6/20/2004

Music is a wonderful way to express your thoughts and feelings. It goes straight from your heart to the hearts of all who hear it.

My father loved to play the violin and he played it very well. At Christmas he would invite his friends to come over, they brought their violins and guitars along and they made music all night long. I enjoyed it very much.
My two older brothers played guitar, one studied classical music and the other played pop ballads and rock. I loved to listen to both of them but I liked the rock and pop music better. So I used to sing along with my brother dancing around, having a good time.

One day my father decided that it was time for my little sister, my younger brother and I, to learn how to play the violin, so he bought us violins. His friend who gave violin lessons came to our home every week to give us those precious lessons.
My father was very exited about it, but we however did not share his excitement, since we were not so in love with the violin. I liked the guitar better. But we didn't want to disappoint him and break his heart. So we did our best to become little Mozart's.

There was only one problem; our dog started to take singing lessons when we played the violin. He would howl as loud and as high as he could, making it impossible to play. He couldn't stand the false notes that were so eagerly produced by us.
So my little sister, my younger brother and I decided that it was in the best interest of the dog, to stop playing the violin. We did not want to strain his vocal chords any longer. He needed his voice to bark.

My father was heartbroken, but since he loved the dog and his own rest, he agreed to let us stop. My mother donated the violins to a church and I went on singing and dancing with my brother, longing to, one day, learn how to play the guitar. The dog by the way, gave up his opera classes, he didn't like wearing tuxedos anyway. So he barked happily ever after.

When I was sixteen I fell madly in love with the most wonderful person, Jesus Christ.
He was all I ever dreamed of and I just wanted to sing to Him all day.
So one day I took the guitar and went outside and gazed into the clear blue sky.
I said: “Lord if you teach me how to play this guitar, I will write songs for you and sing them to glorify your name.”
Then I started to work very hard, copying what my brother was doing on the guitar. Soon I was able to play some basic chords, then along came the songs that welled up in my heart.
One of the songs was very beautiful, I named it “His Love song”, it was a rock ballad.

Christ is the perfect love song of God. To God our lives are like songs. When we are filled with His love and walk in His way, we sound beautiful. But when His love is not inside our hearts we sound like a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
“ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1)

 God wants to sing this perfect love song through us, to touch the hearts of all people. The Holy Spirit wants to pour out this love in our hearts so we can sound beautifully.

“ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:5)

God opened a door for me and I was asked to sing in church and to join a gospel band. They played my songs and we had a lot of fun together. The only thing I didn't like was the sound check. Every time before a performance we had to get on stage and do a sound check. I was always nervous, because that's the way it is if you have to sing for people, and going on stage before the actual performance made it even worse. But in order to have a flawless performance you need the sound check. They have to adjust the microphones and make sure you can hear yourself through the monitors on stage etc. So it's absolutely necessary.

The world is like a grant stage, and we all come up and sing our song. Some sing sad songs, some have nothing left inside of them to sing, their lives are ruined because of drugs, sexual abuse, broken marriages…
People are longing to hear the love song of God. But if we want to flawlessly sing Gods love song with our lives, we have to take sound checks everyday.
We cannot afford to sound distorted on this grant stage. Too many lives depend upon it. God cannot touch their hearts if they cannot clearly hear His song.

The Holy Spirit is our heavenly sound check. He is the third person in Gods Trinity,and was send by Christ to guide and comfort us.

 "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth.”(John 14:16-17)

“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment…” (Romans 16:8)

 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13)

 He searches our spirit, mind, heart and soul and points out to us where we need to change. He does it when we take the time to seek God and open up our hearts to Him. It is very important to have these sound checks by the Spirit in order to sound good. In order to save lives!

Are you willing to sing Gods love song?
Then take my hand and let's sing it together. We'll have the performance of our lives!

Love forever,

Monique