Email to Kari Jobe

Below is an email I just sent to Kari Jobe.  Whether I ever get a response back or not, I felt compelled to share what God has done.  He is so good!  Maybe it will bless whoever reads it.

Hi Kari,

I don't know if this message will actually get all the way to you but I am hoping so!  I will be coming to your concert in Ames on the 24th and I wish now I had purchased the VIP tickets so I could tell you this face to face.

The Garden has become a worship set to me that has taken on such personal meaning.  The songs are truly written on my heart.  In January of 2015, we lost our third child.  Following the devastation of that loss, I started dealing with immense health struggles.  Through this suffering, God led us to adopt.  We are currently in process to bring home an 11 year old boy and 7 year old girl (siblings) from Africa later this year.  While going through much pain in the waiting season, I would listen to your lyrics and the Lord would bring peace, hope and ultimately healing to my soul, though my physical healing has not yet come.  I have learned He needed to do emotional and spiritual healing far more than physical.  And yet I still trust Him eagerly and with confidence to bring the physical in His time.

I have always loved the name Ivy for a girl.  Months ago, God helped me to discover that it means faithfulness.  Our African daughter is named Jovanie (which sounds similar to Ivy when spoken out loud).  We will be keeping that and adding Ivy as her middle name.  So, when I heard Ivy in "The Garden", my ears perked up.  Just this morning, I got on your website and read the story behind this album.  I was completely blown away by what I read.  Your sister's loss of a child was the beginning of the birth of these songs.  Our loss is what began my own journey of healing.  Ivy was James's middle name; Ivy is the middle name God gave me for our adopted daughter.  And then I went on to read what you described about ivy....how it is the most resilient plant, able to grow in harsh climates and situations.  Our daughter Jovanie Ivy has done just that - growing in a harsh climate and situation until she comes home to us.

I praise God for how He imparted all of this to both of us in different ways, through the work of the Holy Spirit.  I hope you are blessed in knowing this, as I am!  He truly does make all things new.