Ricardo Sanchez
By Ashley Andrews-700 Club Interactive
CBN.com –"It's not over." It's such a simple, short phrase, but it is something that has tremendous meaning for worship leader Ricardo Sanchez. Recently, Sanchez released a song and a book, both of which are entitled "It's Not Over." In them, he shares his heart, his faith and how his family survived their darkest hour. Moreover, he shares story after story of other people from the Bible and today who have overcome great odds through the grace of God.
A PHONE CALL
As soon as his flight touched down in Florida, Sanchez turned on his cell. Seconds after, he saw several missed calls and texts from his wife, Jennette. They all said the same thing, "911- CALL HOME," "URGENT-CALL ME." Then he listened to her message, "Josiah is being life-flighted to Scottish Rite Children's Hospital. The doctors are saying the worst. Please call." Josiah, his son, dove in the shallow end of a pool, and the impact of the accident looked fatal. "I felt as though someone had punched me in the gut," he shared. "What? Why? How could this be happening to my son? This has to be a horrible nightmare. What possibly could have happened?"
As he walked off the plane, he quickly called his wife. "I came to learn that Josiah was at a friend's house swimming in their pool with his older brother...All the kids were doing stunts, each attempting to outdo the previous boy's effort. In an attempt to get the biggest laugh, Josiah decided to dive, hands at his side, through an inflatable pool ring in the shallow end of a swimming pool. Underestimating the pool depth, Josiah dove and took direct impact to his head, causing a complete loss of feeling in his body. Josiah was pulled to the pool deck, crying out in pain and in fear." And all Sanchez knew was that he wasn't there to comfort him.
"I wanted to punch something. I was upset and angry and confused all at once. As a man I wanted to cover and protect my family...But there was nothing I could do at that present time while sitting in the airport. I couldn't be with my wife as she had to watch the helicopter fly off with our son. I couldn't be with Josiah as he was alone with the paramedics hearing words such as, 'He'll never walk again.' I couldn't touch and hug my baby or my other sons through the phone line. So many thoughts went through my head: "God, I'm here serving You, and this is what happens? Where are You, God? Why weren't You there to protect Josiah?"
Sanchez was at a loss. He didn't know what to do. His world stopped. "I had taken a blow right where it hurt the most. Something had happened to one of my babies. All of the natural signs and reports coming in were shouting that my son's life was over." All he could hear was, "They're saying the worst...They're saying the worst." There were no pastors, no choir, no prayer warriors around him - just an airport terminal. But it was there that Sanchez fell to his near in prayer. "I didn't care who was watching," he shared. "I didn't care what I looked like or what other people thought of me. I was crying out for the life of my son. I was experiencing a pressing, and I knew I needed to press back! Though it felt like forty-five years, there were about forty-five minutes where I was sitting in the airport, not knowing if my son would ever walk again, trying to find a chartered flight to the hospital and believing and praying for a miracle for my son. I can only imagine how God felt as He watched Jesus suffer on the cross for you and me. No matter how many altar calls I have given, the words 'His only begotten Son' had new meaning for me that day in the airport."
THE WAITING ROOM
Every time you are faced with a trial or something pressing in your life, Sanchez says, "...you can be sure 'the waiting room' is going to follow." As he sat waiting to hear news about his son, he couldn't help but notice the fifty-some wheelchairs that surrounded him in the terminal. "Talk about messing with my emotions! I literally had to fight the thoughts that I may have to push my Josiah around in a wheelchair for the rest of his life or help my son walk with a breathing machine or a breathing tube in his neck." Still, Sanchez persisted in prayer and waited for God to speak.
Soon after, Sanchez and his wife learned that Josiah had broken his C3, C4, C5 and C6 cervical spinal nerves in his neck. And it's a well-known fact among those in the medical field and rescue services that, "If you break C4, breathe no more." In other words, the C4 controlled Josiah's breathing, and "any bone broken above the C4 clavicle meant incredible slim odds of leading a normal life without the continuous assistance of ventilators and breathing machines, much less surviving."
It was here that Sanchez was forced to wait again. "Waiting has to be one of the most excruciating events in life, yet it is what you do while waiting that can push the victory forward...Waiting is trust. Waiting is belief. Waiting is being anxious at nothing. In fact, waiting is patience, and patience is more than endurance. There are going to be some valleys in life for all of us...The basic question is not how dark your valleys will be, but rather how will you react and wait while you are in the valley?" Considering all of this, Sanchez chose to trust God. He couldn't sit there worrying about son, fearing the worst. He knew he had to overcome all those emotions and just give it all to God - the only one who knew the problem and the only one who could perform the miracle Josiah needed.
For Sanchez, it's not unlike altitude. "In the Christian life there is frequent talk of wanting to 'move to higher ground with God.' As people it is only natural to long to live above the lowlands, to live beyond the common and enter a more intimate walk with God." But Sanchez warns, we have to wait for God. We cannot adjust our altitude whenever the notion strikes. Physically our bodies cannot take jumps in altitude - we have to be prepared, trained. And the same goes for our spiritual body. "If you have not trained your spiritual body to live at higher heights, you can get altitude sickness...(tired, spiritually burnt out, loss of breath, no love to share with others, and no energy to finish the fight). You must wait on God to adjust your altitude! You can only climb to the mountaintop through prayer and spending time with Him."
45 MINUTES LATER...
While waiting to hear about a flight to Atlanta, his phone rang. "...it was Jennette on the other end of the phone. She had some news for me. She was still at the hospital and Josiah was in the emergency room still being evaluated by several specialists, neurosurgeons and doctors...she called to tell me of a completely unexpected phone call that again brought me to my knees in the airport...we had a family member in California who happened to be at the house of a prestigious and well-recognized neurosurgeon. After hearing the news of Josiah's accident, he immediately got on the phone and began requesting Josiah's test results and X-rays for evaluation and recommendations." Then his wife told him something that he will not soon forget. "...the first words she heard for the neurosurgeon were, 'Jennette, I want you to know, your son is going to walk again!" His wife burst into tears, and Josiah began praising God. "If you could see me know, you'd know I'm still rejoicing at the grace of God. Josiah was going to be walking, talking, breathing miracle! This season of waiting was over, but the journey was not yet finished."
THE VALLEY OF WHY
In situations like this, God calls us to trust him. For Sanchez and his family, the event challenged their faith, but in the end, it also strengthened it. "Sometimes before the resurrection, there needs to be a crucifixion...when you're fighting for your life, fighting for you ministry or fighting for your marriage, your finances, your kids, you are building muscles that you would otherwise never build. The mountaintop is beautiful, but you lose sight of the beauty along the way...Facing an 'it's not over' moment will certainly throw you headlong into the workout room of struggle. Struggle is not a word that you put on your annual Christmas card, now is it a word that brings to mind images of joy and laughter. But just as an athlete trains his physical body, so can struggle strengthen and train your spiritual body."
Here, Sanchez pointed out that, "There is a graduation that occurs at the end of struggle that can catapult you into your next season, if you allow it and surrender to it. The journey of struggle involves release. You must fling yourself into the arms of Jesus and trust He is at work in your situation." The bottom line is this: "As children of God we live in a fallen, not-yet-redeemed world...and as long as we live and breathe in this world, we will encounter our fair share of stuff." But Sanchez asserts that we as believers need to acknowledge that after every valley there is victory.
After there return from the hospital, Josiah began having nightmares. He dreamed again and again about the accident and would wake up in tears. As Sanchez remembered, "He would constantly ask, 'Daddy, why did this have to happen to me? It just doesn't seem fair." They would spend time talking to him, praying with him. They explained that life can't be controlled, but our reactions to circumstances can be. And they encouraged him by saying, "...It could have been much worse, and it's only by the grace of God you were saved!" Their son was walking, talking and breathing - all of which he should not have been able to do.
According to Sanchez, it is normal to ask why - "Why did this happen? Why Me?" But if you're not careful, you can end up in the "Valley of Why." If you get stuck asking why day in and day out, "You can end up living your entire life in the valley." But, he shared, "I'm not saying you should never ask why. Being instinctive, cognitive and intelligent men and women of God will require that you internalize and investigate your life and life's issues." However, you need to move on, let go and learn from that experience. Do not let it materialize in your life and become who you are. Like the Israelites, he pointed out, "...it is easy to be swayed by what you see rather than what you know...but you can't allow your feelings to dictate your actions." And with that, he encourages others to "turn their why into worship." If you are in a situation that has you feeling hopeless, Sanchez advises that you "lift your arms in worship and truth that though you don't see God at work, He is working on your behalf. Don't get stuck in the valley of why." From there, he urges those in the valley to "turn their why into their window...Even though," he continued, "you might not understand your current season, you can turn it into a window of God's favor, blessing and provision." All you have to do is trust Him.
THE "NOT" SPOT
Throughout our life, whether on the mountaintop or in the valley, we all will encounter people that Sanchez likes to call "heat seekers." These people thrive on others dreams because they have none of their own. They tend to be doubters and soak up the joy of others. What's more, "heat seekers" don't want people to change or grow, and they rarely have any positive energy to share. Other folks that we should watch out for are those "marked by resentment or cynicism" - a.k.a. bitter people. "Bitterness," Sanchez shared, "is lingering, unpleasant and leaves a horrible aftertaste in the mouths of those you encounter..." These are two spots, Sanchez asserts, that we believers should avoid. Rather, we need to be intentional and determined. We must release the bitterness. Along with that, Sanchez asks readers to remember this mantra, "Too blessed to be bitter."
Next, he persuades people to forgive. "Shun the un," as he put it. "Unforgiveness is a not spot and really should be regarded as one of the most dangerous emotions to harbor." It is "the root from which bitterness and anger spring and can oftentimes be recognized with certain thought patterns that you must intentionally arrest at the moment they try and rear their ugly heads."
"Little did I know that when I co-wrote and recorded the title cut for the album It's Not Over that my family and I would actually get to live out the testimony of the song with Josiah. God had given me the lyrics months before Josiah's accident. Now I know with all my heart that God foreseeably provided me with this song, knowing full well that I would be singing them over my son in his hospital bed."
THE COVENANTS
Every person who has accepted Christ into their hearts has entered into a covenant agreement with Him. Through that we are promised certain things. "1) I will make you a great nation. 2) I will bless you. 3) I will make your name great. 4) You will be a blessing. 5) I will bless those who bless you. 6) Whoever curses you, I will curse. 7) All people on earth will be blessed through you." As Sanchez described, "The Abrahamic covenant really solidifies our human intent, restores mankind's original blessing, and extends us as seeds of 'our father Abraham'...The covenant is the reason and the hope you and I hold when we face an 'it's not over' moment in life."
We have to rely on God. We have to hope. "In the midst of our 'it's not over' moment - the chaos and confusion of Josiah being airlifted to the children's hospital in downtown Atlanta, my trying to find the first available flight back from Florida to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, Jennette rushing to the emergency room to be with Josiah...we had nothing but out hope to stand on. We sent messages to our friends, family and pastors all around the country asking them to pray for our son, but we had to have the hope that God was in control. Hope was what we leaned on and pushed against for support. Hope was the position from which we had to stand. Our son's life was hanging in the balance. We had no choice but to hope." In the midst of tragedy and confusion, hope puts you in the position to see a miracle. From trials to pressures and even poor decisions, a lot can block your view of God and His miracle for you. But if you have hope, Sanchez assures that God will provide for you wherever you are.
In the end, Sanchez offers these words of encouragement: "I believe that Josiah is a living, walking miracle today only by the grace of God. Because of His goodness my hope and desire is that you feel a renewal and sense of refreshed hope in God's covenant and promises with you. When God is involved in your situation, 'it's not over!' Faith builds faith."
IT'S NOT OVER - LYRICS
I know it's dark just before dawn
This might just be the hardest season you've experienced
I know it hurts; it won't be too long
You're closer than you think you are
You're closer than you've been before
So look to the sky - help is on the way
It's not over, it's not finished
It's not ending; it's only the beginning
When God is in it, all things are new, ooh, ooh
All things are new, ooh, ooh
All things are new, ooh, ooh
All things are new, ooh, ooh
Something is moving, turning around
Seasons are changing; everything is different now
Here comes the sun piercing the clouds
You're closer than you think you are
You're closer than you've been before
So look to the sky - help is on the way
Our God is faithful, He's faithful to say:
It's not over, it's not finished
It's not ending, It's only the beginning
Not over, it's not finished
It's not ending, it's only the beginning
When God is in it, when God is in it,
When God is in it, all things are new, ooh, ooh
All things are new, ooh, ooh
All things are new, ooh, ooh
All things are new, ooh, ooh
When God is in it, there is no limit
When God is in it, it's not over, it's not over!
When God is in it, there is no limit
When God is in it, it's not over, it's not over!