Church is difficult. Each church service is at least two and one-half hours. Tara understands a good deal and I little. But, at times, even when I understand little, God speaks…
I sat in church recently, listening to the praise chorus I Want to Know You More being sung in Portuguese. I was singing it in English. During this time, when I again understood little, God spoke through the language barrier directly to my heart. I realized this night two important things…
First and foremost it has been my heart’s prayer for so long… to know my Savior more. As I sat in church calling out to God in song, I realized for the first time how my faithful Lord and Savior has answered this often unspoken prayer. For, he has allowed me to see his heart for people. Thank you Lord. Through the heat, the homesickness, the language learning, the cultural adjustment, just through all that is part of this mission experience God has given me a glimpse of His love for me by showing the love He has for others. Now, know this everyone, that this doesn’t magically make the day to day life easier but, if it brings me closer to Him, then all the hard days are worth their weight in gold. I hope that I can stand through the bad days and rejoice in the good ones, knowing that these experiences are teaching me to know Him more.
The other significant realization I took away was that I have often sung wonderful old hymns and fantastic contemporary praise choruses, truly meaning every word of what I was singing without ever knowing that my prayers would be answered in this place. The other night I was praying and singing in private… the chorus from the hymn Where He Leads I Will Follow came to my mind. It goes, “… where He leads I will follow, where He leads I will follow, where He leads I will follow, I go with Him, with Him, all the way.” How much more does this song speak to me today and in this place? I have sung the tune dozens of times not knowing what it might cost to see the words of this hymn worked out in the life of my family and me. Life in Brazil is wonderful but difficult, amazing but hard, but it is in this place that God has led us to follow Him. God is at work, will I follow? Am I willing? My prayer is that I will be true to His calling and that He will give me the strength to live up to the words of this hymn.
So, as you sit in church singing… as you look at a hymnal… as you listen to the next praise song on a CD or Christian radio... listen to the words. Let them speak to you. Sing them with a new perspective. Sing them as a prayer to God. Sing, Where He Leads I Will Follow, and mean every word. For, you see, we serve a wonderful God and He will answer your heart-felt, God-honoring prayers.
