12-26-19 I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends celebrating the birth of our Savior! Sorry I’ve been out of the loop for the past couple of weeks. This is a crazy time of year for me with Christmas shows and family in town. I went from rehearsing and performing to nonstop cooking! Like most of you reading this, I’m worn out! For those of you who weren’t at one of my Christmas shows, I want to share a new song that I wrote and performed this year. I wrote it with Rachel Barrentine, and the song is called Yes. It talks about Mary saying yes, Joseph saying yes, and then our opportunity to say yes to the Savior. The truth is, saying yes can be scary at times. When Mary said yes, she had no idea how Joseph or her family would receive that yes. Would they believe her or leave her? Same thing with Joseph. He said yes knowing he could be the laughingstock of his community. After all, his fiancé was pregnant, and there’s no way he should have stayed with her. And then it’s our turn. We have the opportunity to say yes to this baby as well. Our yes can be scary because saying yes to God means we have to say no to things of this world. Saying yes can sometimes mean we have to let go of our security, our safety, and follow a path that others might think is crazy. When I said yes to ministry 14 years ago, a lot of people thought I was crazy. Truth is, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was extremely naïve and thought that my yes would put me on a road filled with rainbows and butterflies. I didn’t expect my yes to be so difficult. Can you relate? Have you found that following Jesus is harder than you thought it would be at times? Do you struggle with saying no to things of this world in order to say yes to God? When God asks you to step out in faith, does no seem like a much safer way to go? The simple truth is, saying yes will come with consequences, just like it did for Mary and Joseph. But praise God they said yes! Their yes paved the way to the greatest gift we could ever receive, the gift of salvation! Their yes radically changed the world! We have the benefit of knowing how their story ends. Unfortunately, we don’t have the benefit of seeing how our stories here on this earth will end. This past year has been the toughest one yet in my ministry. It has stretched me in ways I didn’t know I could stretch. It has made me question, truly question, my yes to God. Did I hear him right? If I did, then why is this so hard right now? Yet the struggle has made me stronger. The doubts have made me dive deeper in my faith. The questions have led to a beautiful awareness of how present God truly is in my life. If your yes to God is leading you down a path that is harder than you thought, hang in there! I get it. But please, please, please, don’t give up. Remember, things will come at you when you’re following God’s path, it will be harder than you think, but the rewards are eternal. And we know that the greatest reward from our yes to Jesus will be our entry into heaven where we will be dancing and singing on those glorious streets of gold! So from a fellow “Yes” girl, live out that yes with all your heart! Take the path that’s scary, trusting God will be with you every step of the way. Keep your eyes on Jesus when you feel overwhelmed, and He will guide your steps. And by the way, if you would like to say yes to helping my ministry with a year-end financial gift (which I could use this year more than ever!), just click the donate button at the bottom of the page. You would literally be paving the way for me continue my mission to say YES to God! Gifts of any size would be so appreciated. Below are the lyrics to the song “Yes.” My hope and prayer is that when God calls you, you will say YES! Hugs and love, Jill YES Words and music by Rachel Barrentine and Jill Miller © 2019 How could this be that the Lord has favored me I’m bursting with song, as I carry God’s own son Will Joseph see me as broken or will he trust that I’m chosen Either way, this will be my reply Yes to the wonder, Yes to the babe The Hope of Heaven has come to save Yes to the glory, Yes to the light The Joy of Jesus is born this night I adore this Gift of Grace So here today, I will say yes How could this be, am I crazy to believe The angel appeared, with a message crystal clear I won’t abandon Mary, I’ll rejoice in the child she carries Here and now, this will be my reply Yes to the wonder, Yes to the babe The Hope of Heaven has come to save Yes to the glory, Yes to the light The Joy of Jesus is born this night I adore this Gift of Grace So here today, I will say yes With all of heaven, we will agree He’s our Messiah, our Prince of Peace Here and now, this will be our reply Yes to the wonder, Yes to the babe The Hope of Heaven has come to save Yes to the glory, Yes to the light The Joy of Jesus is born this night We adore this Gift of Grace So here today, we will say yes