Liz's Story - We Bring Our Best & Trust God With the Rest
This week in our Vibrant Family Values series, we talked about our fifth value: We Bring Our Best & Trust God With the Rest. We can give our all to God because He is trustworthy and He is in control.
Liz Shearer lives out this value here at Vibrant. Check out her story of God's faithfulness as she surrenders all to Him:
"We all have a God-given gift and I truly believe mine is worship. I have grown a lot and hope I can continue to grow. A few years ago I was presented with the opportunity to lead a worship song for the first time. I said yes with a smile but I am sure there was a lot of doubt on my face. At the time, I was pregnant with our youngest child so I actually used that as an excuse to take a break from worship until after he was born. That is how terrified I was when I was presented with this opportunity. I completely stopped worshipping in hopes that when I returned from my maternity break, I'd be forgotten about and so would that conversation.
I have been through obstacles in life that have made me build my walls high and surrender to the lies which ended in some serious self-doubt. It felt like it robbed me of my own air. The conversation continued and I got to lead a song one Sunday. I never planned to lead a song. I was happy standing in the background. As this continued Satan attacked my mind and the self-doubt would build thicker and thicker. I started comparing myself to the leaders who have been doing this for years and crumbling, wondering why I even had a chance to lead anything. "I'm not good enough." "I wish I could sing like them". "I wish I had their stage presence". I held back, which means I was holding back from God.
I kept pushing through asking God to show me who I was and who I was meant to be for His Kingdom. More opportunities arose and my experience started to get a little bit more involved. I got to a place where I got to lead worship at York Haven a few times. Last year my one word was Obedience. I promised God to be obedient to everything He asked me to do. I did just that. Opportunities kept coming my way and I continued saying yes, wanting to say absolutely not. Every time I said yes, I felt sick to my stomach because of nerves. God brought me through every single time. He brought a sense of peace. He brought people into my life that would lift me up, slowly take away the walls Satan built and encourage me.
It all started with a cannon ball into a wicked sea. The waves were high, and I was tiny, but God is mighty. That was my leap of faith. I gave worship everything I knew how to give and God kept growing me. I showed Him I was being faithful, trusting Him and bringing the best I had. He multiplied my peace. He multiplied the people in my life that I now call family. He transformed people through me. Most importantly, I now surrender my all to Christ and no longer surrender to my self-doubt. Give it all to God. Bring Him your absolute best and take the leap. Whatever you are afraid of, surrender to God and He will bring the rest. He will multiply. He blesses our efforts to obey Him. I have been transformed. I'm a walking miracle and it is all because I trusted God with the rest and allowed Him to work from the very beginning of my doubt. This doesn't only apply in worship for me, it applies in every aspect of my life."
Liz Shearer lives out this value here at Vibrant. Check out her story of God's faithfulness as she surrenders all to Him:
"We all have a God-given gift and I truly believe mine is worship. I have grown a lot and hope I can continue to grow. A few years ago I was presented with the opportunity to lead a worship song for the first time. I said yes with a smile but I am sure there was a lot of doubt on my face. At the time, I was pregnant with our youngest child so I actually used that as an excuse to take a break from worship until after he was born. That is how terrified I was when I was presented with this opportunity. I completely stopped worshipping in hopes that when I returned from my maternity break, I'd be forgotten about and so would that conversation.
I have been through obstacles in life that have made me build my walls high and surrender to the lies which ended in some serious self-doubt. It felt like it robbed me of my own air. The conversation continued and I got to lead a song one Sunday. I never planned to lead a song. I was happy standing in the background. As this continued Satan attacked my mind and the self-doubt would build thicker and thicker. I started comparing myself to the leaders who have been doing this for years and crumbling, wondering why I even had a chance to lead anything. "I'm not good enough." "I wish I could sing like them". "I wish I had their stage presence". I held back, which means I was holding back from God.
I kept pushing through asking God to show me who I was and who I was meant to be for His Kingdom. More opportunities arose and my experience started to get a little bit more involved. I got to a place where I got to lead worship at York Haven a few times. Last year my one word was Obedience. I promised God to be obedient to everything He asked me to do. I did just that. Opportunities kept coming my way and I continued saying yes, wanting to say absolutely not. Every time I said yes, I felt sick to my stomach because of nerves. God brought me through every single time. He brought a sense of peace. He brought people into my life that would lift me up, slowly take away the walls Satan built and encourage me.
It all started with a cannon ball into a wicked sea. The waves were high, and I was tiny, but God is mighty. That was my leap of faith. I gave worship everything I knew how to give and God kept growing me. I showed Him I was being faithful, trusting Him and bringing the best I had. He multiplied my peace. He multiplied the people in my life that I now call family. He transformed people through me. Most importantly, I now surrender my all to Christ and no longer surrender to my self-doubt. Give it all to God. Bring Him your absolute best and take the leap. Whatever you are afraid of, surrender to God and He will bring the rest. He will multiply. He blesses our efforts to obey Him. I have been transformed. I'm a walking miracle and it is all because I trusted God with the rest and allowed Him to work from the very beginning of my doubt. This doesn't only apply in worship for me, it applies in every aspect of my life."