The most amazing story I have ever heard!

I like this picture..its like Barry Manilow is saying..step right up here and sing with me Stacey!


This is a story..TRUE LIFE STORY of my friend Stacey, in her words...Thank you Stacey for letting me post this here to share. God bless..isn't God amazing..oh and Barry Manilow too!



Barry Manilow. Who? Those were my thoughts exactly when some family invited me to go sit in the front row at the Community Arts Center. A part in the show that is familiar to so many begins and the signs start appearing and people are screaming. Barry invites a lucky woman up on stage with him to sing a duet with him. Apparently, becoming a "Can't Smile Without You" girl is something to strive for in the Manilow world. The show ends and I go home. Who would have ever thought that this man would impact my life in such a way that he would be forever etched in my memory. Four days after this concert, I am lying in the ICU unit in a coma. The doctors and nurses tell my family to play music that I like in hopes that it could stir me from this state. Being an avid fan of Frank Sinatra, my mother begins to play some of his popular, well known tunes. To no avail, this does nothing for my current state. So she remembers the Barry Manilow concert I just attended with her and other family. Thinking that this relatively new memory would impact me in a way that would stir me from this unconscious state. Well...low and behold, it does just that. Barry's music is played and the very next day I start to emerge from this state of sleep. From that day on, his music is the only thing that gets me through the agitation stages of the coma and really just gives me a sense of calmness. Coming out of a coma is more than just waking up. There are many stages a person must go through to come completely out and Barry Manilow's music is what seemed to get me though it. Having never listened to his music before, I just couldn't get enough of it. I wrote letters to him and got responses from him and read and watched everything Barry Manilow. I spent obscene amounts of money and traveled all over to his shows hoping to just get a chance to meet this man in person. I make my way to Wilkes Barre, PA only to have the best seat I have ever had at a show. I make my way to the 17th row on the floor in front of the stage carrying with me a huge sign that says, "you saved my life Barry Manilow." The second half of the show starts and I hear the opening notes to Can't Smile Without You and the place goes wild. Everyone is standing with their signs in the air, including me, and I just know that I am going to get picked. I start to hear him reading a sign, "you saved my life Barry Manilow" and I just about die. He says, "come up here, lets hear that story." I run up on stage and just keep saying "oh my god, oh my god!" I get to kiss and hug and hold hands and sway to the music with this "ultimate showman." I could have just died right then and there and my life would have been complete. Unbeknown-st to me at the time, God was in complete control and I know He orchestrated the whole thing.

Stacey Tupper, Christ follower