An overnight sensation.

People in this town, to swoop into huge generalization mode, are either natives (not that many) or people with a plan. They're here to be discovered. And a whole lot of them don't deserve to be, or won't work hard enough, or don't have the right look (yep, it does come down to that), or their skin isn't thick enough, they aren't unique enough, they're too unique and can't easily be categorized, etc.

Hey, I have to count myself among those who moved here with a plan. Actually, I visited Schmoozic City five years before I actually moved here. My goal was to become a record executive type. Yep, I did it. And now it's in my rear view mirror, off to a different calling.

The other day we met a musician in our neighborhood. An actual working musician. They call this city "Music City" on purpose, but a recent statistic stated that we have the most working musicians of any city in America--yep, more than New York or the city of angels. This, however, is deceptive...if I recall correctly, the survey said that this meant .6 of a percentage in this town actually made their living being a musician.

Which brings me to Keith Urban.

That guy played gigs in this town for eons, with some local following, but no major impact. He even signed with a good sized label, but no major impact there. He moved here sixteen years ago, and for most of that time labored in obscurity.

All of a sudden, it seemed, things exploded for him. And now Mr. Nicole Kidman is a superstar, and still hangs out in local venues because that's how we are in Music City--virtually paparazzi free, and not swarmed by residents. We treat famous people like that almost universally, so when Keith and Nicole want to go out to Bread and Company, or go see a movie, or go to Bed Bath and Beyond, we leave them the heck alone. I know when I saw Ronnie Dunn at kiddo's cross country meets, or sat next to Darrell Waltrip at one of kiddo's soccer games, I left them the heck alone...and so did everyone else.

But the bottom line was, Keith labored for a long, long time without anyone noticing to speak of. Yeah, he was cute back then too...so that's not it. Perhaps he made it partially because he was like us: TSTQ. That's our acronym around here: depending on the day we call it "Too Stubborn To Quit" or "Too Stupid to Quit."

That's certainly part of how hubs and I have stayed together twenty five years, at least some segment of it. Although I have to say--how could ANYONE stay together without God? That puzzles me, frankly...

So to the story at hand. Last Monday was a horrifically despairing day. We didn't see any way to get from the crises that had lingered like bad odors, some for many months, and no way out. Then in the span of thirty-six hours last Tuesday and Wednesday, we had five important positive things happened that gave us great hope, comfort, and provision. All after striving for a couple of years on some of it.

I had pleaded to God to show me what to do next, actually yelled at Him, knowing from the Psalms that He can take it. That was cathartic in a way, but still no word. Then all of a sudden...wow. Hubs and I could see the effort that we had been putting in for so long come together, in a great relief. I can see this being the time of blessing that equals the time of suffering that the writer in Psalm 90 talks about. So grateful, thankful, joyous...can't begin to put words to it that truly describe the place we reside right now.

Hey, we can't sing like Keith Urban, but we know what "overnight success" feels like. God has very interesting timing, and does quite an admirable job showing that it is indeed God's work. At the same time, waiting for resolution/blessing/provision to rain down on one's head without doing the work one can do and needs to do is a pretty much pointless activity (or lack thereof).

If you've been praying for us, we are truly grateful. Thanks.