All I Need to Be

“Christmas Eve Service” became synonymous with “Disaster” the night of December 21, 2010. Sitting backstage were 3 very distraught, but very capable musicians. Rehearsal ended without much practice time put in and more confusion than we had started with. However, before we left, we were reassured that we had the lead sheets in the right key. And that was true, we did.

Christmas Eve came and we appeared to be ready. With last minute key changes, known only to the pianist and choir, we were onstage with the wrong lead sheets and no idea what the correct key was. I can transpose music on the spot IF I know what key it’s supposed to be in. Practice and a familiarity with chord progressions makes that easy. But no. We had no idea what key the songs were in now.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. We were all competent musicians with many of the right tools, but we were missing an essential one. And it wasn’t our fault! We had worked hard to have the all the music. That said though, we didn’t have what we needed and couldn’t continue without it. With some quick offstage communication, we were able to figure it out and keep going. It wasn’t flawless, but we kept going and it worked out.

My Fiction Writing class is my current “I can’t do this” case. I feel like I don’t have the talent and skills I need to survive this class. I know where my talent lies when it comes to writing; fiction writing isn't included. And that’s why I took this class - for a chance to work on and improve in this genre of writing. The class isn’t set up that way though... We’re learning a lot, but not what I’m struggling with. I'm stuck right now. When you don't know what you're doing, hard work doesn't accomplish much without some guidance.

In Bible Intro this morning we started class with a devotional. Here’s the concise version I sent to Annie:

In Bobby’s class today we talked about being

unequipped for our circumstances/battles.

In 1 Samuel 13 the army had no weapons other than primitive

insufficient ones. But God worked through an unprepared

person who was willing to trust in Him, David.

And he won the battle. God was enough for him.

And God is enough for our needs too.

He makes us all we need to be.

The Christmas Eve service worked out because of some quick thinking. I’m still waiting to see how my Fiction Writing class will turn out. David was victorious in his battle. Although conquering a giant is a little different than writing a story, I know God will work through that as well. He's proven numerous times that He can meet my needs, regardless of what they are. It might not, and typically doesn't, happen on my timing or how I think it should be done, but He always comes through and accomplishes tasks greater than I could ever imagine!

“The things I think I need aren’t here, but I have God and that’s all I really need.”

It comes down to surrendering to God and trusting Him completely.

And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the class who needed to hear those words this morning... Or maybe I was. It’s my blog so I can pretend it’s all about me :)