I Praise HIM With Song!

When Jeff and I first started dating, we realized early on in our relationship that we would need to find a church home that met both of our needs. I was sad to leave the church that I had known since grade school but felt that it was more important for Jeff to find his niche since he was a new Christian. So we started a journey of church visitation that was very new and strange for me.

During this time, I was working as a manager for Wing Stop Restaurants. My best friend in high school's dad had started a new business venture and asked me to come work for him. I was still working at Chili's, about to head into management but so many road blocks kept coming up that I jumped at the chance to manage my own restaurant. But with this came new challenges and sacrifices.

One of the sacrifices was church on Sunday. It was frustrating to realize that Jeff and I would not be able to attend church together. Even though we were just dating, both of us felt that God really wanted us to be in church together. Sadly Jeff and I stopped looking for a church all together soon after the restaurant opened it's doors. It was easier to sleep in on Sunday than
try to coordinate a meeting place and time since we were not married and living together. My schedule changed at work as well, so most Sundays I was opening up the restaurant and closing on Saturday nights, not getting home until 2:00 a.m or later. And if you know me, you know that I need at least 8 hours of sleep a night or I am horrible to be around. HORRIBLE!

Since we were a new location, our Sunday business was very slow. I hated coming in but what else could I do- I was the head manager after all. This Wing Stop is located just a few blocks from a local church. I started getting regular diners from this church and because we were slow we often would find ourselves saying hello and talking about this or that. I asked them one day if they had just come from church. Their eyes started glowing as they answered "Yes, in fact they did." I then started asking them about their doctrine, what they believed, how big, when did they meet...you know all the typical "I am looking for a church home questions." So later that day, when Jeff came to visit me, another sacrifice of the job was not seeing each other, I told him about my conversation with my regulars. He said, "Let's try it out next weekend."

Long story short, we found our home on the first visit. It met each and everyone of our needs. It was big but not too big. It had many ministry opportunities for both of us to serve. We both fell in love and found ourselves doing whatever we could to be at church together on Sunday mornings. The greatest blessing of all is that it was close to work for me. We would attend the early service and I would leave right after the invitation in time to open the store. We met many people during the next few years, many we are still in close contact with. But one of the many blessings that came out of this time was I was able to sing again.

A month after we placed membership they started putting together a choir to sing with the praise team. I jumped at the chance to sing again. Soon after the choir was assembled they started discussing plans to put together a praise and worship CD. This church was full of talented singers and songwriters so most of the songs were original songs by these people. We worked very hard to put this CD together. How I ever balanced work, planning a wedding and singing is a miracle from above. But I would of moved mountains if it meant more time for me to sing these songs. These songs blessed me during this time in my life and are still blessing me today because I purchased a song after all and my name is even mentioned on the inside cover!

I realized during this time that my way of praising God is through singing. I love a good worship time where my heart and my head are united in worship to God. When nothing else in the world could take away this time of song. When no distraction from the people around me could stop me from praising God. I Praise HIM with Song! It is just who I am.

But why is it that when I was asked to sing in church on Sundays last week I hesitated and said, "I need to pray about it?" Why did I not jump at the chance to stand and sing in front of our small congregation?

(In order to not confuse my readers let me interject a tidbit of information: We are now at a new church than the one mentioned above-another post all together but not important to the story)

Not sure yet where God is leading me but I do know this: I can praise HIM with song surrounded by a bunch a three to six year old or I can praise HIM with song surrounded by the parents of these three to six year old. I can also praise HIM with song in the car. I can praise HIM with song in the apartment with praise and worship blaring. I can praise HIM with song while I fold laundry (my new trick to getting the job done) . I can praise HIM with song anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

I will keep you posted on what I decide-for now Jeff and I are taking a break from all forms of serving and allowing ourselves to be served so we will see where God leads. Please pray for God to show us clearly where we will be serving after this hiatus is done.