Are You Ready?

Writer’s Note: In the summer of 2022, I attended a couple of conferences in Palm Springs, California. The conferences were held by my mentor and spiritual mama, Cheryl Salem. The below is a result of one of those conferences.

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I remember sitting in front of my tv in September 1980 watching the Miss America competition. There was something fun about trying to predict who would win. Competitive even at a young age, I was, I guess. Growing up in Arizona, I always wanted Miss Arizona to win, but always it seemed like someone from “the South” would win.

They were always talking about God.

As if that mattered to a little unchurched Hispanic girl from Phoenix. Yet, here I was watching yet another girl from the South – Mississippi, no less – win Miss America again. I remember she had this big smile that irritated me. She smiled real big as the previous winner set the crown on her head.

Ugh.

20+ years later, I found myself in a church in Spokane, Washington hearing Miss America 1980 Cheryl Prewitt Salem and her husband, Harry Salem II, preach together. I didn’t like her back in 1980, but as I listened and learned to them preach, those feelings fell to the wayside quickly. After hearing her own personal story at church, I knew that there was a reason that God connected me to her again.

I lost track of her after their last visit to that church. But, in 2021, God reconnected us. And, in the summer of 2022 I found myself not only attending conferences she hosted, but I was serving in any capacity I could do.

And boy oh boy, was I learning.

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Praying those first couple of days at the conference, I kept hearing the question, “Are you ready?” I then began humming a tune that I had never heard before.

Now, I am not a singer, nor a songwriter. You ask me to play “middle C” on a piano and I can play it. You ask me to sing it, and, outside of a playing it on the piano it ain’t gonna happen. I can sing, but the shower is where I think I sing best. .

But, I had this tune. And I had this question.

My Type A-ness does not allow for failure sometimes. We had homework to do at this conference. Me being me, I wanted to do the homework. I wanted to do what I was told to do, but when it comes to music – which this conference was “semi-” about, I often battle “impostor syndrome”.

I am a worshiper of the Lord God Almighty. Worshiping God isn’t just something I do. It’s who I am. I will sing to Him in praise and worship whenever and wherever I am. But, when you’re not musically trained, and you’re attending a conference or class that includes music, insecurity can turn your mind into a minefield.

Because I know God has gifted me as a worshiper, He has a way of challenging me in this area. He won’t allow me to settle in a comfort zone, so He challenges me. Outside of wanting to serve at the conferences, that’s what my attendance was about – challenge.

I’m not a singer, but He has put me on stage behind a microphone. I hate it, but He does it anyway. I operate in His anointing when I obey. No matter how much I resist, He lovingly and patiently waits for me to say “Yes”. Which I usually do.

Yet, here I was, sitting in a hotel bathroom, praying. The homework this particular day was to write a song. However, the Lord leads you, write a song. And so, in the bathroom, I prayed. I prayed about the homework. I prayed about this question He gave me. I prayed about the tune in my head.

I didn’t want to wake up those on either side of my room, so the bathroom was the only place I could go. I couldn’t pray loudly, but I could at least make a little sound. Then, at one point, I was just still and silent.

I had a question. I had a tune. How do I marry the two?

The words began to flow….

Are you ready? I’m coming. I’m coming for my bride.

The words kept flowing.

Things are shaking and breaking. There is no where else to hide.

I was shaking inside as I began sing this aloud.

Will you awaken from your slumber to take your place by my side?

I grabbed my phone and began recording.

Will you marry me? I’m knocking at your door. Will you marry me? I’m coming for you.

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God has blessed me with insight. Some, I understand and some I don’t. God shows and tells me things that are meant for now while other things are for the future. To be honest, I often doubt what it is He tells me. I wrestle with it in my mind.

I’m no bible scholar or theologian. I study the Bible, but it is hard for me to retain that knowledge. I struggle with memory. As such, I feel that disqualifies me (impostor syndrome again) from speaking on anything related to God. I have to know that I know that I know that God wants me to speak or I won’t do it. I even do that with my writing.

When I operate out of His will, it usually goes bad. But, when I am in His will, it is indescribable. I don’t always remember it. There is something about these lyrics, though, that God will not allow me to forget. And I believe the time is right for me to…well…write about it.

Singing the words in that bathroom, I was a mess. I knew that this was from the Lord. There ain’t no way I could have written it. God wrote it through me.

As I sang, I kept thinking of the Book of Matthew, chapter 25. In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, there were 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom. They each had their oil lamps with them, but only five of them brought extra oil with them in case their lamp went out. The other five did not. The bridegroom took awhile to come and they all fell asleep.

When He finally arrived, those with oil were able to trim their lamps (making sure they worked) and go meet Him. Those who didn’t, had to go out and buy some, but the bridegroom came to gather those who were ready for the wedding feast.

And then the door was closed. The ones NOT READY missed the bridegroom.

Then I pictured “running” to the Lord.

It made me think of the Shulammite in Song of Solomon, chapter 3. The bride longed to see her love. She sought him but couldn’t find him. So she got up and went through the city searching for her bridegroom.

I’m running to you. I’m running to you. I’m running to you. I’m running to you. I’m running to you.I’m running to you. I’m running.

She searched until she found Him ‘home her soul loves’. She was ready to do whatever it took – running, seeking, finding – to find her love

I say yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. I say yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. I will marry You.

I. Will. Marry. You.

Meditate on those words for a moment.

⁶ Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Revelation 16:6-8 (ESV)

“his Bride has made herself ready”

Selah.

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I’m not going to post the original “bathroom recording” of it because it’s not high-quality audio. But, I do have a newer audio recording. Let me warn you, however, it is only nominally better than, the “bathroom recording”.

Again, I’m not a singer. Yet, given the time and season we are currently living in, I believe the timing is right. We are living in a time where these lyrics take on a very relevant meaning.

Jesus is coming. Are you ready?

For those who have ears to hear, let them hear.

©Sunny Cadwallader, July 2022, September 2022

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Knees Down, Prayers Up

Sunny