A beautiful letter

Don't ever discount God's love. He constantly pours it out on us thru amazing acts of kindness & grace. It happened to me last night in a letter I received from a fan who is using the beauty & peace in my recordings to strengthen his faith and replenish his spirit in the midst of cancer. His kind words are such a blessing & encouragement to me - I'm honored to share them with you.

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"Hi, Rick, my name is **** ****. I recently heard some of your music on SPA (Sirius radio) and was overwhelmed with the beauty and depth. I confess I was not familiar with your work before hearing it but am now a huge fan. I purchased “Endless” on the basis of hearing one song ("Wonderful, Merciful Savior") and absolutely love every song on the CD (especially my all-time favorite, "Be Thou My Vision.") I just discovered your website and after listening to some samples, I will be ordering more CDs for my own enjoyment as well as CDs and sheet music for two older sisters who accompany in their church in Texas."

"I enjoyed reading about you and learning some of your musical and spiritual journey. For some reason, I felt an urging to share with you some of my own. I served as worship pastor in several churches in Texas and Colorado for 38 years, the last 30 at one church in Texas. In 2018, my wife and I sort of retired and moved to Tennessee, where we now live. After all the years of church ministry, we were very excited about having time for hiking in the Smoky Mountains and enjoying the rich culture and history of this part of the country. We joined a wonderful church and choir in Knoxville (a new experience for us after all the years of being on staff), found jobs we like and settled in to our new life.

"And then, out of the blue, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had surgery, am currently undergoing some hormone treatments with not-so-fun side effects, and will start seven weeks of radiation treatments at the end of October. I say all of that to say that God has really reaffirmed to me His “endless love” and “wonderful mercy” through your music. I struggled to pull myself together just now after listening to a clip of “Jesus Loves Me” and plan to have it playing in the treatment room when the radiation begins."

"Such an application of your music probably wasn’t in the forefront of your thinking when you created it, but I think that is one of the marvelous things about God - His unlimited ability to see beyond time and circumstances to use our creativity in the lives of people we have never even met and in ways we may never anticipate. That’s supernatural, and in somewhat dark circumstances which I would never have chosen but for which I am thankful (at least, by faith)."

"I am the beneficiary of your willingness to submit your creativity and skill to a loving and sovereign God. I thank you for that! Keep letting Him make you even better than you already are. I’ll be listening! Thankfully, **** ****."

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What an incredible testimony from someone going thru one of the toughest experiences anyone can know on this earth. I thanked **** for taking time to share his story with me, and I'm so humbled that God would use my music in such a way. Only He could open doors for my music to touch & strengthen people like ****.  I pray that he finds peace in part thru my songs & healing thru God's amazing grace.

JESUS LOVES ME - Rick Sparks

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