Paul Wilbur touched millions with his inspirational version of Donna's song "Blessed Are You". The performance featured below is from the Jerusalem Arise concert which took place in the city of Jerusalem.
Here's a message from Donna (pictured below):
In this age and place and time we have an odd perspective on the world. We sit like Dorothy on our beds in the midst of the cyclone and watch the images swirling into view on the screen--perfectly manicured people in perfectly manicured settings fly by, pausing long enough to tell us what we really need to be satisfied; Carl Sagan wannabes ride by on the airwaves wowing us with the wonder of our meaningless existence as cosmic accidents; a televangelist relates the gospel that Jesus gives particular attention to the prayers of thousand dollar donors ..... and we get the uneasy feeling that we're not in Kansas anymore.
"When Yeshua saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36) We live in a culture that desperately needs a Solid Rock to stand on. Look at the faces passing by on the streets--they are bewildered, harassed and distressed, because they have no One to guide them. They are bombarded every day with the lie that there are no absolutes, and the casualties are strewn among the rubble of a society shaken off of its foundation.
As a person living in this society, I grapple just like everybody else with all these issues of our day. As a believer, I have the incredible treasure of God's Word, illuminated by the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), to guide me as I grapple. And for some reason, my searching and struggling to apply the One to the other takes the form of a song that I can't get out of my head until I've worked it out. I have a lot of songs. And it's because I want to be the best steward of my songs that I can be, that I am sharing some of them with you here.
Everywhere I play my songs, whether it's in congregations or prisons or shelters or parks, people seem to be able to relate to them, I guess because they honestly deal with questions that are just beneath the surface in all of us. I try to write music that's progressive enough to satisfy myself, but accessible enough to slip through the cracks in the walls people have inside, to hopefully get them to view the world from a different perspective for a few minutes. As believers, particularly those of us that are artists, it's our responsibility to present the truth in an intriguing way that people living in our culture and in our time can hear, to "shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life." (Phil. 2:16)
My hope is to convey a message that matters, in a way that will catch people's ears. Thank you for listening!
Shalom in Yeshua,
Donna Milgaten