Leading Worship

I am so excited, because I have been able to lead worship twice in the last 3 days, and it is such an awesome thing to do! Sunday night it was at the English service where my parents and I attend church- called Keerpunt or "Turning Point". Every 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays there is an English service in the evening.

I really did NOT want to lead worship on Sunday. I was feeling... hmm, inept, to say the least. My piano playing is less than good, and I haven't really played since the middle of May-- so I set all my focus on that point of discomfort, and really had a battle. But I decided to do it anyway, the best that I could, and rely on God to do His thing :) I planned to go in early, around 5pm, so that I would have about an hour+ to practice and prepare.

We pull up to the church, and comment on how busy the parking area is..... Oh NO. There is an Indonesian service that runs from 3-6 pm... and so they were there, having service! Aaaaack!

We decided to go get a sandwich- what else could we do?! Oddly enough, I had peace somehow.. God is so true to His word when He says that He will give us peace in times when it doesn't make sense to have peace.

The sandwich was fantastic, btw- ham, mozarella, tomatoes and Pesto--- YUM YUM!!

ANYWAY (we're drifting away from the story here...!)- so we got back to the church, and I had about 18 minutes to practice, and then 1 minute to grab a cup of tea, and we started the service. God really answered our worship to Him- He Was There In The Midst Of Us, amen! And then one of my new friends, Sarah, got up and spoke some words of encouragement--- she talked about how God sees us as precious stones... sometimes on the outside, we just look like dull rocks with rough, ugly edges.. but on the inside, we are precious, beautiful stones.... :)

On with worship.. I led worship in chapel today at my parents' school- The PU's sang backup, and one of the students played guitar, and I played the piano. We practiced yesterday- and after Sunday night, I was so encouraged by the Holy Spirit, and the people at the service- that my confidence had grown and there was a change in my approach and thoughts even.

Today went very well, even though we were pressed for time (what's new?!)! God has encouraged me SO much, through people and these experiences, in just a few days. What a great journey! :)

love you all

~A