the singer

If you're like me, you get just a little bit nervous every time someone sings for the first time in front of a large crowd. I worry for them that they might mess up, or forget the words, or miss the notes, and that the audience will not be as graceful or forgiving in their analysis of the performance. So at the beginning, I sometimes spend a good portion of the song praying that they not mess it up--when it's live, pretty much anything can happen.

So this singer starts her song, and it starts out low. I worry that she might not hit all the low notes, or that her words will get lost in the low pitch of her voice. She's not singing very loudly, so I worry that she's not very confident in herself, or her voice, or the choice of song. Her voice is shaky, so I worry that she's getting emotional and at any given second could burst into tears, or run off the stage, or not be able to finish the song in front of the crowd. I'm so nervous for her, because she's been on stage all night and has not yet sung lead on any song, and it seems she has had a shaky beginning.

Then comes the chorus. And she belts out with wild abandonment and perfect pitch a song she was created to sing. And it. is. glorious.

I mean it. I'm worshipping the Lord God Almighty because of how He's revealing Himself to me in her song and it hits me: the chorus is more powerful and more beautiful because of my perception of her beginning.

This shifted my world.

It gave me this wonderful picture of how much glory God gets in our stories--no matter our beginning, no matter other people's perception. It also made me realign my thoughts on perception. Perhaps there was more flaw in my perception of things than flaw in the things (or people) themselves. Powerful stuff.

I'm still working through all of this in my heart, but let this be an encouragement to you and a reminder to me: if you see someone step out in something new, and they seem to be kinda shaky, or they appear to have a rough start--just wait for God to show up in the chorus, because He will (because HE'S GOD) and when He does, it will be the most beautiful song you've ever heard, the clearest picture of a life lived in obedience, and the most powerful witness and worship you may ever experience. Be encouraged! God is working if we can but ask Him to shift our perspective and wait patiently for the best part.