Traveling Away Brought Me Closer
Andrea Merrill / Worship Arts Director
Psalm 16:7 “The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.” (Message)
Psalm 42:1 “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.” (NLT)
This summer has probably been one of the craziest of my life! A few years ago, I asked God for opportunities to travel more and He has granted that request this year, and in ways that I never expected. In July I had the total privilege of spending two weeks in California at a school for worship leaders. It was absolutely mind-blowing! Worship leaders from all over the world convened for half a month to learn from some of the best worship leaders and teachers around, to learn from each other, and to just soak up whatever God had for us. I learned so much about my role at Eastern Hills and was given direction for our future here. I brushed up on music skills, collaborated with other musicians to lead in front of our teachers and colleagues, sat through production and technology seminars and took vigorous notes and captured videos to bring back to our tech teams. From songwriting classes with Chris Tomlin to stage design sessions with the people behind the Victory Tour and Heaven Come Conference, from a session about leading a worship team from Jonathan David Helser (Raise a Hallelujah) to a lesson on complete surrender by Cory Asbury (Reckless Love), the whole thing was over the top!
The biggest thing I came away with, however, was a HUGE realization that God has SO MUCH MORE! Not only that, but He wants me to hear His voice more clearly. He wants to partner with me every single day, in big and small ways, to get Kingdom work accomplished. I knew this in theory, but I left worship school with an expansion of my curiosity, and with an understanding that I had only experienced the tip of God’s iceberg. Part of my problem is that my brain is a little too loud a LOT of the time. I know how to hear God, but I don’t stop and silence myself often enough or for long enough. I’ve been MISSING some of what He’s been saying! I also discovered that I don’t EXPECT Him to speak to me often enough. I know God talks to me before I hit the stage every weekend. He’s got a message for the congregation that I expect to get “downloaded” to me before I have a microphone in my hand, but what about the little insignificant things that I choose to just worry about rather than sit with God on in expectation of that same kind of download? Have I not taken the time and intentionality in those scenarios because I don’t think it’s as important to Him as what He wants to give the congregation on a Saturday night or Sunday morning?
As I said ... GOD HAS SO MUCH MORE! More insight, more direction, more joy, more confidence, and much more partnering with me than I ever realized or acknowledged. The thing is, He has that for all of us! Our “assignments” from God aren’t the most important thing. Yes, He’s waiting to see if we will stop and listen and then be obedient to what He gives us, but these moments of conversation with God are about learning to hear Him and understand Him more. We can’t easily get to know anyone without being in regular conversation, and I don’t think any of us would plan to get to know someone without the expectation that they will respond and dialogue WITH us. Praying isn’t supposed to be a one-way stream of conversation, but I need to give Him space to respond. He’s a very polite God 🙂.
So for me, I’ve decided to go after God in this way. I am quietly sitting with Him on a regular basis. I sit with expectation that He’s going to talk, so I have a journal ready to write out what He says or the pictures He gives. If I don’t understand what things mean, I ask Him rather than write it off as something I’m not supposed to understand or that didn’t come from Him. I have to remember that He is my perfect Father, and perfect Fathers want to communicate with their kids!
 |
| Photo by Resi Kling on Unsplash |
Psalm 16:7 “The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.” (Message)
Psalm 42:1 “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.” (NLT)
This summer has probably been one of the craziest of my life! A few years ago, I asked God for opportunities to travel more and He has granted that request this year, and in ways that I never expected. In July I had the total privilege of spending two weeks in California at a school for worship leaders. It was absolutely mind-blowing! Worship leaders from all over the world convened for half a month to learn from some of the best worship leaders and teachers around, to learn from each other, and to just soak up whatever God had for us. I learned so much about my role at Eastern Hills and was given direction for our future here. I brushed up on music skills, collaborated with other musicians to lead in front of our teachers and colleagues, sat through production and technology seminars and took vigorous notes and captured videos to bring back to our tech teams. From songwriting classes with Chris Tomlin to stage design sessions with the people behind the Victory Tour and Heaven Come Conference, from a session about leading a worship team from Jonathan David Helser (Raise a Hallelujah) to a lesson on complete surrender by Cory Asbury (Reckless Love), the whole thing was over the top!
The biggest thing I came away with, however, was a HUGE realization that God has SO MUCH MORE! Not only that, but He wants me to hear His voice more clearly. He wants to partner with me every single day, in big and small ways, to get Kingdom work accomplished. I knew this in theory, but I left worship school with an expansion of my curiosity, and with an understanding that I had only experienced the tip of God’s iceberg. Part of my problem is that my brain is a little too loud a LOT of the time. I know how to hear God, but I don’t stop and silence myself often enough or for long enough. I’ve been MISSING some of what He’s been saying! I also discovered that I don’t EXPECT Him to speak to me often enough. I know God talks to me before I hit the stage every weekend. He’s got a message for the congregation that I expect to get “downloaded” to me before I have a microphone in my hand, but what about the little insignificant things that I choose to just worry about rather than sit with God on in expectation of that same kind of download? Have I not taken the time and intentionality in those scenarios because I don’t think it’s as important to Him as what He wants to give the congregation on a Saturday night or Sunday morning?
As I said ... GOD HAS SO MUCH MORE! More insight, more direction, more joy, more confidence, and much more partnering with me than I ever realized or acknowledged. The thing is, He has that for all of us! Our “assignments” from God aren’t the most important thing. Yes, He’s waiting to see if we will stop and listen and then be obedient to what He gives us, but these moments of conversation with God are about learning to hear Him and understand Him more. We can’t easily get to know anyone without being in regular conversation, and I don’t think any of us would plan to get to know someone without the expectation that they will respond and dialogue WITH us. Praying isn’t supposed to be a one-way stream of conversation, but I need to give Him space to respond. He’s a very polite God 🙂.
So for me, I’ve decided to go after God in this way. I am quietly sitting with Him on a regular basis. I sit with expectation that He’s going to talk, so I have a journal ready to write out what He says or the pictures He gives. If I don’t understand what things mean, I ask Him rather than write it off as something I’m not supposed to understand or that didn’t come from Him. I have to remember that He is my perfect Father, and perfect Fathers want to communicate with their kids!