Our first concert was last Tuesday afternoon at a local high school here in Granada. We asked our friends Lester and Valentin to play keyboard and drums for us so we’d be a complete band. The day before the concert, the Lord told me that I would be speaking to them and he gave me a message about love.
(Praying together before the concert started)
We got there around 3:30 and started setting up. The classes were supposed to get out at 4:10, we’d start around 4:15 and have until 5:30 to play and speak. Once 4:30 rolled around we started wondering what was going on as we couldn’t find the principal anywhere. Finally, around 4:45 the kids got out of class and came to sit down. We asked the vice principal how long we had and she said thirty minutes. I couldn’t see how we could possibly do all our music (8 songs) and me speak (with interpretation) all in 30 minutes. We quickly cut a couple songs from our list and said we would see when we got to that point in the program if I felt like I was supposed to speak or not.
We started playing. I was barely focused on the music because I was distracted by the laughing students and trying to pray about whether or not I could get out of speaking. At some point I realized that one of the guitars wasn’t in tune and it was making everything sound really bad. Our voices weren’t quite hitting the right notes and to be perfectly honest, it all sounded horrible. I was trying so hard to focus on having a good time but there were too many other things to worry about.
During one of the songs I was praying and asking the Lord if he really wanted me to speak and he said, “Why would I give you a message if you weren’t going to share it?” Busted. I was just trying to get out of doing it because I was nervous, not because I thought we couldn’t fit it into our time limit.
Time came in the program for me to speak and everyone said I had plenty of time. So I started. And once I started it all just flowed out. I spoke to them about how we all want to be loved and accepted by a boyfriend/girlfriend but a relationship will never satisfy that longing because it’s meant to be filled by God. I know how hard it is to want nothing more than to have a boy tell you you’re beautiful. I know what’s it like to want so badly to hold someone’s hand, to be loved, to be accepted for who you are. And I know it’s not just me. We all want to feel loved. God created us that way. But he didn’t create us to have that hole filled by another person. We need to find love, acceptance and our own beauty in God. If we go into a relationship looking for fulfillment, the other person will always fail us. Often they’ll give up when things get difficult. They may even walk away forever. If you’re looking for your worth in another person, you’ll never find it. But God’s love is perfect. It will never fail us. God will never leave you. God will NEVER leave YOU! God thinks that you are beautiful. God thinks that YOU are BEAUTIFUL! He is the ONLY ONE that can fill that hole inside your heart. It is only when you are filled by the love of God and the person that you are with is filled with the love of God that you can have a healthy relationship.
I didn’t feel like I was reciting a speech I wrote but was really speaking from my heart. I looked over at one point and a girl was wiping away a tear.
After I spoke I invited anyone who wanted to come talk to us or be prayed for could come to the front at the end. No one came up to talk to us, but I’ve learned not to measure success by numbers. I’m confident that the Lord used us to impact someone’s life that day. Even if it was only one person, it was worth it.
