Home Concert

*Brief note so my readers don't get lost: My dad has a music ministry and plays piano in various places places for home concerts, church, home churches... things like that. Sometimes he brings my sister and I along to play with him. My sister plays flute.*

Yesterday we drove a little less than an hour to a home in the country to do a home concert. Which, in itself, seems fairly simple until you take into account what happened before we started driving.

I awoke with a sore throat. Several things happened in the morning and early afternoon that prevented us from leaving on time. Long story short, after packing all my dad's music equipment in the car and driving the distance to the house, we weren't exactly on time. But neither was the audience. We were originally going to have it outside, but it was too windy, so we brought all the equipment inside (consisting of a keyboard, speakers, cords, things like that) the house. Once we finally got set up, the 20 people that said they were going to be there... weren't there. We probably had like half of that. But the few who came were praying for the right people to come. And I believe the right people came.

The concert started smoothly; late, but smoothly. I was amazed at how relaxed my dad seemed. It was amazing how God worked through him, song after song. I'm ashamed to admit that after the first hour, I was hoping we'd end the concert soon so we could go home and get a good night's sleep. (We had church in the morning, and a long afternoon playing with my orchestra in the mall to look forward to.) Granted, I was tired. Dad hadn't called me up to play violin yet, and the sun was setting. Finally, I just gave my thoughts to God and committed to surrender the evening to Him. Once that happened... wow. I wish I had done that a lot sooner! I could feel God's presence so tangibly in that room; it was amazing. I could tell the other people felt Him too. After talking a little bit, Dad called me up to play. He asked me to play a fiddle song... I felt so awkward playing a fast paced, fun song right after he had played a beautiful soft piece he had written. But the crowd seemed to enjoy it... (You should know that Dad doesn't always plan a schedule ahead... so I don't always know what I'm going to play.) Then he suggested I play a hymn. I picked "Be Thou My Vision," mainly because it sounds gorgeous on the violin. This time I played each note to God... I gave it to Him to use to bless. I found out afterward that it was someone's favorite hymn. Praise God! Then last I played an accompaniment to a song my dad wrote. I'm still not quite used to playing with him, but I think I did pretty well. I sat back down on the couch, and Dad played some more. My sister played flute later. I'm still amazed at how quickly she's picked it up! She's already written a song on it. :)

At the end of the concert, one by one people began to pray for us. I was in absolute awe at how... blessed they were that night. A few people said they shed tears of joy when we played. It was incredible beyond words to think that God used us to touch lives that night. God used us to bless them, and turned around and blessed us back more than we could ask! We used our talents for Him and I got to see Him work through us.

So what's the point of this post? What has God given you to work with? What talents do you have? It doesn't have to be musical for God to use. You don't have to have a dad who plays piano in order to bless people. There are people all around you that God is giving you the opportunity to bless - by encouraging them, witnessing to them, volunteering your time and efforts, even maybe giving some money to them, etc. But don't just bless so you can receive back in return! Certainly God will give back to you more than enough, but our goal should be to impact others' lives for Jesus. Pray about what God would have you do, and do it. What will you do with the blessings God has given you?