This is my story. A story I tell with the sole purpose of giving Glory to GOD. I pray that through my story He will touch hearts and help you know that He is good and works in our lives for our good and His glory.

***

She walked into the student center with a spring in her step. The new semester was off to a good start, so the second half of her sophomore year held a lot of promise. She and a group of other students were headed to a camp for the weekend to lead worship for a group of high school students, and she was excited.

She looked down at her watch, just an hour until they had practice for the weekend. The band for the weekend was a random combination of friends, but they each had a specific gifting that should fit well together. It wasn’t her usual band, but she was looking forward to working with some new folks.

Turning left she entered the Chaplin’s office. He had called her and asked her to come over because he needed to discuss something with her. Her mind couldn’t think of anything bad he could want to say, so her spirits were high. She just expected it to be a logistical thing about the ministry she was leading on campus.

“Hey,” she said as she walked through his open door.

“Good evening. How’s the semester going?”

“So far so good. I’ve had a bit of a cold, but I’m starting to feel better.”

“That’s good. Go ahead and have a seat.” He motioned to a chair across from him, as he sat in a wing-backed chair next to the window.

Her heart rate elevated as she noticed the Chaplin’s serious demeanor.

The next half hour was a blur as her world came crashing down.

She remembered hearing things like, “I’m going to have you step down from your ministry. You can still be a part of it when you’re ready, but you will no longer be leading it.”

Her head spun. She hadn’t done anything to deserve this. She hadn’t committed some grievous sin. She hadn’t done anything wrong… had she?

“It’s for your own protection.”

Protection from what?

“I need you to just trust me.”

Why should I? You’re not explaining anything to me.

“There have been comments.”

About what? Shouldn’t I be given a chance to fix anything I’m not doing well?

“This isn’t about anything you did.”

Then what?

“I’m not going to tell you.”

What the— You have got to be kidding me!?

Her head continued to spin. None of it made any sense. What made less sense was the lack of answers she received. Tears streamed down her face as she couldn’t contain her emotions.

And that was it.

She was no longer the leader of this ministry that she fully believed God had put in. Why would God entrust a ministry to her, one that He had been preparing her for, and then strip it away? He had led her into this position, had been preparing her heart for it for since she was a little girl. This ministry was the passion He had put in her heart. She had been leading this kind of ministry since her junior year of high school. Everyone back home thought she was going to lead this kind of ministry forever. Wasn’t “worship leader” in her DNA? Then why?

All she could do was cling to Jesus. And trust that if He brought her into this situation, He could carry her through it as well.
“GOD, BE GLORIFIED!” was her cry and is still today.

Fast forward sixteen years later. This same woman, now a mom to three little girls, hears the answer to her questions from college.

“This is not what I have for you!” she senses Jesus declaring over her life. She could have continued down the road of becoming a worship leader. She could have strengthened her musical abilities and gone places with it. But it wasn’t what God had for her. That ministry could have blessed many, but there is a strong sense in her heart that God will use her in much greater ways in the ministries God has her in now. He has called her higher and deeper than that ministry ever could have taken her. It wasn’t the ministry God made her for.

She knows what it’s like to go through a valley, thus when she writes the valleys her characters go though, the raw heartache is real. She’s felt it.

When her characters have to trust God when there seems like there is no hope, she gets it. She’s been there, different circumstances, but the emotions are the same.

The God is the same. And her God is good. The God her characters learn to trust is the same God that she has learned to trust through thick and thin.

He is so GOOD. He sustains in the darkest days. He strengthens the weak. He heals the broken. And He uses the broken.

Lord, use me!