Seeing the Sound of Faith
The old white bench pew, pictured in this Reba McEntire photo, tells a story. I don't know its past, but God used it to foretell the future. He had a special purpose – or shall I say repurpose – for this bench that is not only part of the “God and My Girlfriends” song story, but also intertwines with one of my Accidental Entrepreneur businesses.
Some of the furniture pieces sold in our family-owned furniture and home décor store *(2014-2017) were custom-built from reclaimed materials by my husband, Craig, and our business partner, Rick Dohler. Others were salvaged items found on treasure hunts, which we’d sometimes hear a little slice of history about to share with customers. I loved the “lost and found” part of our business: Lost relics of the past being found on ‘pickin' trips’ …for restoration or "upcycling" into unique decor and furnishing items in our store. Lost and found, then found again...the past reborn in the future, as a ‘new old’ treasure in someone’s home or business.
How this special bench-with-a-past ended up on the front page of The Tennessean newspaper with Miss Reba in 2017 has a heavenly backstory...one that revealed, in advance, a blessing God had ‘in store’!
It happened on April 25th, 2016. I know the exact date, because I made a note of it. Why? It was one of many ‘supernatural coincidences’ I’d been experiencing, from the moment I’d learned that Reba was planning to record the “God And My Girlfriends” song on her upcoming album. I was encountering so many of them, I'd started joyfully telling others, “It’s like God is giving me a scrapbook of souvenir moments surrounding this song!” (You can see a timeline of souvenir moments here).
My husband, Craig, knew it, too. He'd come home from working at the store that day — it was a Monday. Not his usual day to work in the store. He told me, “You’re not gonna believe what happened in the store today!”
A week or so prior, a photographer had come into the store, on another day that was also not Craig's usual workday. While browsing through the furniture, she spotted a vintage white bench and asked Craig if he’d be willing to rent it to her for a photo shoot. He said yes, and they worked out a rental arrangement.
As Craig shared what happened next, his excitement grew and his smile widened. “The photographer came back into the store today to return the rented bench,” he said, “I asked her how the photo shoot went. To my surprise, she looked around the store to make sure no one else was around... then offered to show me just one photo of the bench featured in the shoot.”
Then my husband, a former NFL punter/kicker, delivered the real ‘kicker’ of this story. “You’ll never guess what the picture was the photographer showed me. It was Reba, sitting on the white bench! The photo shoot was for Reba’s album cover!”
Wow. Wow!!
Craig and I both marveled at the divine orchestration that had to occur within this still-unfolding story. Of all the stores in Nashville, this photographer just happened to come into our store, on a day when my husband happened to be working. She happened to find this bench that was right for her photo shoot, which happened to be for Reba’s album cover, which my “God and My Girlfriends” song happened to be featured on. Then, the photographer just happened to bring the bench back on a day when Craig happened to be working again… and she acted on an inner-prompting, offering to let him see that ONE picture. All the while, having no idea that this store owner’s wife just happened to have a song on this very album!
Reba’s SING IT NOW: SONGS OF FAITH AND HOPE album was released 10 months later, with the white bench from our store featured in the pages of Reba’s booklet-style CD cover. It also appeared on the front page of the 1/29/2017 edition of The Tennessean newspaper in promotion of the album, accompanied by this headline:
THE SOUND OF FAITH.
Whoa - Drop the mic. That’s God, people!
Only God could ‘repurpose’ the past and make it a ‘present’ [gift] in my future...complete with two published scrapbook souvenir photos... ‘on record’ to prove it! I’ve SEEN The Sound of Faith come to life!
ReSOURCE:
*Our CR-71 store is still in operation, now owned by our business partner, Rick Dohler. Check it out if you're in the Nashville area! http://www.facebook.com/CR71store/