Thirty plus years ago, when we were trying to figure out what to name our 3rd daughter, I recalled a musical written by Michael W. Smith and Andy Stanley called The Big Picture: A Youth Musical about God's Providence.
It is the story of a group of young people who are dealing with two teens from their group being in a tragic car accident. The boy was in the hospital. The girl had been killed. Her name was Leesha. (You can find more about this in my book Lovely Traces of Hope ) There was a song in the musical called "I hear Leesha". In this recording you hear Michael W Smith singing it. (No I don't have permission to use the recording- but he did send us a signed CD after he heard this story.)
We felt like the world needed another Leesha who was sold out for the Lord and making a difference in her world. So we chose that name, and changed the spelling to LEIsha.
I told the Lord, "I never want to use this song at my teen age daughter's funeral".
But we did!
We included pictures of a bunch of her family and friends here too.
The quote at the end of this video GO WITH GOD...NOW is a reference to a quotes she referred to over and over again. “Go after God. Whatever it takes, do it. And don’t give the excuse, ‘I am just a teenager; or ‘I’ll do that when I grow up,’ because it doesn’t work that way. God wants to know you NOW!”
The quote was taken from the pages of “The Journals of Rachel Scott, a Real Diary of Faith”. Rachel had been killed in the shootings at Columbine High School at the age of 17 on April 20, 1999. Her book had inspired Leisha to begin her own journal.
Today I’m so grateful to have her thoughts in writing and on her tape journals. How precious they are! I hope this video brings a smile to your face as we remember Leisha and her friendships - together.
Music performed by Michael W. Smith. Copyright Licensed to YouTube by SME (on behalf of Reunion Records)
Leisha at Confrontation Point with the youth group of St John Mennonite Church 2005 ( I think) A butterfly landed on her finger. Speaks volumes to me every butterfly I see!