His grace is enough, part 2

(Continued from part one yesterday.)

Yesterday I described how the Lord worked in an unexpected way in a frustrating situation as I began a new ministry one Sunday. Here’s what happened on Monday:

In my prayer time the next day, I cried out to the Lord to help me cope with the emotional struggles that kept me high strung and agitated during my first time running Lyrics Ministry at the prayer meeting yesterday. He reminded me how I could enjoy his presence in a few moments as fully as I could in an hour and a half. I got that.

Then he taught me several lessons about ministry.

1. Don’t take it personally. It’s between you the Lord, not them.

2. Worship takes many forms. Serving is worship, allowing you to give as well as receive. And not give only to the people who take it for granted and can never repay in kind, but do sometimes point out a flaw or two. Always remember that you are serving the Lord, the giver of everything.

3. God has a sense of humor. What was the song I messed up? "Your Grace is Enough." I was focusing too much on myself and not on my ministry. Now I laugh with him when we sing that song!

4. Soon with practice, and trust in his grace, I will get better and can alternate between worshipping by progressing the slides and praising him along with the body of Christ. (Joyfully, this happened within a few weeks.)

5. Yes, sometimes I’ll mess up, but it won’t matter so much because I know I am serving the way the Lord is training me to serve him, and he is delighted with me.

I felt at peace. Then I saw an email from my son, the music leader. He writes that he goes through much of the same inner turmoil in selecting the songs and leading the musicians. Sometimes he’s leading the second or third verse before he can enjoy his ministry and worship. That’s why he plays all the verses and sometimes repeats the chorus several times at the end, so he can feel the presence of the Lord unimpeded by the tension of leadership.

He was thrilled with the way we worked together with the music and the lyrics, and so were many others who thanked him for an uplifting worship experience.

I’m such a little part of this ministry. I can’t even read music. Yet the Lord uses me as one of the notes in the song he wants to sing to us.

Serving in the middle of the now takes focus, flexibility and grace—but keeps me close to the Lord and dependent on his voice whether or not I falter. His grace is enough!

How has the Lord taught you that his grace is enough?

(© 2014 Nancy H C Ward)