A Guest in the Chapel

I met a guest today in The Upper Room Chapel and Museum who shared her story of how the Chapel has touched her life. When she was sixteen, she was on a youth trip where one stop was at a chapel. She was sitting in the balcony looking out at a carving of Jesus, and she felt he was looking right at her. It was in that moment that she realized, “Jesus loves ME!” She gave her heart to Him that day in that chapel.  

Many years later, she started thinking back on that experience. She could not remember where that chapel was, but she decided she wanted to find it.  As she was praying about it one day, she felt as if the Holy Spirit said to her, “You do have Google, you know!” So she started searching. She looked in Kentucky—nothing.  She looked in some other surrounding states—nothing. Finally she struck on Tennessee and The Upper Room Chapel and Museum. She want to the website, saw the photo of the carving, and immediately felt that same sense of Jesus’ seeing and loving her. She knew she wanted to visit someday, but, as for many of us, vacations were generally reserved for visiting far-flung family. Through a series of events that can only be described as God-inspired, she ended up here in Nashville for a family reunion. No one in the family lives here in Nashville, so it must have been the Holy Spirit working to not only bring family together but to bring her back to our Chapel.

I don’t mind telling you we both had tears in our eyes as she shared her testimony. God has been at work here through The Upper Room Chapel and Museum for many years, and God is still working through us. I am so thankful to get to be a part of this life-changing ministry.

After 66 years, The Upper Room art museum space in Nashville, TN, closed on January 10th to be repurposed into a more modern gathering space for prayer and spiritual practices. The Upper Room Chapel remains open to visitors and will continue to hold a weekly worship service each Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. The Chapel features a nearly life-size woodcarving re-creating da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper and the World Fellowship stained-glass window. Read more about the transition here.