The Right Thing

Did you ever know that you were doing the right thing. REALLY KNOW it?

I have a little story.....Several years ago, I had the honor of being part of an incredible worship team. Our worship pastor was gifted in playing the acoustic guitar and has written hundreds of songs and recorded several CDs. The Lord brought together all kinds of musicians ....a keyboardist, a flutist, a trumpet player, an awesome drummer and four incredible vocalists whose voices blended "just like the angels" (or so we were told). I loved being a part of that team.

However, there came a time during that period, when the Lord told me that I had to step down from my position because there were some things that He needed to "work" in me and I could not be in a position of leadership while He was doing the work. I resisted. But finally, after my pastor gave me a "gentle" nudge, I resigned from the team.

Several weeks later, I attended a Women's Aglow meeting and the speaker there prophesied over me --told me that she saw rivers of worship flowing from my belly and that I was created to worship. She said that the Lord was going to use me mightily in the area of worship. I was thrilled, yet broken in spirit, knowing that at that time, I had been removed from my position on the worship team by the Lord. The woman who prophesied over me had no idea that I could even sing, and she couldn't have possibly known of my deep desire to be involved with worship.

Several years went by. I married and moved to another town. When we began attending the church where we are now, I was sitting behind the pastor one Sunday morning and he turned around after worship and said to me. "You need to be up front." I looked at the "team" which was on the platform. The "team" consisted of one person, Jim. Jim did a great job at leading worship but you can imagine my disappointment when I knew that there would be a lot of "building" of our team --and that it was going to take a lot of time. Not to mention the fact that one of my biggest faults is always comparing things to other things. In my mind, this team could never measure up to the team that I had left behind at my other church.

After a year, I began to really get discouraged. Our team consisted of three vocalists. Period. No musicians. We sang all of our songs using accompaniment tracks and I believed that method was limiting the "flow" of the Holy Spirit. But, we had no choice. We had no musicians. Eventually, I dropped off the team.

Six months later, Dawna showed up. She has a beautiful voice. A few weeks later, her Aunt Janet approached me and said that Dawna would like for me to sing with the team but didn't feel she knew me well enough to talk to me about it. Janet and I spoke at length and by the end of the conversation, I was finally beginning to listen to the Holy Spirit as He was telling me that I needed to be on the team again. But still, made no move to volunteer. A few weeks later, my pastor actually said from the pulpit in a Wednesday service, "Deb, I'm going to say it...You need to be up here singing!" Okay Lord. I give.

The next week I showed up at worship practice. We still have only three vocalists. And we still sing using accompaniment tapes. But, the Lord is using us. There is not a week that goes by when someone doesn't come up to me after a service telling me what a blessing it is to them that I am singing again. Each week at practice, we pray that the Lord will increase our number and bring in musicians. Each week we pray that the people of our congregation will worship --truly worship.

We have developed a great friendship, the three of us - and our "sound guy", Dave, (Who just happens to be Dawna's husband.) I am grateful for the relationship we all have formed. Grateful for how the Lord has melded our hearts together. Grateful for what each of us brings to the team. We balance each other in our preferred styles of music and in our personalities. We go from “super organized – Pre-A” type (Dawna) to “way laid back ‘Z’ type” (Jim) to somewhere in between (me). And Dave, bless his heart, puts up with all of us!

All day today, a hymn was running through my head –and I sang it over and over again “…all that thrills my soul is Jesus…” I said to my husband before I left for worship practice that I was going to mention to Jim that we should sing that hymn sometime soon. When I got to practice, I couldn’t for the life of me, remember the song, but I said that there was a song that I had been singing all day and as soon as I could remember it, I would tell them. Then, I looked down at the page in the hymnal –one of the songs that we will be singing on Sunday…..you guessed it….”…all that thrills my soul is Jesus…”
Awesome. It’s incredible how the Lord had prepared my heart today and got me “on the same page” as our worship leader.

Dawna said, “Isn’t it neat how the Lord confirmed that you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing?!” Yes, it is. My prayer is that the Lord will grow our worship team –in His time –in His way. May we seek to lead the congregation in true worship –getting back to the heart of worship –worshipping in Spirit and in Truth. And may lives be changed for eternity through our ministry.

One more thing....It is really because of Janet that I am singing on the team. Janet has since gone Home to be with the Lord. I am thankful for Janet's gentle nudge --and look forward to worshipping by her side when I join her one day in that Glorious Place that the Lord has prepared for those who love Him!