original Barney—except with unquestionable sexuality and a chipper family in tow. Psalty the Singing Songbook was part and parcel of my formative song retention in vacation bible school and home life. In fact, I secretly wanted to be part of his musical family. Yes, I wanted Harmony, Rhythm, and Melody to be my siblings, so my faux name was Symphony. [What!? I was a creative homeschooler!] One song in particular has been etched in my memory and I can still recite the chorus: God is great! God is good! He kept His promise like He said He would. God is great! God is good! Blessed be the name of the Lord.* It’s odd that one melody and set of lyrics so simple, can be so profound.
A few weeks ago I tweeted about a Thanksgiving event I was coordinating at church. I jokingly said Jesus needed to perform a miracle with some fish and loaves to feed the amount of people attending. But, today I am humming like Psalty because God is great, God is good, and He kept His promise like He said He would. We have over 200 volunteers giving up their national holiday to serve others, 212 donated turkeys, 500 cans of donated vegetables, 167 donated pumpkin pies, 250 brand new jackets to give away and 1,500 food boxes donated from Mariners Church. But it gets better! My friend Matt from Mariners Outreach is bringing over 100 volunteers to serve along side of us AND they’re bringing a hair team to provide haircuts and styling to those in need.
I woke up at 4:32am this morning overwhelmed by God’s provision and care for those in need. Like the prolific songbook once sang, God is great! God is good! Blessed be the name of the Lord. Are you overwhelmed by God's goodness? Or just overwhelmed? Either way, speak it out! I love knowing how to specifically pray for those I care for.
30 comments:
I TOTALLY remember Psalty!! haha!!
That's awesome that your church is doing so much on Thanksgiving. Our church gave us the opportunity to go grocery shopping for Thanksgiving meals and we're SO HAPPY to do it! I'll be thinking of you on Thanksgiving!
OK When thinking of Gods goodness I can probably write a book but I will try to keep it short and sweet. I am reminded of Gods goodness daily when I think of how He restored my marriage about 12 yrs ago and when I look at my 14 yr. old son who had several seizures a day but is now seizure free for 10 yrs+. During these very difficult times God always reminded me that He was going to take care of it and He sure did!! GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!!
YESSSSSS!!! So so so so so exciting! AND I got really excited when I read the title of your post... I totally LOVED Psalty... my childhood is now flashing back before my eyes. Thanks for that.
Speaking of childhood... disneyland? soon?
Are you sure you want to know...haha. I am overwhelmed at the scary circumstances of my mom having an inoperable tumor in her throat. We are waiting to hear the official "it's cancer," but seeing as it has already invaded her lymph nodes, salivary glands, tonsils, esophagus, etc, they have scheduled 7 weeks of radiation (and possibly chemo).
I am overwhelmed at God's grace and goodness through this whole thing. Seeing Him using this to work in family members' lives to bring them back to God, seeing His provision in all things. He is overwhelming us with His love. He is so good and so great. As my mom said, "How can I not praise Him for all He does?!" Seeing my 18 year old sister say, "He gives and takes away. No matter what I will keep loving Jesus." What a loving and faithful God we serve.
Bianca-just wanted to thank you and tell you how much you inspire and remind me of God's love and wonderful life he's given me....even if I don't have a luxury of a nice house or a nice car.
You are truly a blessing to everyone you come into contact with...or vice versa.
Today, I'm thankful and know that I am blessed with your heart and your words.
Thank you!
Jen
Overwhelmed by His goodness for sure. God is SO good.
My sister and I were just talking about Psalty the other night! I secretly wanted to be apart of their family as well! :)
I am overwhelmed in some areas of live but more overwhelmed by God's goodness and faithfulness to see me through every day!! I love reading your posts b/c they have encouraged me a great deal lately! That is so wonderful about what your church is doing on Thanksgiving!
Overwhelmed by God's goodness AND overwhelmed that my family doesn't call to Him to receive His goodness. Love you...thank you for praying!
-j
Yes God is sooo good...even in overwhelming times of hardship, I am reminded that He is with me...and in overwhelming times of His blessings He reminds me He is with me...
@Michelle: You rock! Growing up in the 80s was amazing :)
@Angie: If this is who I think it is, I'm stinkin' blessed by your story. I know (by witnessing) that God is good.
@Diandra: Disney is a far off memory until 2012. I'm so swamped with work. Lunch on Thursday?
**Melinda** I need to email you! I will send you something through facebook. I can't believe this news.
@Ginette: YES! So true. Thanks for the comment. I will pray for you and your baby too ;)
@Jen: You blessed ME by your Tweet. I got misty in the eyes when I read it.
@Becky: God uses comments like this to move me and inspire me. I will push through and continue!
@J: I know how the specific things to pray for... and I do.
Going to sound lame/religious/emo:
I pray for those who check in on the blog. I'm so blessed to have met some amazing people here. Really, this has been a new level of accountability.
Love, The Cyber Dork
Bianca, I've read your blog since the very beginning of you starting it but I'd never actually posted a comment until Psalty brought me out of my Google Reader shell!
I LOVED my Psalty Bible--won for saying John 3:16 at Vacation Bible School when I was 6. I've been memorizing scripture ever since!
And today I am simply amazed at God's kindness to me. Even when I doubt His goodness He still lavishes not only material blessings on me, but also reminders of how big His grace really is. He definitely does not treat me as my sins deserve!
Anyway...thanks for the absolutely encouraging words. I know that reading your blog will convict and challenge me each and every time!
Overwhelmed by His goodness! In the anti-human trafficking ministry I am a part of, He has shown us time and again that HE is the Defender of the weak, the Liberator of the oppressed, and that the battle is His. What we (our group) are trying to focus on is taking up memorial stones (Joshua 4) in His honor when He shows His mighty hand. He tears down strongholds; we praise!!!
Mmm...so beautiful to read and be encouraged by the readers comments. So wonderful to see God working in the most trying of circumstances...such a reminder of his awesome works and power. Now I'm gettin' all teary eyed!
Today I am blessed that I even GET to read this blog midday, because I am now a stay at home mom to the kids who months ago said, "Mom remember when you didn't pay much attention to us because you worked so much?" I am blessed God is slowly and faithfully restoring my marriage and opening our eyes to what a marriage centered on Christ TRULY is, albeit it is sometimes a painfuly extruciating process of laying aside my selfish ways to become a selfless wife and mama.
P.S. I love Psalty SO SO SO much that I bought the CDs and Videos for my own kids! It's PRECIOUS to sing the same silly praise songs I grew up singing. :)
Its so funny that our generation learned from a big blue book and this generation learns from talking veggies! Nevertheless, I loved Psalty! We had a...wait for it...cassette tape and a... wait for it... VHS cassette. Oh, dear Lord, I've just aged myself. Oh well... ;)
@Christy: Overwhelming times build up our trust in the Lord. Hang in there...
@Sarah: WELCOME!!! So cool. Okay, out of curiosity, how'd you find the blog? More curiosity, were you an AWANA? We'd totally be the coolest dorks if you were :)
@Tish: dude?! I'm working on the next summer series and I want to address human trafficing!!! We seriously need to talk.
@Melissa: Did you watch any of the plays at CCWC? If so, you would've TOTALLY seen me in the Psalty plays!!! I was famous for 2 minutes :D
@Nay: You're a nerd!!! Girl, keep our age on the hush! Besides, I'm going to try to look like I'm 21 at Jelani's wedding on Saturday. I'm just sayin'...
Psalty is my homeboy!!! oh...and I love you.
Our sunday school singing books were so boring compared to that!!! Ours didn't even have pictures, just words that i couldn't read. Because I was young - i can read now. Obvs.
We had pretty darn good actions though! My fiance's church never taught actions to songs when he was young... so now he thinks i'm mad when i bust out mind blowing actions in the middle of church when we're singing a song that takes me back!
Bianca--I'm a fellow lover of Jesus who also happens to love photography. I read your sister's blog daily also and found out about you when she posted pictures of you. Then I discovered that you have all of the fantastic Juarez writing skills AND it's ALL about Jesus? Sign me up! I've been reading ever since.
And unfortunately I wasn't in AWANA. I was, however, in Missionettes, which is basically the charismatic church version of the same thing.
And I got Bible Trivia for Christmas when I was in 3rd grade and went to a Bible college where I make jokes about the minor prophets all the time. No way I'm avoiding the nerd label. ;)
God's hand in the details of life never gets old to me! The perfection of His plans for the broken and needy often involve the willingness of His children - so thank you for sharing His heart.
Yes, I am overwhelmed by God's goodness...Indeed, during Thanksgiving it's awesome how even our evil culture sees some good in giving thanks. Our finances have been very tight...JUST TODAY I asked my small group Bible study to pray for our finances know God provides. Got a check today in the mail which MORE THAN ENOUGH covers the bill I was worried about. We need to do more 1 Peter 5:7 (casting our cares about Him) and giving Him the thanks HE SO DESERVES on a daily basis. Loved the blog today. I AM IN AWE OF ALL HE HAS DONE AND CONT'D TO DO. Can't believe He calls me friend...for that I am ETERNALLY thankful
Sad because I've never heard of psalty and his family but happy because I'm going to be part of an Awesome event. Can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for CCM.
Sarah: I was in Missionettes too! My mom was a group leader, I was in Daisies then Primms and my little sister was a Rainbow. Still have my patches!!!
Bianca: I don't know Psalty, but Vicky and I grew up on Wee Sing Bible Songs. "Wee Sing" was a series of cassettes (I'm not old! We just didn't get a CD player for the longest time) for 5 year olds that came with little booklets to learn the words and actions. To this day, whenever someone says "Abe" or "Abraham" my dad busts out his actions to "Father Abraham" and won't stop till the head bobbing makes him dizzy!
WOW B!!! I'm so excited to hear about how God has provided above and beyond for this outreach!!! I'm so excited to see the OC and East LA believers come together and share Jesus together in their service! SO AWESOME!!
<3 Epinephrin 8-)
Hahahahahahahahahaha! Epinephrin? Hahahahahahaha! The closet stalker has revealed her identity :)
Woohoo! Love the blog comments :)
Psalty...yes, well, our days of listening to Psalty are NOT over! :-) I decided to look up Maranatha and I bought my lil kids all of the Psalty CD's. My husband wasn't exposed to Psalty as a kid...but now he's singing those songs all the time.
Whether in trials or tribulations or challenges Psalty always says, "Praise the Lord". And no matter what I am going through or worried about etc, it never changes the fact that the Lord is worthy of my praise!
We have been recently overwhelmed by God's goodness simply through the birth of our son. Seven weeks into the pregnancy found my in the ER, supposedly miscarrying. Yet, to God be the glory, eight months later our sweet little son was born. GOD IS GOOD!!! Blessed be the name of the Lord!!!
psalty fan here too!
weeeeee're melody and harmony and harmony and melody and everything we say and do is sweet just like our soooonnnggg!! :) i loved psalty!
hi, Bianca
I just wanted to say that it was very inspiring to read this blog..i think i will come back every once in a while to check it out.
i never watched Psalty but i had a few audio tapes that my parents recorded for me and i was looking up a song that i remembered(the one you quoted in this post) so I typed the lyrics into google and this is the first thing that came up! amazing, huh? it will be GREAT to be able to keep up with you by reading your blog and knowing you live your life with and for God. that is my hope and dream, that I will one day be able to realize how much God provides, and realize that it is ALL from Him!!
thanks for sharing this amazing repeat of the fish and loaves!
bye
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