Get On Your Wooden Horse!

I've been reading the minor prophets and I have particularly enjoyed reading Habakkuk and Haggai. To be honest I haven't really given these two books alot of time in the past. (In fact it might be my first visit to Haggai.) I finished it a few days ago but my mind keeps coming back to chapter 2 "The Promised Glory of the new house" and so I thought I might share my thoughts with you. This prophecy has come 66 years after the temple was destroyed (Ezra 2-3) and so I had a flick back just to broaden my understanding. I realised that when Solomon first built the temple, he spared no expense in buying the best materials and hiring the best talent he could to carry out the work. Ezra 3 describes the rebuilding process: "And the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests ...etc..wept aloud..." These men were the privileged few to still be alive to see the temple's new foundations and all they thought of was the `good old days`. When we look at what has gone, what other people have done, what other people are doing we can feel like what we bring to the table is not enough, not acceptable. The enemy contrasts our work with that of others and so we can become discouraged and feel like we might as well give up i.e. we can't build like Solomon so why build at all?!

Well, like any good pastor, God spoke 3 encouragements to the prophet Haggai.
1. "Be strong.....work.....do not fear"
2. "I am with you.."
3. "My Spirit remains among you."

I suppose this relates to my previous post in that we just have to get on with our own calling. It's great that we have fantastic influences but let's not compare ourselves so that we become discouraged. Let's not look back on the 'good old days' and then lose heart in the present. So, in whatever capacity you are involved in worship or any aspect of God's kingdom, be encouraged.

"I know that you think you're not good for anything, the world makes you feel so small. But get on your wooden horse, this is a ride not a fight." The Weepies



Post your thoughts!!

Embracing Our Own Calling!

Over the past week I have been challenged again to just embrace the call that God has put on my life. A wise friend said "You have everything you need! You are gifted and you have a heart after God. Just submit yourself to your calling and do a fantastic job!" It is just so encouraging when people see potential in you and encourage it out of you. The hard part is knowing your weaknesses and still believing that whatever you're called to do is possible.

I've included a couple of pieces of scripture (from The Message) that I have found useful this weekend as I have approached the calling on my life as a worship leader and songwriter. This is pretty general and can be applied to any gifting/calling, but for the musicians and `worshippers` among us I just want to encourage you to go for it, go with who you are now. I have been rediscovering my uniqueness and individuality in God. It's a relief that I have no need to compare myself with anyone else. I will lead worship and write songs in a completely different way to anyone else but that is still acceptable and in fact pleasing to the One who put the gifting there in the first place.

It's fantastic that we have people in our lives who we can look up to and be challenged by but sometimes I think we are too willing to model ourselves on those people rather than become who we are called to be. I love watching others lead worship and picking up little tips but I still have to discover the unique way God has designed me to lead.

(Romans 4:19-21)
Abraham didn't focus on his own (weakness) and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. .....But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.

(2 Corinthians 7-10)
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a (weakness) to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. ...then he told me.
"My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness."
I quit focusing on the (weakness) and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer... I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

Leading & Loving

As people called to lead the church in worship I feel it is important to ensure that we are up for taking on pastoral responsibility. When I was heading up the worship team at church one of my favourite things to do was have the team round to the house, do some teaching on worship etc, listen to were people were at and create space to pray for them. As someone leading a band I think you have got to be prepared to care for the people who are giving their time to play with you and recognise that this costs them emotionally, physically and spiritually along with whatever else is going on in their lives. We have got to care deeply about the people with whom we journey. We have got to COMMUNICATE well with them, LISTEN to their needs, show interest in their lives, ENCOURAGE them, see their potential and where possible create space for it's development. If we have the privilege of leading others in worship (or any capacity) but have no interest in these things then we abuse the authority given to us.
In my experience when we are found in God we can do nothing but love those around us and if we just quieten our hearts to consider His love I know we will hear Him singing over us.

Worship=Change

When we worship God there is so much going on that is unseen. I am absolutely convinced that as we bring praise to God lives change, communities change, nations change, the world changes. JP and Band (inc. me) were doing worship in Lurgan last Sunday and I just knew in my heart that God was doing something very specific in me and also in others. I think I had almost forgotten the impact that worship can have on us when our desire is to see Him exalted. My heart had been softened and I was once again overwhelmed by how much I wanted to give my life as an offering to Him.

"When the people's praise Him THEN the land will yield it's harvest" (Psalm 67). When we praise him I think He ploughs the soul of our hearts to prepare it for planting, so making us ready to yield a harvest. For me this means that all the rubbish starts to come up to the surface and all the hardened parts that have formed over time get softened and refined. In my experience that has been both painful and very very exciting. This might seem a little self-indulgent but it is still all about Him i.e. we bring Him our praise/worship, he responds by drawing near to us and filling us with love for Him and the extension of His Kingdom which in turn will bring Him praise.

About ME.

Welcome to my blog. Hope you enjoy it!
So a bit about myelf... I am a music teacher in a school on the East of the city and I absolutely love my job. The kids are fantastic and very talented and my colleagues are great if a little mad at times. More importantly I am married to David (http://ohtheerustedsatellite.blogspot.com - Check it out!). I've been married for just under 7 months and it's the best thing ever - recommend it for all of you!

A little bit of history - I am originally from Coleraine up in the north coast. What an amazing place to grow up - I do miss Portstewart strand. (If you have never been you HAVE to visit and go for a walk on a late September's afternoon). After school and all that stuff I did a music degree and went on to teach singing for a couple of years mainly based in Dominican College, Portstewart (big grey/white Convent on the coast) as well as work for a Christian Organisation called Exodus. I then decided it was time to do what I'd always wanted so I did a PGCE and now I am a "real" teacher. For the past 6/7 years I went to Causeway Coast Vineyard Church (www.causewaycoastvineyard.com) and gave most of my time there in leading worship on Sunday, developing the worship team, leading housegroup and just hanging out with lovely people. THEN, I got married, David got a job in Lisburn and so we've settled in Belfast. We haven't quite found our new church family but we re still involved in worship and absolutely loving it. We're playing with Johnny Parks so check out www.johnnyparks.com for dates around the globe-ish! or if you want us to come play at a venue near you! Johnny hopes to have a new album out in September but I'll fill you in on our journey to the recording over the next few months.

What do I love? I love my husband, family and friends. I love people!! (aww) I love food....Italian anything! I love eating out so please share your findings on eating out in our wee country. I love music (listening, playing...all of it!). I love travelling. I love cooking. I love shopping! I love watching films. I have to admit that I also love Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, but to make up for that I also love 'Friends'. (Oh, I do recommend 'Ugly Betty' too.)

So, the purpose of this blog is really for me to catalogue my thoughts and feelings as a "worshipper" i.e. someone who is involved in leading worship but also living as worship. I hope that this will create a forum for teaching on both of those definitions of worship and that you will contribute your thoughts in order that we can journey together.

Thanks for reading this far.