Glory to God Who is Able

I’m not sure exactly how to write this story of how God has shown His power and greatness. I want my words to do it all justice, and I’m feeling very ill equipped to do so. Regardless, I equally feel with absolute certainty that I’m supposed to at least try. I have hesitated writing this for fear that somehow it will be viewed as pretentious or self-seeking. I want to be clear that that is so far from the truth. The things that the Lord has done and is continuing to do are ALL Him. I don’t have the capabilities to do what He is doing through me! It would be so much more comfortable for me to keep this to myself. But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable, He calls us to be obedient. So here goes…

About a year ago, the Lord revealed this verse to me ~
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”
In all my years of being His, I had never come across this verse before. I felt led to show it to my dear friend Aimee. Aimee plays the piano at our church. We formed a strong friendship through our love for worshiping the Lord through music. We started playing and singing together regularly and it became a passion. After I showed her that verse, we committed to praying it for ourselves and each another.
The Lord tells us in John 14:13-15, “ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Therefore, as a result, He began a process of intense sanctification. I felt Him stripping me bare, laying everything out before Him. It was at times exciting and joyful, but it was equally painful and convicting. It was necessary. I had been shamefully content living a lukewarm life. He began working in Aimee’s life the same way.
The more I became aware of Him and His purpose for me, the more I knew that God had something big for me to do! It also became very obvious that whatever the Lord was going to do in my life, it would involve Aimee as well.
In the spring of 2009, our womens Bible study group at church did Beth Moore’s “Esther” study. Aimee and I were asked to lead in a time of praise and worship. It was in the course of this study, that it became apparent God wanted us to do something with music. We just didn’t know what in the world it would be. Aimee, our husbands, and myself began praying that we would have ears to hear what He would have us do.

* On a side note, I think that it is very very important to understand, that our husbands felt this calling as well. They both were, and still are, very supportive, encouraging, and motivating. We prayed from the beginning that whatever it was that God wanted us to do, He would put that same call and understanding in our husbands’ hearts as well. He has honored that prayer. God gave us our marriages and our sweet husbands for a purpose! We knew that if this thing was from the Lord, that He would bring our marriages closer, not further apart. He has done that! *

In November 2009, I began to have a nagging thought. I felt like God was telling me to write a song. I know I know, it sounded to crazy to me too. I would immediately shut it down. It just sounded too weird. It sounded impossible. I didn’t talk about it to anyone, not even my husband. Surely God wouldn’t be asking me to do that. I don’t write songs. I don’t know how!

This verse began to be constantly on my mind,
Zephaniah 3:17, “The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."
I would find myself saying it over and over again in my mind. I now know that God was bringing it to my memory and weaving it into my life for a purpose.

Finally, that nagging thought became overwhelming. I began to beg Him to take the thought away if it wasn’t from Him. He didn’t. It became obvious that it was from the Lord and He wasn’t going to leave me alone about it until I did what He was telling me to do, no matter how crazy it seemed to me. I had the month of December off work, so I dedicated that month to Him and to writing a song. I was still skeptical and a little fearful; I have never done anything like this before. I didn’t know how to write a song. I asked Him to do it for me. I asked Him to be very obvious. I totally surrendered to the crazy!
On my second day off work, no one else was home and I was in the shower praying out loud that the Lord would speak to me clearly. I began to repeat Zephaniah 3:17 aloud over and over again. Suddenly, it was there. A song; words and a tune; clear as day. I was shocked; I stood completely still, dumbstruck by what had just happened. My heart was pounding, my hands were shaking, and my face was burning. I felt the Lord speaking so clearly! I felt His presence all around me! I went to my computer and sat down and typed it out. Within a matter of hours, it was all there, a complete song. Even now, as I retell the story I am amazed at what He did and captivated by Him all over again! I don’t write songs! I didn’t do that, GOD did!!!
When Lee came home that night, through lots of tears, I told him what God had asked me to do, the commitment that I had made to Him, and then what God had done. We prayed together, that God would do what He wanted to with us and His song. The Lord made it obvious to both of us that Aimee was to do the piano arrangement.
That Sunday, I took the song to church and nervously told Aimee the whole story and sang the song for her. I told her that I felt like God wanted her to be a part of this as well and I asked her to pray about putting together an arrangement. She was as shocked, skeptical, and fearful as I had been. Several months before this I had asked if she could peck out the notes to a song that I remembered singing as a teenager. She had immediately balked at that idea, saying that she didn’t play by ear. She didn’t know how to do that! This time, we decided to just pray about it and then meet again on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, we met at the church early. Aimee was still very skeptical, but willing to do whatever God wanted her to do. I was sure that it would take us many times of meeting together to figure out how get it right. Before we did anything, we spent some time in prayer, praying that God would be obvious and that He would give us the arrangement that He wanted for song.
I can’t find words for what happened next, other than God blew us away. He did it! He wrote the arrangement in the same way He wrote the song, in such a way that it was obvious that it was all Him. In a matter of forty-five minutes, the arrangement was finished! There we were sitting in a back room at the church laughing, crying, and shaking, completely overwhelmed and awed by a God who made Himself known to us in a way neither had ever experienced before.
We are nothing but two average women, sinners saved by grace, daughters of the King, with a passion for music and our God. Neither one of us writes songs, we don’t know how. But God does and He did!

Since then, God has continued to awe us. He has continued to lead and guide us toward writing more songs. Each time I am captivated and astounded once again. As of now, there are eleven songs, ten that are complete! He is not stopping! Each song has a story all it's own and I hope to be able to tell each one and about the things that God has taught us in the process. I can’t wait to share it all! I can’t wait for you to hear what God is doing!
He has a purpose and a plan for us, one that we can’t see. At times, this all seems to be happening so fast it’s scary. However, we serve a Sovereign God who sees our future, and we are earnestly seeking Him. We will not shrink back! We will step out in confidence and follow Him through every step of this process. He who has called us is Faithful and HE will do it!! He has done so much more than we could ever ask or imagine. I don’t write songs. Aimee doesn’t do arrangements. God does and we are so thankful that He is choosing to use us to do it.
We ask that you pray for us in this great adventure that the Lord has us on! That we would always be in step with Him, that we would not shrink back, that we would clearly know the 'next', and that, most importantly, God would receive all of the glory! To Him be ALL the honor, glory, and praise!

Hebrews 10:35-39 “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”