Unexpected Gift of Drumming

“Give your future to God.” I heard this while sitting in a pew halfway down the aisle, surrounded by friends. The pastor went on to say, “Not just with your words, but your whole being.” Hmmm, that really hit me. Here I was, a young woman just out of college but holding onto my future rather tightly. I had no problems giving every other aspect of my life over to God. This dream I just couldn’t let go of, an important dream of getting married and starting my family.

Silly Me

Silly me to think that the God who created the heavens and the earth would give me complete control of my future. God grabbed a hold of my heart, and I decided it was time to give my future completely to him. After thinking that, I got this warm, tingly feeling, and the next thing I knew I was down at the altar in prayer. It was almost like I could feel His presence with me. It is difficult to put it into words, but it was an amazing experience none the less. You see, my dad is the worship pastor at the church, and I was worried people would look down on my family because I went to the altar. It was incredibly hard for me to take those steps toward the altar. After I took the first step God met me and helped me get all the way to the altar.

A Little Backstory

A little backstory, the young adult worship band I was a part of had two other guys leading, and they had chosen some Shane & Shane music to sing. These songs have such tight two-person harmony that I found it difficult to find something to sing. I was upset and my attitude was not the best. The funny thing is that the guys both shared the same name. So it was Mark & Mark singing Shane & Shane. This Sunday morning God also changed my attitude towards those guys. He showed me that leading worship is all about the heart. My willingness changed from wanting to sing to being willing to play whatever was needed and to have a good attitude.

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday afternoon rolled around and I showed up for practice trying to have a good attitude. It wasn’t long until we realized our drummer didn’t show. They asked me if I wanted to play drums for practice and if it went well to play the set that evening. Well, practice went well and afterwards they asked if I had ever played a kit before. I said that I took a few lessons in junior high, but that was it. The best way I can describe how I can play drums is that I gave God my future and, in return, He gave me the gift of drumming.

God has since blessed me with opportunities to play in other worship bands. When people ask how I learned to play drums, I can’t leave God out of my story. God truly does work in amazing ways. I pray He gets all the glory and people see Him through my drumming. My attitude while leading worship is so important and I pray that I won’t forget that. This reminds me how important Philippians 2:3 is:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

I encourage you to read all of Philippians 2 here.

When playing or singing on a worship team, my goal now is to bring others into authentic worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Music in a service shouldn’t be a show, performance, or focus on me. A worship team is just that, a team working together, allowing God to lead the body in worship through the talents He gives us.