Experiencing the Favor of God
By Justina Sanchez
As I walked into Opryland my eyes were overwhelmed by the beauty around. I breathed in the sweet
Tennessee air. When I looked around all the familiar sights and sounds came rushing back. My eyes well
up and my heart was overwhelmed with the goodness of God. Only He knew all that was in store for us.
This year was different in many ways, one being that my daughter, my mom and 3 of my aunts had the
opportunity to come and we were ready for all that the Lord had planned for that weekend! For weeks
prior I had been in prayer about this special weekend. Praying He would allow us to encounter Him in
new ways. Praying for divine appointments. Praying for His blessings and favor to be upon us and so
much more. Let me tell you, He did not disappoint! After checking in, we were instructed to go up to the
Delta convention center to get our packets that contained our lanyards which gave us access to all the
events and the main event seat tickets along with a ton of info about the entire weekend. When we get
there, we see this this looong line, it was so long it put amusement park lines to shame. That’s how long
it was. After 20 min or so we come up to a sign with a huge QR code saying, “scan me to enter a Klove
contest”. I’m not usually one to scan these things and enter all the contests, but this one my daughter
saw, and she scanned it and said, “momma do this too, we can win something.” So, for her, I did. Not
knowing any details about what we were entering, just that it was something from Klove so I had
confidence we would like it. After some time, we made it to the front of the line and got our packets and
went about our merry way. We were all so excited!! We had waited a whole year for this, and we were
ready to worship our King!! We saw that night at the kickoff concert Jordan Feliz was part of the lineup
and my daughter and aunt love him so again we get in line hours early to get a good seat. As the hours
pass, we get more and more excited! And finally, the doors opened, and we made a mad dash for the
closest set of 6 seats we could find. We landed on the right side about 4 rows back and it was amazing!
To see my daughter, sing along in worship to songs far like “Jesus is coming back” and “My Jesus” made
my heart melt. It was priceless!! It had only been day 1 and we were already having a ball. After the
concert we head back to our rooms and talk about what a great night we had and all the artist we just
saw! It was such a fun night but getting late, so my daughter and I get to bed.
About 9am the following morning my eyes barely open and having gotten the best night of sleep I had
all week; I wake up to feeling refreshed and wonderful! My heart was full! I had my baby girl there
looking back at me in bed with a big smile on her face telling me she was so happy. After a while I grab
my phone and see the following text “Hi Justina, it’s Kristen from the K-LOVE booth! You were selected
as our winner for the 2 early entry passes to the Songwriters Showcase tonight! Let me know if you’d
like them and I’ll give you more info!” I thought to myself that’s cool, sure let’s check it out. I messaged
her back thanking her and asked for more information, to which she says “Awesome! You can meet us at
our booth around 6 and we’ll show you where to go! We’re the booth across from registration, next to
the large video screen!” Now her message said 2 early entry passes and being with a party of 6 I had a
decision to make. My mom wanted to go, and I knew this would be special for her so I took her, but one
of my aunts really wanted to go and I could see that so I said, “let me go check it out and if I can give you
my seat, I will.” 6:00pm rolls around and my mom and I meet Kristen at the Klove booth. We were then
escorted to a side area leading to the room the event was set to happen. We walk in and there are
thousands of chairs. Like 3000 to be exact. So, we pick our front and center seats. As time goes by, they
start to let people in, and we see that you can hold seats, so we held four more seats next to us. As my
aunts and daughter walked in, they could not believe where we were sitting and of the 3000 people
here the Lord chose us to sit front and center, for the singer and songwriter showcase. That’s how sweet
our Father is. We watched as Steven Curtis Chapman, Mac Powell, Tasha Leighton, Matt Mahr and Corey
Asbury spoke and played an amazing set of worship. I could see my aunts’ eyes beaming with joy! My
mom’s face was lit up all night long and my daughter was thrilled to be up close and personal with the
artists. The entire show we had the best seats in the house and there is no doubt in my mind that it was
so purely and sweetly only because of the favor of the Lord. It was such a memorable evening that we
will cherish forever. I am so incredibly thankful the Lord gifted our family with that wonderful we will
hold onto forever!
You see friends, weeks leading up to that Klove I had prayed for every aspect of that weekend. Including
asking that the Lords bestow His blessing and favor upon us. That we would encounter Him in new ways.
And so much more. We serve a God who listens, who cares and wants to be involved in our lives. He
wants to hear the desires of our hearts. And He loves to answer our prayers! Are you talking with God
and giving Him the opportunity to answer yours?
