Your hut

I received an e-mail from my Aunt today. She's a twin and is the 'receiver' between them, which means that when her twin sister has any kind of pain, she can feel it. They don't even live in the same STATE, but she knows when her sister has even a headache! The reason I preface this post with info on my Aunts is because I want you to understand who sent this message to me, it makes the words so much more powerful.
Dad was the twins older brother and definitely took on some 'fatherly' roles since my Grandpa had MS. Grandpa passed away when all the kids were young, and my Grandma remarried to a WONDERFUL man that raised my Dad and my Aunts as his own. Skip ahead SEVERAL years and here is what has happened in my Aunt's lifetime: Her father passed away when she was young, her brother (my dad) passed away in his 20's (leaving a wife, a 3 year old son, and a 13 month old daughter), her mother and step-dad both passed away, her nephew (my brother) passed away at age 19, and in the midst of ALL this she and her sister both incur incredibly painful physical problems and no amount of surgery or medication can fully control the pain. Now remember with the pain problems, that not only is she experiencing her OWN pain, but also the pain of her twin sister!!! DOUBLE WHAMMY!

Anyway- all that to share this with you, and to remind you that no matter what your circumstance, God is doing something through it. Just trust Him since he has YOUR best interest at heart.

Your Hut
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.
One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, "God! How could you do this to me?"
Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

The Moral of This Story: It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground.

It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

Lessons in Worship

Sorry this isn't a follow up with pictures and recipes as I promised- but those are at home and I am at work! Instead I felt that I would share something that God has been showing me OVER and OVER and OVER the past week or two. It's really quite strange how many different avenues God has shared this through without me even seeking it out! That's when you KNOW God is trying to show you something.

I'm considered a worship leader in our church- 3 other ladies and I each take turns leading the music on Sundays and spend the other weeks rotating as back up singers. I've known for several years now that God had a call on my life for this type of ministry but I've always struggled with areas of the ministry: am I being prideful in my talent? am I really listening to the Holy Spirit? am I choosing songs that God is leading me to or that I just want to sing? should I just sing the song and shut up (as I've been told to do by some in the church) or do what I feel GOD called me to do which is to LEAD people to worship through encouragement in between songs and even chastisement in some cases?

All these questions and struggles have just amplified lately because of some stuff at church. It's amazing how church's can get so bent out of shape about the music and how much it can effect our walk with the Lord! Now let me just say that I understand how someone that is new in their relationship with Christ can be swayed by the song service at church, but for a "MATURE" follower to get caught up in that?!?!?! What is wrong with us?????

The purpose for church services isn't to escape the world, but for us to come together with our brothers and sisters in Christ to CONTINUE what we already are doing in our personal lives- WORSHIPING GOD!

Worship isn't music, a service, a message, or any of the things we have made it into, it is the lifestyle we live.

Whether we are worshipping God, our family, our finances, our job, or any other of the millions of distractions out there we ARE worshipping something every moment of every day. The purpose of corporate singing before the Word of God is preached is not for some mystical or emotional experience but for us to focus our minds and hearts on Christ and to CONTINUE in our worship of Him.

If the purpose of a 'worship service' is truly to worship Christ, then who cares what the music sounds like, if the leader is tone-deaf, if it's too loud or too soft, if there are lights, if a guitar is leading the music or if an organ is, if we sing a hymn or a newer song, if the music is fast or slow?! NONE of that matters, what matters is our heart and where it is focused, what we are worshipping- WHO we are worshipping. Songs are great, music is great- it does have the capability to swell our emotions and grip our hearts, but what about the words? Are the words of the song about me and what I want from God or are they about glorifying the One who saved us? Does it help me reflect on Christ's teachings or remember to share His Word with others? Remember that Satan was the minister of music before his fall. He ALSO had beautiful music and probably with some beautiful words- but where was his WORSHIP really directed?

A service should not be about us and what we want or need, it should be about God and how He has made sanctification available to us. It's not wrong for us to ask things of God- He wants us to do that, but my question is what is the primary focus of our worship services? If we are always asking for a deeper relationship but don't take time to glorify God or just to sit and listen in His presence, will that ever really happen?

Now I know this is a crazy long post and I apologize, I won't know if you stop reading at this point! :) I just want to share what's on my heart and hopefully someone will glean something from it.

I want to say this- as a worship leader my purpose is to be a true LEADER of worship. That means that when I get up on a Sunday morning to lead music my words, actions, facial expressions, body language, heart, and mind need be in continuation of what I have been doing the rest of the week. It puts a heavy burden on me to make sure that my life outside the church is really worshipping God and not one of those millions of distractions! I cannot expect the congregation I am leading to truly worship in spirit and in truth if I am not. I cannot berate them and shout at them to 'lift your hands! sing with your whole heart! sing like you mean it!' if their lives are not already in worship to God.

The last thing that has weighed on my heart, because I've HEARD this with my own ears is this: Telling someone that the presence of God is not felt because they did not 'enter into worship' is crap! The presence of God is always around us and whether or not we FEEL it or not has no bearing on how 'good' a service was. Our feelings don't matter for one thing and the other thing is that each person worships in their own way and at their own level of devotion. GOD through the Holy Spirit is the one that needs to deal with them on how intensely they are worshipping Him- not the Pastor, Worship Leader, Associate Pastor, Youth Leader, parent, or friend.
**If you are one of the Pastors, worship leader, assoc pastors, youth leaders, parents or friends trying to coax someone into worship- STOP! You are trying to do what ONLY the Holy Spirit can do and you will fail miserably!**

I pray that maybe this has helped someone the way it has helped me. This is only a SMALL snippet of what God has taught me, there is no way for me to express the full depth of His teaching in this area- I just have to actually live it out. May we all be worship leaders regardless of music, talent, or platform but just by living a life in worship of Christ.

Gentle Reminders...

God reminded me today that my life is not about me...

My aunt has Fibromyalgia, which I could never understand cause she always seemed so 'normal.' My grandma has a constant burnished taste in her mouth and a bad smell in her nose where she can't taste ANYTHING, but rarely complains about it. My father is dealing with cancer of the blood but didn't get sick throughout chemo and I have taken that for granted- just assuming he's okay all the time. My mother in her lifetime has lost a husband, her only son, two sets of in-laws, a brother to suicide, a brother-in-law to heart attack, and is now dealing with Dad's cancer-yet she isn't depressed and doesn't have the 'woe is me' syndrome.

HOW THE HECK?!?!?!

I complain when I get a headache! NEVER have I been able to understand how people deal with things like that, and I am one of those that tends to forget what people are going through. Then i either take for granted their strength, or condemn them for acting a certain way. SHAME ON ME! I am so selfish it makes me sick. God used a new 'blog friend' of mine to remind me of this and to show me just how my selfishness can effect others. Thank you for a reminder to stop looking at myself and how things effect me. I need to take more time to empathize with others and leave Jenna out of things.