Leading Worship is an honor and humbling...it's one of the most amazing opportunities that I never thought possible. Yet, the Lord opened a door for me by His grace alone.
Music has always been very important to me. The Lord gave me a passion for music and lyrics since I was a little girl. I always loved to sing songs and to really pay attention to lyrics. As far as playing music, I played flute and piccolo for middle school marching band and was blessed by the opportunity.
As a young girl at church I loved the songs and would sing praise and worship, but as a teenager I went through a phase where I was embarrassed to sing, to clap and raise hands. Adopting the "Too cool for school" attitude and it was wasted time. Throughout that time I listened to a lot of worldly music and I saw how it affected me. A lot of it was really dark and negative. Yet, the Lord started to open doors to hear Christian music that was different, that really met me where I was...the genres were varying and I fell in love with Christian music, praise and all...all over again and the Lord broke down the walls and gave me a desire to clap my hands, and raise them and just fully worship with all my heart.
There was a desire in my heart to play many instruments, but the opportunities, time etc. weren't there..then during at time after college and working at a non-profit organization and returning home to my parents...an opportunity opened up to learn how to play guitar.. I was looking for work, and really struggling to find a job, so the Lord lead me to be at church serving and using my time with the youth ministry, at prayer meetings, Bible studies etc. At this time I was 26 years old. Being left handed and invited to learn how to play acoustic guitar, there was no one available to teach me as a lefty..so I started learning how to play a few chords right handed..my fingers hurt, I was frustrated and struggling to play, but the Lord gave me the desire to keep working at it. Our youth pastor let me borrow a guitar from church to keep practicing at home and then once I got the chords down, then I could help the other youth that wanted to learn how to play.
My parents had to endure my playing..it was terrible, but I kept at it, because of that desire the Lord gave me. Slowly but surely songs were coming together and the playing was getting a bit better and then my voice started developing and the Lord gave me a gift. Never part of a choir, never part of a singing group etc. While at church friends would comment and say, "You have a great voice, you should be singing in the worship team".. I would laugh and say, "No, not me".. Then it started to happen more and more...the same types of comments were made, then I started praying.."Lord, if You want me to sing, then show me".
So, more and more people were again, saying, "You need to be singing for worship"..so, then little by little doors were open to accompany other friends who were leading...and then my friend Lorraine worked with me on my playing and would sing with me and help me cultivate the skills. Shortly, after that my other good friend Valerie said, "You should learn how to play songs in Japanese..because the Lord is going to use this in Okinawa". So, I started to look for worship songs in Japanese..never having my own guitar, just borrowing from church and borrowing from my friend..eventually it was time to move to Okinawa, but the few chords were learned, few worship songs were learned and the desire to praise and worship in song was very real.
A few weeks into being at Okinawa, my pastor asked me if I wanted to sing with the worship team! I was surprised, but blessed and humbled as I realized that what my friend had said, was starting to become a reality. Then eventually I bought a guitar and then started practicing a lot and playing for my students at OCSI, then my good friend Katie asked if I would lead the youth girls in worship on Friday nights! So, every other Friday night I would be there, playing the same songs over and over again, because it's what I knew, but it was a door the Lord opened, and He blessed it. A couple years later, I was asked to lead worship for Women's Bible study..and I did for a short season, but then had my son and stepped down for a while.
Then months later, when the opportunity arose, my pastor asked if I could lead for Wednesday night!
Since then I've had the honor to lead, with my limited chords and strumming patterns and playing a right handed guitar, even though I'm left handed..I get nervous and make mistakes but the Lord has used it all.
It was ALL possible because Jesus saw a desire, then He provided opportunity and in due time brought it to pass.
Not sure if you have a desire to do something, to step out in faith, but feel like you don't have what it takes...Trust me, pray and seek the Lord and let Him guide you..You will be in awe at what He does when You relinquish that desire to Him and trust Him to do with it what He wants.
I am so grateful that the Lord uses the foolish things...that He doesn't pick people that have it together...but He takes people, puts desires in their heart and then provides the ability for them to carry out His will, if they will simply surrender it to Him. Thank You Jesus for what You've done. Thank You for the doors You open to serve You and how You equip the called, You don't necessarily call the equipped. Thank You Lord for the honor to serve You in such a humbling and undeserving way.. You are so good! Praise You! In Jesus Name. Amen.
"Comparison is the number one thing that keeps us from doing what God calls us to do"-Kari Jobe- ( Spoken while at a worship conference
No comments:
Post a Comment