[ Darlene ] ( laughs ) Oh my !
[ WM ] He ’ s a fantastic choir arranger . And that ’ s why the Mr . Bean theme music is a choir , because he was a choir guy . A little bit of trivia here for you . So I picked out a theme song for my cancer , Psalm 23 , and I must have listened to it 200 times during the previous two months . And on this particular day , I knew I was visiting the Valley of the Shadow of Death . I knew I was dying , and I didn ’ t think it was going to last much longer . And I put that song on again . And right when it hit the chorus , “ Yay , though I walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death .” I broke down weeping in the hospital bed and the presence of God came into the room and it was just as real as you and I right here talking . It was that real . You know what I ’ m talking about ? And it ’ s hard to explain that to someone that sort of doesn ’ t get it . And so , He didn ’ t tell me he was going to heal me , but He did tell me , he did assure me and comfort me and gave me hope and just gave me the overwhelming sense that He was with me . And that was my turning point right there . And so , then I went on and had the surgery , which was just over a year ago . that and it allows me to share my testimony , which we ’ re going to talk about in just a second . So yeah , it ’ s an amazing thing . I better be quiet . This is about you , not me .
[ Darlene ] No , no , actually this makes my soul just smile . It ’ s beautiful .
[ WM ] Well , your song , “ Shout to the Lord ” must have opened a thousand doors for you . Can you give us a summary about it all from the beginning to the present ? Every one of those thousand doors are part of your testament . Please tell us about your new project called Testament .
[ Darlene ] Yeah , I mean it was actually one of my son-in-laws that called it Testament . He ’ s said , “ I think this is the name .” And I love when again , I go researching on the word because I wanted to bring a legacy project . And again , post-cancer , everything you do must have a bigger meaning to it . It ’ s got to have a reason . And my kids really encouraged me when “ Shout to the Lord ” was turning 30 . I ’ m like , “ Really ?”
And they ’ re like , “ Yeah , mom , you ’ ve got to do something .” And that ’ s kind of where it started . And just that word testament , it actually also has legal connotation like it ’ s done . This is how it is . This can ’ t be . And I love that because I wanted to present some decades of songs and there ’ s a few new ones in there , just giving thanks to the faithfulness of God , not to my anything , but to the faithfulness of God .
So that ’ s where Testament was born . And then when we were re-recording “ Shout to the Lord ” I thought , “ Well , how do you redo ‘ Shout to the Lord ?’” I don ’ t know , it ’ s been done a million trillion times . But we have the Australian Christian Orchestra now in our country and it ’ s all volunteers and they do such a beautiful job , and they ’ re all involved in their local churches . And I thought , “ Oh , this could be beautiful .” And my friend Ryan who put that together , he worked really hard and to get that happening . And then I thought , “ Well , legacy , I ’ ll get my youngest daughter Zoe to sing with me .” I call all my daughters the new improved version . And Zoe , when she leads worship , Lindsay
[ Darlene ] Oh , look at you !
[ WM ] It ’ s amazing . I should not be here . I am a walking miracle . I feel great . I feel like I ’ m in my twenties . Everything has changed in terms of what I eat now and how I eat and how much I eat and all those things . But it ’ s a small price to pay . Plus , I have the advantage of the presence of God again . I guess that ’ s the word , how he met me . So I ’ m tracking with you completely .
[ Darlene ] Yeah , I can hear that . It ’ s like we don ’ t , in the end , if people don ’ t understand and I think that ’ s okay , I ’ ve just got to walk it out . I ’ ve just got to bring His presence with me and bring a shift to the atmosphere .
[ WM ] Yeah , that ’ s right . Absolutely . So I try to bring hope to as many folks that have cancer , bring hope to them . I joined an esophageal cancer board on Facebook and I contribute to
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