I was blessed with the opportunity to attend Beach Reach this year with the BC M. Through out the week God worked in my life in many different ways. The best part of the week was being able to allow Him to humble my heart. God has given me the gift of singing and I am always struggling to stay humble and to know that He gave me this gift to glorify Him- not me. I had slowly become more arrogant and selfish with this gift and God pointed that out to me the first day at Beach Reach. He showed me how self righteous I had become and how I was using His gift to bring attention to myself and not to Him. So what does your parent do when your in trouble? They ground you from playing with your favorite toy. Thats exactly what happened- God grounded me from singing. I felt Him calling me to back off, to stop singing if it was going to be all about me and not about Him. For the rest of the week I experienced some of the greatest Worship I have ever encountered. Instead of singing loudly (hoping others would hear me), seeking to find the harmony to every song (hoping others would hear me), and making it all about me and my voice- I made it all about Him. I listened to the words of the songs and sang so only my Father could hear me.
Eventually the week began to come to a close. As we prepared to walk the streets of Panama City for the last time I prayed for great things. I was ready for God to use me. I wanted to talk to tons of people, perform miracles in Gods name, etc. “The Works” is what I wanted. But God had different plans for me, plans He had been setting in motion since the beginning of the week. As I walked mile after mile I could feel God telling me not to talk to anyone. Anyone?! I couldn’t believe it. This was my last night in Panama and I wasn’t going to get to tell anyone about my wonderful Savior. I continued walking while intensely praying for God to show me His plan. And then it came. I heard His still, calm voice instruct me to do one thing. Sing. I closed my eyes as I began to understand and prayed for courage and strength. I then shared with my group what God had shared with me and we began to worship on the streets of Panama. It was so awesome to praise God in the midst of such a dark and sin-consumed town. People stared. Some threw stuff at us. Some yelled. But God was glorified.
Our mission was accomplished and my life was changed.
Singing for God’s Glory
Eventually the week began to come to a close. As we prepared to walk the streets of Panama City for the last time I prayed for great things. I was ready for God to use me. I wanted to talk to tons of people, perform miracles in Gods name, etc. “The Works” is what I wanted. But God had different plans for me, plans He had been setting in motion since the beginning of the week. As I walked mile after mile I could feel God telling me not to talk to anyone. Anyone?! I couldn’t believe it. This was my last night in Panama and I wasn’t going to get to tell anyone about my wonderful Savior. I continued walking while intensely praying for God to show me His plan. And then it came. I heard His still, calm voice instruct me to do one thing. Sing. I closed my eyes as I began to understand and prayed for courage and strength. I then shared with my group what God had shared with me and we began to worship on the streets of Panama. It was so awesome to praise God in the midst of such a dark and sin-consumed town. People stared. Some threw stuff at us. Some yelled. But God was glorified.
Our mission was accomplished and my life was changed.