JOY comes in the morning...and for St. Louis...it REALLY does!!!

I think you'd have to be living under a rock or have your head buried in some oily sand to live in the St. Louis area and not hear about JOY FM 97.7/94.1's purchase of KFOU's 99.1 classical radio station. While there is MUCH debate going on in our city over it...I wanted to take a moment and tell you WHY JOY FM and Christian radio mean so much to me.
You see, the world looks at christians and think we accept Jesus and then we're now suppose to be these "perfect" people...YES, as Christians we should strive for right living and holiness but we are NOT perfect...we're JUST forgiven!
Back in 1992/93 I was "hooked" on Christian music, Christian radio (WCBW :) and thankfully following after GOD himself. My husband at the time and I had suffered MORE than our fair share of obstacles as a young married couple and I could see the hand of God working in the midst of our marriage.
But everyday we make choices in this life, choices that bring us closer to God and choices that take us further AWAY from God. My husband at the time always listened to rock music and I had my Christian music...when we were together in the car, we'd settle on country music to suffice us both. While there's nothing wrong with country music...there is when you start desiring all those things that it puts in your head. The drinking, the cheating, the grass is greener on the other side, etc.
In 1993 we had dear friends of our church family move away and not anyone else that we really hung around with so we slowly began to drift away from church. My husband was no longer going and a change began to take place in me and in my marriage and slowly but surely that WCBW christian radio button on my dial wasn't getting pushed much. The country music songs and the stories that they told were getting ahold of me. I wanted my life to be like one of the country music stories...unfortunately, I got it. The drinking, the cheating and everything that comes with those songs...no longer was I living a life submitted to God but I had turned to satisfying my flesh with it's own fleshly desires.
In 1999 my life was in a desperate situation. I was divorced, a single mom who was pregnant and not married...I tried to find WCBW on the radio but it wasn't there...I had not known it was gone...it all happened while I was seeking my own thing out in the world. Thankfully, God found me and February of 2000 I rededicated my life to Christ, later in 2000 my boyfriend at the time got saved and we were married in
2001.
In Feb of 2001 JOY FM 97.7/94.1 was launched and in 2002 my sister told me about the radio station and I have been there every since. I have volunteered there and been on several mission trips. I know almost the entire staff personally and several of the board of directors...they are all honest, God-fearing people whom I trust!
There have been MANY times I have gotten in the car and a song would be on that would minister to me at the right moment. The main time that comes to mind was when my aunt had been diagnosed with cancer, it seemed like everytime I'd get in the car Casting Crowns "I'll Praise You in this Storm" would be on and I'd just sit there and praise God...knowing in my heart of hearts that my aunt was going to die from the cancer. When my mom was diagnosed 2 years later there were several songs that came on all the time that encouraged me. God has shown up time after time through the JOY FM radio dial and I trust that He's going to continue to show up with the new signal and St. Louis will be "A City on Our Knees" petitioning the Lord for our nation, our government and our families.
So for me and my house...JOY comes in the morning...especially tomorrow (7/7) on 99.1FM @ 7am.