When I was in fifth grade, my whole life changed. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was eleven years old so of course I was terrified. The only thought I had was- cancer. I put all of my worries and fears in God's mighty hands, and said three words- I trust You. I went into surgery early in the morning on May 21, 2009. I was incredibly lucky to have a benign (non-cancerous) tumor. Through all of my time in the hospital I listened to WCIC. This radio station brought me so much comfort. I cannot thank you enough for that. The songs that were played, gave me such a drive to keep going, keep believing that He has greater things in store for me. And now, because of a crazy events like brain surgery, I have been blessed to stand up and say "my God will come through. He will not delay. His timing is perfect." I have been healed in such an incredible way. I listen to your station everyday. Thank you sooo much!

This morning my husband and I tried to get in on the grocery gift card drawing during Shareathon. We missed it. My husband told me call and give anyway--it's not about free groceries, it's about being a blessing to the station that has been a blessing to us. My husband is buiding a videography business and is working at it full-time. We could only afford a $25.00 donation and asked for prayer for our business. Later, we got a call from a customer who hired us TODAY and is making a payment of $250. God multiplied our donation! Thank you for all you do, and please continue to pray for UpLift Productions. God Bless you, Donald and Stacey Wiggins

I am a pastor of a church in Bloomington and one of the Campus Ministers to the students at Illinois State University. This past Monday in my church, we suffered a significant and shocking loss as an 8-year-old girl from our parish died unexpectedly. The day before, she began with a simple fever and cough as many children of her age would get. However, by lunch time she became quite lethargic and began breathing heavier than usual. Her parents immediately rushed her to Broeman Hospital in Normal, and when they got there, they found out that she become infected with a super influenza bug that had caused one lung to stop working altogether. The doctors insisted that she be transferred to Peoria to OSF Children's Hospital because she would get better care there. However, due to the high winds they could not fly her from Bloomington to Peoria but had to wait for a transport ambulance to drive her there. After waiting for almost 2 hours, the transport ambulance finally came, and her parents followed behind in their own vehicle to OSF Children's Hospital.

As they were driving there, they were reminded of one of their daughter's favorite activities, listening to WCIC on the radio. They did not turn on the radio until they were about 15 miles from the hospital. When they turned on the radio to WCIC, as the parents told me on Wednesday, the perfect trio of songs played back to back to back. The first song was, "I Could Only Imagine" by Mercy Me--that beautiful song about what Heaven will be like. Then the second song was, "Glory, Glory Alleluia He Reigns" by Newsboys, which was the little girl's favorite song of all time. And third came, "I Will Praise You In This Storm" by Casting Crowns which the parents felt was a gift from God to them directly for what was about to happen in Peoria a few short hours later. The Casting Crowns song finished as they were pulling into the parking lot at OSF Hospital.

When they got inside and the doctors performed their tests, it was revealed that one lung completely had stopped working from the influenza bug and the other one was working only 33%. The doctors then and there knew that she was not going to make it, and sure enough at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning, February 11, little Caity went home to be with Father God and Jesus for all eternity. In just a few hours from now will be her visitation, and tomorrow will be her funeral service.

And while we are all saddened and shocked, her family and I, as their pastor, thank God for all the blessings he has granted them throughout this ordeal, including the presence of WCIC. Thanks to your radio station, the family received comfort throughout this horrific ordeal, and today at the funeral home, all of her favorite songs that she used to listen to on WCIC--from Newsboys to Toby Mac to Matthew West to Mercy Me to Jamie Grace, among others--will be played in the funeral home for all to hear at the visitation, and I have included some of the lyrics to these songs in my sermon for tomorrow's funeral service as well. So as a pastor, I thank you, WCIC, for all you do to share God's message, and on the behalf of the family as well, thank you. May God bless all of you and your listeners as well. God is truly with us, if only the world knew, how different would it be.

In Christ,

Peter Bloomington, Illinois

My sister and I have a long history of arguing and saying hurtful things to the other. Our father was abusive, and we really didn't learn how to interact with self or others. We had another such fight last month, both of us saying 'unforgivable' things, and I was torn up inside. I was angry and depressed because I felt like I was letting my mother down, and I know that I was affecting my children with my overall attitude. One morning, as I was taking my daughter to school, I heard the song, "Losing", which I had already liked, but as I listened to the words, I looked over at my daughter and I said, "Listen to the words of this song. It is saying 'Father, give me grace to forgive them cause I feel like the one losing'. This is God telling me that no matter what has been said or done, I need to forgive". This fight was eating me up inside and totally affecting my life. I called my sister when I knew she wasn't home and left a long message telling her how sorry I was and that I loved her and I wanted to move on with living. I knew if I called her when she was home, she would be on the immediate defensive when I called, and another verbal altercation could occur. Everything worked out, and I have been working on letting God lead me in all aspects of my life. I even searched for and found a new church home. This church is awesome. I just started there last week but I know that I have found the place that God will work strongest in me!! I have definitely been at peace, and each time I hear the song, "Losing", I smile and thank God!!!! Thank you WCIC for sharing the beautiful and inspiring music and stories.

I just wanted to share a little "God Moment" with you. Back in December, my dad got suddenly sick. What started as a small illness spiraled out of control, and we spent the next three weeks in the ICU with him. We had some good days in that time, but many were spent watching him suffer. During those three weeks, we had so many moments where we could feel God was reaching out to us. In those moments, I was frustrated, although I knew God was with us. It was so hard to see Dad getting worse when all we were praying for was for him to get better. Looking back, I can see all the things that God was doing in order for us to get though this terrible time. But, at the time, it seemed as though He wasn't listening; He wasn't doing what I wanted! However, very late one night, I was met in the hallway by my dad's old family practice doctor who heard that Dad was sick and came to see him every day, twice a day. When I looked at him, I knew that things were bad; I knew that Dad was getting sicker by the moment. We sat together in a small room while he gently explained to me what was happening. I knew when I looked into his eyes that we were nearing the end of our journey. He suggested getting the family together for a meeting to talk about withdrawing care. I know that God placed him there for a reason; I know that he was there to help me walk through this journey, to provide me with the support that I needed to be able to speak those words, "We would like to do a compassionate withdraw of care."

My heart was breaking. We had just lost our mom three years earlier. But I knew that the statement this doctor told me was so true: "There are worse things than death." I didn't get it when he told me that just a week earlier, but now, standing over my dad who was on so many meds and tubes and machines, I got it. I knew what he meant. God needed me to walk though the last few weeks to be able to come to terms with the fact that we needed to let him go! He was ready to fly; he was fighting so hard to stay with us, but he was tired and weak!

So, together, we decided to withdraw care. It was terribly hard to say that! We knew in our hearts we needed to do it, but it was so hard to say it-- to make that call! My dad hung on for 9 hours after we took him off the vent. We sat by his bedside and talked to him, held his hand, and cried together!

WCIC has been there for me through so many hard days. Sometimes I struggle with the decision we made. Sometimes Satan gets in my thoughts and makes me think we did the wrong thing. One day, I was heading to his grave site for the first time since his funeral, and I was crying and feeling overwhelmed with emotions when the song "Ready to Fly" came on. It was what I needed to hear at the moment when I was doubting every decision we made. He was 'ready to fly, ready to soar, ready to leave his world behind!' I needed to hear each of those words! It was that push I needed to be able to get though the feelings that I was feeling!

Thank you for always playing just the right songs at just the right time!

I listen to WCIC via the Internet from Germany almost every week. It reminds me of the fact that I'm not alone, that He is with me, and that I'm not alone with my faith. It strengthens me, and it fills my life with Jesus!

I'm an 18-year-old girl form western Germany, and I never grew up with God. My parents reared me with Christian morals, and when I was small, we sometimes went to church on Christmas. But I could never fully grasp and understand the endless love of God. I felt alone.

When I grew older, I started wondering what I wanted my life to be like. I decided that I was more conservative than my classmates. I did not want to spend my life partying and having one boyfriend after the other.

My parents didn't really understand this. They supported me with everything I did, but they'd also have been okay with something else.

But I choose God. I wanted to live a life with His grace and love. I want to marry someone who sees this the same way, I want to raise my children with this faith, and I want to be surrounded by people who share my faith.

In the spring of 2012, I visted friends in Chillicothe, IL, and they finally supported my faith and took me with them to church. The family was always listening to WCIC, and I loved it so much that the first thing I did when I was home in Germany again was search for a way to keep listening to it! I feel so much better since I let God be part of my life! He has changed me!
I now try to go to church every Sunday, and I finally feel that this is the place where I belong!

All of my life I have struggled with depression and self-esteem issues. I was not one of the "popular" girls in school, and until I realized that my worth was not based on that, I lived in misery. I gave my life to Christ in high school and was prescribed medication that has helped ten or so years ago, but I still had the fear that I would never measure up to those with prettier faces or talents I didn't have. I majored in Contemporary Christian Music in college as a vocalist and constantly encountered other students who I believed were better singers and more blessed. Of course, they were the "popular" students there too, and at the college I attended, it often felt like it was required that you find your husband or wife there and be married either during college or right after. I had felt that God had abandoned me and that I had nothing to share. By the grace of God and a few of the people He placed in my life, eventually I started singing again at church, and over the last few years, I have finally begun believing that external beauty is not what gives me my worth.
I volunteer now with my church's high school youth group and because of my struggles, my heart lies with young women who also put their worth in having the latest styles and conforming to what is popular. Jonny Diaz's song "More Beautiful You" expresses wonderfully that we are all beautiful in the eyes of the One who created us. It has helped me with having the courage to reach out to the young women in my church and share with them my own story. I pray that women young and old who are struggling with society's pressure to be the model in the magazine or the actress in the movie realize that "they were created with such care... and are perfect just the way they are."

I grew up in a Christian home, going to church every Wednesday night and twice on Sundays. I attended a Christian school, went to Christian summer camp, won every award possible in the Awana program. Even though I had been given an upbringing founded in Christ, I reached a point in my young adulthood where I started letting the ways of the world influence me and began making choices that I knew were not right, but I did it anyway. I lost friends, almost destroyed my marriage, and risked losing my children. I was depressed and looking in all the wrong places for something or someone to lift me up.

One day, my Dad was talking about a funny story he had heard on WCIC. I grew up listening to the station but hadn't listened for many years. The next morning on my way to work, I changed the station to 91.5. The first song to play was Sanctus Real's "Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly)." It was like the sun shone through my window/a light bulb went on/my heart opened/whatever cliche' you want to use, but it was like God meant for me to hear that song at that very moment.

"It's time for healing, time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
All I can do is surrender"

Every lyric of the song spoke to the core of me. I just cried and prayed, feeling the weights of shame, sadness, and anger just fall off of me. I couldn't believe how powerful one song could be.

Since that day, with God's help, my husband and I are stronger than ever, and my relationship with my children is where it should be.

Not every relationship has been able to be restored, but I find comfort and strength in knowing that all I need to do is surrender everything to God, let Him lead me and direct my paths and actions and give Him the glory for everything in my life.

I don't know where I would be today if it weren't for WCIC. It is the only station I listen to now, and I am so thankful for the music that brings such joy and a positive message to my days. I love starting the day with Scott and Catherine and spending my ride home with the Traceys. Thank you SO much for your ministry!!

Hello 91.5! I'm a big fan of the radio station. I never really listened to it until I had a lot on my platter after having my daughter who has been through a lot in four months. She's in 429 PICU of OSF St. Francis with intestine problems, a heart defect, and lung defect. I was told at five months of pregnancy that my daughter may not make it to see such an age because of chromosone 18. My heart pounded for the 2 weeks I waited for results. I had gone to the doctor's to hear that the results had come back negative for chromosone 18 but positive for chromosone 10 & cystic hygroma. He had also told me she'd have congenital heart disease with problems with the aorta and have holes in her heart. Three months later, I gave premature birth to a beautiful 4 lbs 6 ounces, 17.5 inches long baby girl, but I knew we weren't going anywhere for a while because I never heard the cry of her voice while delivering her. When the big day came for her first open-heart surgery, I waited from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. in the O.R. waiting room to find out she did well but it would be a while for me to get to see her. Two hours passed, and I was so anxious to see her; that's when I thought my whole world was crashing through. I was told to go back into the room. As a mother, I did not listen; I stood there with eyes full of tears knowing my baby was in critical condition. As she traveled from the O.R. to the PICU, she had heart failure and her lungs collapsed. They had put her on a life-support machine-- the most sad thing ever. They let me watch them save her life. When I had no trust in them, they made my life take a 360 and made me trust in and believe in them. Time had passed, and nothing was getting better. They had to go into her chest only to find she had an infection in her lung. After having another surgery, she has since come off her ECMO, and she has been tolerating NO breathing tube. She has been incubated her whole life, and I know God has been by her side through it all. She has been struggling, but I know with great music from your radio station to calm us and with God, anything can happen. I am on my phone writing this in the hospital. Keep my little Bryanna in your prayers. She has been hospitalized since birth, and she's almost four months old. Love, her mommy.

By: Suzanne

Let me start by saying that this will be too long to use on the air, which is fine. I just want you at the station to read it anyway! :) I'm not sure how to succinctly explain how much God uses the music of WCIC in my life. It is such a huge part of my spiritual life! There are certain songs that I hear that point me to a very specific instance where God has spoken to me, even when it was something I didn't want to hear. Here are a few I think of off hand. Driving to the hospital a couple years ago to visit a young single mom with HINI, I heard "Finally Home" by Mercy Me just as I pulled into the parking lot. I bawled because I knew she wasn't going to make it. I begged God that it was not the truth, but I knew it was. I walked upstairs to find out that she had just passed away. Even though it was horrible news, it was a reminder that God is always with us, even in sorrow. Driving to visit a friend who was supposed to hear whether or not her adoptive Ethiopian children had passed court after not passing 5 or so times (it's SO hard to wait over here while at the mercy of the Ethiopian courts!), I heard "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller and knew she had not yet passed and was supposed to continue to "worship while I wait." I got there and that was disappointedly the case! Glad to say they passed the next court date, and their 2 beautiful girls have been home for a year now! The morning in Ethiopia where our good friends were going to court for their baby boy and "One Less" by Matthew West played, I KNEW they were going to pass! They did, which rarely happens in Ethiopia the first time! The next day, our family was up for court, and though I listened to that song and loved it, I didn't have the confirmation that I had the day before, and indeed, we did not pass that day, though our directors thought we would. We are happy to say we passed 3 weeks later and have had our 2 children home since last January! No, I wasn't listening to WCIC in Ethiopia- the internet is way too spotty- but I downloaded these songs because I was first introduced to them from WCIC.

Other times the songs have been specific reminders to pray for certain families going through hardships: "Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns for a close family going through unfaithfulness, "Praise You in This Storm" for a family going through a huge spiritual battle with their teens, "Does Anybody Hear Her" by Casting Crowns for a young lady trying to get out of drug abuse, an abusive situation, and whether or not to abort her unborn child. Happy to say she chose life!

Those are just a few. I could name so many more! There are so many other times that the songs just lead me to praise my Lord for His grace and blessings from the depths of my heart! Even the song "You Are So Good to Me" by Third Day that you just played reminds me of the moment my now 7-year-old FINALLY walked at 17 months! So, as you see, this radio station is a HUGE part of my life, and I give every year knowing my gift is small compared to the blessing the radio station has been to me! Thank you!!