It never ceases to amaze me how fast
time flies! It’s already the start of my 5th week in School of Worship (SOW). I have so much that I could write, because God has been doing so
much in my life and stretching me and growing me and challenging me in so many
ways, but I’ll try keep this brief. I will try to write extra posts about some
of the other things I’m not able to go into detail about in this update. If
there’s anything particular that you’d like to hear more about, please let me
know and I’ll be sure to include it in a future update.
This is my band :) |
In my last newsletter I mentioned that I have had several prophecies spoken over my life with regards
God’s anointing on me for worship. I said that I didn’t feel like I had stepped
into them yet and that I was hoping I would be able to during this school.
Well, I definitely feel like I am! On the second Wednesday evening of the
school I assisted my friend Bronson in leading a time of soaking worship for
1.5 hours. It was a really amazing time of being in God’s presence. I stepped
out and sang songs in the Spirit and was playing only for Jesus, not worrying
much about the other people in the room. In that moment when I started to sing
out the prophetic words that God put on my heart I felt His pleasure wash over
me and my hands started to tingle and ‘burn’ with the same feeling that I felt
when I first felt His anointing rest on me. It was so amazing to get such a
tangible feeling of His delight and His affirmation of me taking a step in the
direction in which He has called me. And I know that is only the beginning of
what He has in store for me. There have been a number of other times where I’ve
stepped out in obedience and in love and I’ve felt His delight on me.
Bonding time in Boulder |
I really feel that I am exactly where
God wants me to be and it’s such an amazing feeling! While it isn’t the easiest
thing to be away from Paul during this season, I couldn’t think of a better
season of my life to be able to wholeheartedly seek the Lord with no
distractions. He is teaching me so much about intimacy with Him and being able
to find my satisfaction and fulfilment in Him alone. I feel like God is drawing
me into a much deeper place of intimacy with Him and helping me grow in my
character and integrity as a result. In class last week we learnt about the
Tabernacle of David and I was blown away by the life of David, looking at it
from a completely new light. God brought new revelation to me about the
importance of David’s intimacy with God which allowed him to live in a freedom
that most of the people in the Old Testament never got to experience, because
he understood God’s grace and mercy, and knew Him so deeply. It’s so freeing to
know that while I do have a lot of responsibilities as a worship leader; my
primary focus need only be on intimacy with God. The overflow of that will be a
life that pleases God in every way, including in my leadership.
While this school is probably fuller
than my Community Development course time wise, it feels so much less stressful to me! I absolutely love all the
hours each day where I’m able to practice, play and write music/poetry. Our two
hour band sessions each afternoon are definitely one of my highlights. I
realised that I have never before had a season of my life where I was
surrounded by so many creative people. It’s so inspiring being around these people
and they bring out the creative side in me that I realise I have suppressed for
a lot of my life. I love the freedom to express myself in new ways and being
challenged to step out of my comfort zone and try new things too.
These are the girls from my band: me, Brooklyn and Maddy |
Today our second official song is due.
The specifications for our first song was that it needed to be a corporate
worship song that could fit in at our home church and represent the place that
we wanted our church to be in a few years time. I put the lyrics on my blog
here.
The inspiration for our second song needed to come from Proverbs. I chose
Proverbs 21:3 and wrote a meditation to God about my desire to bless His heart
and how I could do that in light of what He says in that Proverb. I’ll put the
lyrics up here soon. During Week 3 our teaching was specifically on Songwriting
and during that week we were given a number of writing assignments. I turned
one of the poems I wrote into a short song and I put a recording of it on this post and on YouTube.
I also have a few other poems and reflections on my blog that you can read if you’re interested.
Another huge learning area for me is in
my skills on various musical instruments. During the first week God asked me to
surrender my entitlement to play the piano to Him. I have been playing the
piano for the past 15 years and I thought that I was coming here mainly to play
piano. But in fact I’ve been doing very little piano playing in the band at
all! More often I’m singing lead or harmonies, playing the flute or even
playing the bass guitar! I’m getting one-on-one acoustic guitar lessons each
week and practice for at least 30 mins each day. My teacher is a really amazing
guitarist and man of God and it’s such a privilege to learn from him. After
just three short lessons I feel like I have a much better understanding of the
guitar and I have left my lessons with my head hurting from all the amazing new
things I’ve been learning! So while it is a little different to not be playing
much of my ‘main’ instrument, God has shown me that this is a season for me to
grow in areas that I’m not that strong. From this I’ll become a more skilled
musician overall and thus more equipped to lead worship in a way that glorifies
God and write songs that allow people to really enter into God’s presence.
My band again - after a bonding time at the park :) |
In closing, I am having the time of my
life and really enjoying every moment of this season, even the really hard
times. I think I cry on a near daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day! So
while I am being stretched, I am also being refined and I know that God is
doing something very special in my life during this time. I can’t wait to see
what He has in store for me over the next eight weeks! Thank you so much for
partnering with me during this very amazing time of my life. I really value
your love and prayers so much; they carry me through the challenging times. I
also really appreciate all those of you who have supported me financially, as I
would not be able to be here without you. May God pour out His blessing and
favour on you and may you experience intimacy with Him on a whole new level
today and continuing deeper forever.
Much love in Christ, Sarah
If you want to subscribe to this blog, you can do so by filling in your email address on the right hand side of the page under the heading "FOLLOW BY EMAIL".
No comments:
Post a Comment