Darlene Zschech: JESUS HAS YOU COVERED

DARLENE ZSCHECH: How she overcame cancer.

December 11, 2013, worship leader and
songwriter Darlene Zschech (known for fronting many
of Hillsong's albums) was diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram check.

Zschech was the worship pastor of Hillsong Church from
1996 to 2007, during which time she served as
producer, vocal producer or executive producer for more
than 20 albums under the Hillsong Music label and
wrote more than 80 published worship songs.

Ever since she has
had surgery and she was released from the hospital
(the SAN in Sydney) on Christmas Eve. Ever since the
beginning of this arduous journey, Zschech has
cancelled all her touring and her recording plans. She
has even taken a back seat in terms of leading worship
in her own church.
After the months of chemotherapy have ended,
Following the announcement that she has officially finished
her final round of chemo, Zschech, who is the former
worship pastor at Hillsong Church said she believes the
prayers of her fans got her through the difficult time.
"On the days where I have felt I cannot do it anymore, I
literally have felt the strength of people praying for me,"
the "Shout to the Lord" singer wrote on her blog. "The
power of the Holy Spirit to comfort and strengthen has
been beyond what I have ever experienced before. Again, I
am so thankful for every one of you."

Zschech in starting a set of radio therapy treatments.
On her blog, Zschech writes of her ordeal: "On the first
day of radiation I was terrified. I found myself thinking
crazy thoughts of being burned etc., these thoughts
stemming from the doctors who have to tell you all the
'worst case scenarios' in an effort to prepare you. Whilst
staring at the door of the treatment room, on the first
day, I was seriously thinking about running out of
waiting room. I was planning my escape and running
seemed like such a sweet idea. Thankfully, that very day,
I started my day by reading my Joseph Prince devotional
for that day which read 'Jesus has you covered.' That He
is my burnt offering and that He covers me from head
to toe with His righteousness. I cannot even begin to tell
you how much this meant to me and gave me the
confidence I needed to walk through the treatment doors
on that first day and to keep turning up."
However, one silver lining that resulted out of this
entire journey is that Zschech has had a lot of time to
pen new worship songs. Ever since May 25, 2014 she has
been back leading worship performing many of her
newly written worship anthems.

Even during that difficult period in her life, she
expressed faith that more miracles will appear in her life. That
miracle materialised late last year when she narrated in her blog
that she had NO MORE CANCER IN HER BODY.

The singer and song writer is perhaps most famous for writing the song ' Shout
To The Lord ', a song that is sung by an estimated 25 million churchgoers every
week and has been covered by at least twenty other artists. ' Shout To The Lord '
was nominated album of the year at the 1997 Dove Awards and was nominated
as song of the year the following year.

In 2000 Darlene received a Dove Award
nomination for songwriter of the year and received the International Award for
her influence on praise and worship music.
In addition to ' Shout to the Lord ', Darlene has written over eighty songs that
have been published by Hillsong Music Australia alone. These songs are sung all
over the world as well. She has helped give the church some of the betstknown
songs over the last 20 years.

In 2005 Darlene released another album, ' Change
Your World ', which featured a new arrangement of Michael W. Smith's worship
song ' Agnus Dei '.
Many years ago, Darlene and her husband Mark, made a life commitment to do whatever they could to bring answer and relief to human
suffering, and one of their great joys in life is to work with Compassion International, serving the world's poorest children.
It was a Compassion trip to Central Africa in 2004 that prompted Mark and Darlene to initiate Hope: Rwanda, a global endeavor designed to
bring hope to a nation seemingly forgotten since the horrific genocide of 1994. The 100 Days of Hope (2006) project was strategically
coordinated to cover the same 100 days that saw approximately 1 million people viciously slaughtered.

In January 2011, Zschech and her husband, Mark,
became senior pastors at Church Unlimited, later
renamed Hope Unlimited Church.

Pastor Darlene Zschech released
a new album called InJesus'Name: A Legacy of Worship and
Faith on February 10 , 2015, featuring songs she wrote during her
recent battle with breast cancer.