As He directs

"Sing to Him a new song;

play skillfully with a shout of joy"

Psalm 33:3

It's summertime, which means every time I meet up with a friend or acquaintance for a chat, there's catching up to do.  Maybe they attended a wedding and I get to see pictures.  Or maybe they've been on vacation and have adventures to share.

It also means that there's people missing from church.  We go to a fairly small church, so when a family is gone for a couple weeks in a row, they are missed.  And since so many people at my church are active, participating in ministries, it means someone has to fill in the hole when someone else goes on vacation.

The most noticeable place that happens is with the worship team.  It's a pretty fluid group already.  There are pretty much two different teams, each led by a husband and wife team, with other musicians that are either regulars, or fill in when needed.  So at any given time, when I walk into church, I could see a variety of people in various roles.

But a couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, there was a drastic change.  Neither of the "usual" husband and wife teams were there.  The lead singer was a gentleman who normally plays the keyboard.  He was still playing the keyboard, but he was doing the singing, too.  And his co-singer was his lovely wife.  She has played the violin for us many times, but I didn't even know she could sing.

They were so wonderful at leading us.  We sang a couple of songs that were new to me, and it was so enjoyable to be led in learning something new, by someone I didn't even know could lead me!

My husband and I, partway through the first song, just looked at each other in silent astonishment.  And I know the look on each of our faces simply said "Wow... who knew?"  This wonderful couple had gifts and talents that a lot of the church didn't know about, because there simply hadn't been a need before then.  And they were content to serve in "backup" roles, even though they clearly had the ability to do more.  Can you imagine if they'd tried to do more than they were needed to, all those other Sundays?  There's not gonna be harmony if everyone wants to be the leader.

It was a reminder to me, about serving as He calls me to serve.  I might have gifts that I feel are not being used, and that can feel frustrating, but I need to trust Him on the timing.  He might be calling me to lead, but He might be calling me to follow.  He might be calling me to teach, or He might be calling me to empty the trashcans.  And it was a reminder to me to step up when He calls me to, and stay out of the way until He does. 

"humble yourselves

  under the mighty hand of God,

  that He may exalt you in due time"

1 Peter 5:6