It was springtime the following year, 1991, and I was heavily pregnant with our ftrst child. My delivery due date was less than a week or so away when a very unusual request came in from my voice teacher Kathleen Bentley. Over the years, I had regularly taken cla.s.sical vocal training in order to better fulftll my choir and worship leader responsibilities. She had suddenly decided and became quite adamant about entering me in a major talent compet.i.tion that was taking place in a few days. I wondered why she would make such an absurd request, knowing I was soon to give birth, and I strongly resisted the idea. Kathleen would not give up the idea; I guess she may have thought I would have even less time once the baby was born. This major regional Music Festival took place once every year, and she insisted that she did not want me to miss that year"s opportunity. I thought it all strange, but extremely reluctantly, I went along with her idea, feeling and looking all of nine-months pregnant. Nervous upon arrival, as I had not really prepared for this, I faced the panel of judges and sang my selected gospel numbers. I was stunned after my performance to receive their highest award for vocal talent at the Coulsdon and Purley UK Music Festival. My teacher was right and hadbelieved in me when I thought I was not ready.
The very next day and a week before it would be the ftrst anniversary of our marriage, we were blessed with our ftrst child, a beautiful daughter. Staying at home to recover and care for her, the maternity leave months flew by fast. It was soon time to return to work, and having to part so soon from my new baby, momentarily as that may be from day to day, proved to be more difficult than I had imagined or planned for. Most working mothers come to discover this hard truth. After much prayer, obtaining and checking references, trial and error with different childcare services, we hired a middle-aged lady to look after her. Trying not to worry about her safety and care all day long, I worked hard at the balancing act of wife, mom, and career woman. This arrangement, however, did not work out well for me.
Frequently, the care giver would take independent actions ignoring our concerns and directives, and things soon deteriorated to the point of a lawsuit. We removed our daughter from her care, and we tried a few other options before I ftnally decided that I was done with leaving her in the care of others. Although many new moms and their families are able to make a smooth transition of returning to work, this was not the case for me. After consulting with my husband, who was also working, I resigned from my job to temporarily stay at home to look after her. It was an extremely difficult decision income-wise, but for me not nearly as difficult as leaving her every morning in the care of strangers. This may not be an obtainable or desirable choice for everyone, but we both prayerfully decided it was the right call for our new family. Far from being a smooth transition at ftrst due to the big drop in our household income, it was however a great relief to know she was safe and well cared for. Her safety as our priority gave us the much-needed strength to stick with the commitment we had made to G.o.d who trusted us with this precious new one"s life, and He has never failed us.
All grown up now, our beautiful daughter has become a G.o.d-honoring professional young lady, and a great source of joy to us. We are always blessed to be identifted as her parents. G.o.d had yet again fulftlled another of His promises and a principle of faith. He will take care of us when we surrender all to, and trust in Him.
And this same G.o.d who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 NLT)
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Psalm 23:1 NIV)
The decision I made to become a stay-at-home mom solely to resolve our childcare dilemma would surprisingly prove to be a major turning point in all of our lives! We regularly attended our local church and had become used to our new family routines as our lives continued to move forward at a steady pace. Having served the Lord in so many different capacities in the past while I was a single lady, I now had to devote most of my time to building our new family. Still occasionally, my thoughts would wander as to how I could continue to serve G.o.d in light of my new responsibilities as wife and mother.
One day, while expressing my heart to G.o.d fervently in prayer, I earnestly sought and yearned for an answer from Him regarding how I could continue serving Him with all my new responsibilities. Well, He must have been waiting for me to ask because faster than I could say amen, the answer to my prayers began to manifest. The G.o.d-given talent to sing that I had never considered to be anything more than a gift of DNA from our mult.i.talented parents was about to catapult me from career to calling! What for me had settled into a steady, pragmatic Christian walk was about to turn into a whole new level of serving G.o.d. Volunteering at my local church as an unmarried Christian had for me been easy and enjoyable. Now, my new family life seemed to make that nearly impossible, but another word from the principles of faith in the scriptures would prove me wrong! That is, nothing is impossible with G.o.d.
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For with G.o.d nothing shall be impossible. (Luke 1:37 KJV)
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with G.o.d all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26 NIV)
A short while after my simple prayer, and quite out of the blue, I suddenly received an invitation to sing at another local Church"s special event in London. I accepted the invitation and prepared for the event. With less than a hundred people in attendance (there weren"t too many mega churches in London back then), nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. We arrived at the location, parked our car, and joined other invited guests and members of the congregation gathered in the meeting s.p.a.ce for the service. Ushers guided each one of us to our delegated seats as we all chatted and greeted one another, waiting for the service to begin. After the opening prayers, the host pastors greeted everyone and the service began. Soon, I was called up next on the program; I got up, shared a few words of greeting and began to sing.
I was so immersed in the song, belting out a tune for G.o.d with my eyes closed, that I did not immediately notice that something unusual was happening. What I can only describe today as a sovereign move of G.o.d suddenly began to unfold. The presence of G.o.d invaded the room, and the atmosphere totally changed! The tangible and undisputable presence of G.o.d ftlled the room, transforming the entire mood of the event. The pastor excitedly got up, followed by many others. Both he and they all began shouting, dancing, clapping, and raising their hands, giving their uninhibited praises to G.o.d. Affirming shouts of "Amen!" and "Praise the Lord!" ftlled the air as they unashamedly rejoiced in G.o.d"s presence. The people"s hearts began to be touched, and as my selection moved to slower worship songs, many begin to kneel and to cry.
I ftnished singing; the pastor got up and immediately proceeded to deliver a very powerful sermon.
An altar call for prayers, repentance, salvation, and rededication to G.o.d followed without any further interruptions, announcements, or delays. The scenes that followed were both amazing and magniftcent. Lives were being transformed as people repented, and many broken lives and relationships were touched by G.o.d, healed and restored to Him and to one another. Many got born again, and word soon spread among many local churches in London that something wonderful had occurred. A s...o...b..ll effect began to take place. No one was more surprised than me at this unexpected and rapid turn of events. New and more invitations began to pour in for me to sing and share the Gospel for various church events.
All manner of churches and denominations all around the city invited me to come and partic.i.p.ate in their events. This soon led to an invitation from across the seas. My life was again permanently changed. Singing and preaching the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ became my new full- time a.s.signment from the Lord. This was not even close to what I"d imagined I"d be doing to serve G.o.d!
Blessed and surprised by G.o.d I was dubbed the anointed singer and later was also called the alleluia lady. These names were on account of my pa.s.sionate shouts of the praise word "alleluia" before or after I sang or preached. Many have described to me that as I ministered, it felt as if they were seated under "open heavens," and they experienced an overwhelming sense of G.o.d"s presence. Other new experiences also began to occur during this period. Though I played no other musical instrument, I also received from the Lord the gift of songwriting, and I begin to write new worship and praise songs unto the Lord. This series of encounters begun exclusively by G.o.d was His amazing answer to my simplest of prayers, expressing my deepest desire to serve Him.
His divine interruption transformed all of our lives. The call into full-time ministry and the anointing that G.o.d placed upon me would release not only upon me, but my entire family as well. Before this divine encounter, as far as I am aware on our family tree, no one in the family had ever served the Lord in full-time ministry. Many members of my family, including my parents as shared earlier, would later become born again and give their all to G.o.d.
Here I humbly share another of the faith principles the Lord Jesus has taught me. G.o.d"s destiny ftnds us! His divine interruptions transform our lives when we step out in faith, based on His word, completely trusting in and faithfully serving Him wherever He has currently placed and positioned us. He comes suddenly, interrupting our lives with His divine destiny. I once heard someone describe it this way, "G.o.d is like nothing, nothing, nothing; BAM!"
In 1 Samuel 9, G.o.d"s destiny found Saul as he diligently searched for his father"s donkeys. Instead of ftnding the donkeys he received a kingdom. It found David while he tended to and protected his father"s flock. Destiny interrupted the young Virgin Mary as she went about her everyday duties. The list goes on and on: Moses while he tended sheep in Midian, Joseph in prison, Gideon full of fear threshing wheat in a winepress, Esther at her uncle Mordecai"s home, and Peter with his brother Andrew as they operated a ftshing business:
Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. (Matthew 4:18–19 ESV)
And it is impossible to please G.o.d without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that G.o.d exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6 NLT)
23Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. (Colossians 3:23–24 KJV)
G.o.d shook up my life and the lives of many of His servants as they simply faithfully served Him at their task at hand. I share some of the details of this amazing journey with you with the hope that you will be inspired and encouraged to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and offer Him obedience, worship, and adoration. Your life will never be the same again. An unending adventure of faith and wonder awaits you that will provoke you to give unceasing praise to G.o.d daily.