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sejanashines · 6 years ago

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Have you ever made plans to do great things but they don’t seem to work out? I know I’m notorious for that. I’ve learned not to tell too many people about the many ideas going on in my head, because then I’d feel bad if I didn’t follow through or it just never worked out. But, now- today on this last day of 2018, I feel like I need to tell you something. Here in South Korea, where I am living currently thanks to the US Army, we have 45 minutes until this year is done. I meant to take time to think about this year from January through now and reflect on all that went on. I knew that SO MUCH has happened and I probably wouldn’t remember it all so in my mind I thought I would either use my Google Calendar to click-through the past year and see what we did (I did a pretty great job this year keeping up with updating it. It’s pretty much second nature now). And also I thought I would go through the tons of photos backed up on my hard drive for the year. (Of course there is just WAAAAAAAYYYYY too much to have it all stored on my phone’s additional memory card. I mean really, I do really need a better way to go through these tons of photos and videos that document our days… please does anyone have a method that works for them? Please share!!

Anyway, so the bottom line is that I didn’t get around to going through either of those things. And with so many other more pressing things on my list to do, it’s probably just not going to happen. No, not with 2019 right around the corner!!! —sigh— Better to do something NOW and then START FRESH next year. Right? Right. ugh.

BUT, let’s not dwell on what DIDN’T happen today and instead can I share with you what did?

Open my home; open my heart

I made plans to invite people over today! It was kinda prayed about to have an opportunity to share Christ with my family who does not share the same beliefs as I do. God presented an opportunity for a Korean friend to come over again (for the THIRD time!) during my relative’s visit. My family wanted to meet her son and so I also extended the invitation to her husband too. Why not? I hope that our husband’s would get along and can form a friendship perhaps. And then for good measure, I believe God brought to my mind a single Soldier whom I invited at the last-minute and thankfully, she was able to come too. I say thankfully because normally she would be busy but today, she wasn’t!

I LOVE hosting. I LOVE having people over in the kitchen, helping out, eating food and just having a relaxed time together.

There is no better way to get complete strangers together on the road to getting to know one another than by putting them to work!!

Do you know what else I LOVE? Worship! I love music! We discovered in conversation the hobbies of a few of us at the table. And then I heard that my friend’s husband plays the keyboard, bass and guitar. Guess who happened to have a keyboard in the other room, begging to be played? Yours truly. I hopped up to plug it in and turn it around and he reluctantly (at first) played some tunes.

But then after that, my family wanted to hear ME also play the guitar (also just sitting there). To tell you the truth, I hadn’t picked it up since leaving for Cambodia and so I was feeling pretty rusty. But my family kept going on and on and I didn’t want the party to end so I scrambled around to find my gear (music, a plug because the device I use for my music died, my capo, a pick) was all over the place. Read more about the guitar here.

We flipped the furniture around and wha-la! A place to share music with the masses!

But I finally got it together, went off to the hallway to tune the guitar (and then I could hear family making comments “come out!” “Is she shy?” and then my friend said “no, she is just tuning” – which they didn’t understand what she meant because they repeated the comment again, “she must be shy” LOL those non-musical folks tisk tisk). Well anyway, I’m thankful that I had a playlist that said “acoustic worship” on it that I created to play songs I hoped to record and share with the public one day. I’m thankful for pre-made worship sets created on this free app (read here about paperless gadgets!) that I have stored and work from because at times like this, your mind (if it’s like mine when being put on the spot) goes blank and I can think of nothing. Nothing at all. So thank you Piascore!

I ended up choosing “Breathe” by Marie Barnett and then “Simple Gospel” by United Pursuit. My friend recorded part of the first song, I’m only sharing it to show (as proof LOL) that you don’t need much to worship the Lord. All you need is the willingness to boldly declare His Name in front of whomever and respond with His Truth whenever and wherever He presents an opportunity. Pray for those opportunities. You never know what He is doing and so may you just be obedient and responsive as He works things out through you. (It is my hope – I am seriously excited about this!!!! – that I can plan some times of at – home worship with fellow musicians and anyone else interested in coming together in 2019 to praise the Lord!)

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Unfortunately, I don’t have a fairy tale ending to close this summary of our time together today to share with you right now. No one new in our home has yet to come forward to ask why Jesus died on the cross for sinners and if they were indeed a sinner (the answer is YES, according to the Bible see Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8). No one new yet has declared that they wanted to turn from their ways, accepting Jesus’s free gift of Salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16, Romans 6:23) and live instead putting Christ first. So this hasn’t happened yet, but only the Lord ………………..

***** unexpected 20 minute break *****

and now it is officially 2019!!

Thank you for making this my son!

My husband came on over to me at 11:53pm and so I closed the computer. I’m happy to have brought in the New Year with my family. I am reminded that at this time last year, we were all sleeping together in the living room, but in Virginia. We had said goodbye to our first youngest and longest staying foster (respite) child with undiagnosed autistic-like tendencies that took a lot out of each of us. When he cried as he was getting picked up by his new full-time foster parents, my heart broke. I can still remember how I felt at that time… but how must HE have felt? He didn’t know what was going on; he was so little.

treating dinner to a friend who did our foster child’s hair- he needed a cut really bad!! So thankful for friends!

our kids learned many things too from our time as a foster family

In that time, just one year ago at this time, I remember that THAT was the time I discovered how great my husband could be and that we definitely made a great team when it came down to it. 🙂 Even after being married already 10 years by then, the trials we faced with this specific little one caused a much deeper level of respect and appreciation from me towards my husband at that time. #GodknowswhatHeisdoing

This is us today! Marriage is hard, everyone who is married knows this for sure, but it is worth it! #thankful

God has a plan (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Hmm. I guess I did reflect a little bit. It is a little late and it’s not encompassing the entire 2018 year, but I guess it’s what important and it’s what God brought to mind right now. I thank you God for my life, for my family, for my friends old and new and for those in foreign lands. I am grateful for each story, each opportunity to come together and eat at the table and sing praises of your Great Name. Even to those who have yet to really know you… I thank you for those people, including those in my family, whom you love and I love. I trust in You to show me and lead me in how to share You with them. I don’t know where or how each decision I make will turn out but I DO know and trust that in ALL things, Emmanuel, God with us. God is here with me and He is here waiting for a closer relationship with you. I hope you consider this invitation!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Acts 2:46-47(ESV)

46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Read more about Foster Care here: https://sejanashines.com/category/foster-care/

Read more about Spiritual Growth here: https://sejanashines.com/category/spiritual-growth/

Take a look around and leave me a message – private or public. Let me know your thoughts! I’d love to make time and shine His light on whatever I can for you, if I am able. Thank you.

Opening your home and Impromptu home worship Have you ever made plans to do great things but they don't seem to work out? I know I'm notorious for that.

#environment #family #friendships #home #homeworship #invite #lost #music #obedience #Piascore #prayer #South Korea #table #worship

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sejanashines · 6 years ago

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Come, now is the time to worship. After an impromptu time of worship (read about that here) and then sharing my desire with others that I wanted to host a planned time of home worship at some point in the future- it happened! We did it!! And it we had a great time of fellowship singing praises to the Lord. Let me tell you how it went! I’ll talk about planning and hosting, ‘At Home Christian Worship,’ and the guestlist.

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Was this the first time you hosted this kind of thing?

No. This was my second time, but my first time hosting this here in South Korea. 🙂

Well, how did it go?

It went great!!

No, seriously, it did!

So what did you all do?

Okay! So that’s what you want to know!! Why didn’t you just ask me that it in the first place……..? HAHA I’m just joking! 😉 Here’s everything that you’d probably want to know so maybe YOU CAN HOST An AT HOME WORSHIP EVENT TOO! If you do, please let me know how it goes!!

Planning and Hosting

Well, I planned a date and let other musicians I’ve met know about it and asked them if they were free to come over that day. Some were and some weren’t. Some were on the fence…………… (they didn’t say that, but I felt like they were). I get the struggle because most of us have lots of obligations already on our plate and they were probably thinking so what is this supposed to be anyway? (So, as far as moving forward and choosing the best date and time, I threw out an option that first was good for me and when at least ONE person was solid and committed to come at that date and time THEN I made a flyer and went with it! You will never host an event where everyone you think that would love it will be available to come. It just never works out that way. I prayed throughout that Holy Spirit would lead and make opportunity for those He wants to come to actually come.)

Created this flyer using Spark.

The purpose of this opportunity, in my mind and how I described it to others, was simply a time to come together as leaders and encourage one another through song as we sing or play before the Lord. Nothing special, just an informal, relaxed time of bringing what you’ve got (really it’s what God gave you) and giving it (back) to the Lord.

Notice I posted in the group using the free BAND app.

Before the day came, I created a group using the free BAND app (it seems to be popular here in South Korea) and I sent the link to those that indicated they were coming. On it, I put my address, what to expect and most importantly, I asked them to start posting YouTube songs there so we could listen to and become familiar with them beforehand. Everyone was invited to post songs that they wanted to suggest and do. I suggested each person offer up 3. I think I posted like 10 because I couldn’t make up my mind!!!! (Don’t do that though becasuse no one really had time to listen to all those songs before coming!! Yikes!) I ended up making a YouTube playlist and as suggestions came, I just added it onto the list. The list was posted in the app and on Facebook for all to see (and be inspired)!

The day of, I sent out reminders and answered questions typical to anyone who hosts folks in your home. I was happy that someone ventured to come who hadn’t even met me before but was invited by a mutual friend who was coming. She came and arrived on her own- you go girl!!! Glad you were brave and came out! You are welcome here anytime! If you receive last minute cancellations- they happen! Remember how, in the beginning, you prayed that the Lord would use this time? Remember how you prayed that those that Holy Spirit draws out would come out? We have no idea what God doing so don’t act like you do! Be gracious and maybe next time, they will be able to come. Sharing ‘how it went‘ after the fact (hence THIS blog post!) can help with those who just need to know in advance how things like this go. It can help calm those nerves! -wink wink- Or it can help to show that YES you CAN have a great time in the Lord with people you don’t know (or don’t know well yet)!)

Dinner time. Since the event was planned for 4:30-6:30pm, I also invited anyone who was interested to stay afterwards for dinner. I offered it actually because some needed to come after work and I didn’t want to send them home hungry. I also thought maybe the meal would help them to come over right away. For this event, I made “Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup” on the stove. I didn’t bring my crockpot here to Korea unfortunately, so I figured it would just have to work out this way. I’ve made this receipe before and it was always a hit. It is super easy to make. I did serve it with the following condiments: sour cream, sliced avocadoes, cherry tomatoes, grated cheese and a LARGE BAG OF TORTILLA CHIPS!!! Whoo hoo!!!!

Here is the recipe! I changed it to 16 servings and I didn’t use super exact amounts but whatever was closest in the cans (i.e. all of each can).

Snacks. Gotta have the snacks. I placed a few bowls of snacks around to help break the ice (and stomaches of mainly my own children who smelled the food and wanted to eat but they needed to wait until 6:30). Offer water, tea, coffee, milk… whatever you have to help folks settle in and feel comfortable.

Hosts. I’m so thankful for a friend who was able to come over early and just help me welcome everyone as they arrived. We need those hosts – and friends!! Thank you! Oh, and also thank you for washing all my dirty dishes as I was preparing the soup!! You complete me! 😍

Make sure you invite friends who are sold out for Jesus; it is so good for the soul! (But let that not be the ONLY people you open your doors to! hmmm)

At Home Christian Worship

The event

So once we officially started (pretty close to starting time 4:45pm I think?) I opened us up in prayer thanking God for everyone who was there and asking the Lord God to bless our time together. I then had everyone go around and introduce themselves. That was probably the only awkward time of the whole evening; in my opinion it can be a bit difficult talking about oneself, but it was quickly forgotten by the main event- the music!!

On one accord. I suggested the first song, as I heard it mentioned during conversation and we just needed to get things going. So I typed in “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman and my computer was already hooked up to the TV and everyone sang/played using the chord sheet that showed up on the TV screen. (How did I find the chord sheets? As songs were suggested, I would look it up by typing the name of the song (10000 reasons + chord + pdf ) or (10000 reasons + chord key of G + pdf) and whala! I would download only from links that were reputable to me. I didn’t use Worship Together this time because the chords and lyrics were too small to see on the TV, but they DO have all the lyrics and chords there for free access to most christian worship songs! Check it out! For other detailed information on how I went paperless, read here!

So the “rule” was, when it was your turn (we simply went round and around in a circle) to suggest a song, you were asked to then lead the song. Gasp!! So we did have at least one guest that self-identified as a “non-musical” person but instead came for fellowship who balked at the idea (it was funny when we told her the rule afterwards). During worship though, someone else just kinda took over as the Spirit led. It was beautiful. And what does ‘leading the song‘ mean? In this situation, it meant choosing the key (or I helped out with that – basically whatever we could easily play on guitar using our capo!! 😆I had another device which showed music in a different key to be used with the capo and on the TV was the actual key for the pianist (who seemed to be able to play anything!) connected via HDMI to my computer…) But leading the song most importantly meant leading where people sang next………… Do we sing the verse twice? When do we go to the chorus? We simply followed the lead of the person who chose the song… maybe near the end of the song the Spirit led us to just keep on going with the song…that is something the leader (and the group) would be sensitive to and lead everyone in the way in which the leader wanted us to go. Never done it before? Why not try it out in a group setting like this and give it a whirl!

Set list. These are the songs that we ended up singing, with each person having an opportunity to offer up a song and lead the song for the group. I sang and played songs that were new to me and so did others. One friend would explain before or after why she chose the song she did and I think her words really added to the song. She’s a great worship leader!

Check out the YouTube playlist of these songs here!

Here’s a recording of “With All I Am.”

At about 6:30, we ended our worship time by doing one of the songs we sang over and I asked my son to record us. I wanted to try and include those that weren’t able to make it. I wanted them to know that we thought about and prayed for them. And I knew that I would write this blog to share it with others and I want YOU to know that I’m praying for you. I’m praying for those that will take up the mantle and lead wherever and however God calls you. The fields are ripe for harvest (John 4:31-38)!!! I’m praying for laborers to go out into the fields now! (Matthew 9:35-38)

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We ended our time together by enjoying a meal with one another with those who could stay. It was a great time in the Lord! We even got to see a friend in action as she naturally loved on our youngest participant after dinner with singing and dancing.

Guestlist

United body of Christ.

Guests who came represented different nations and spoke different languages: English, Korean, German, Spanish and Swahili. Guests also served at or attend different churches. The #usagdaegu Area IV Peace On The Rock (POTR) Contemporary 5pm service on Camp Walker, Hana Church with uploaded sermons on YouTube interpreted to English, Urdu, Spanish or Khmer depending on listeners, and also Dongshin English Service located in Suseong-Gu were represented.

Make room for more. The purpose of this event was to invite those who played instruments or sang to come together and worship Jesus, the name above every other name, and encourage one another through song and fellowship. It is true that I specifically invited those I knew from my various church-related circles but the offer was open for anyone to come. I was happy when a few people came who wouldn’t describe themselves as “musical” but came simply because a friend invited them. May we (and I) continue to invite those who may not be necessarily interested but, because you asked, may they come, taste and see, that the Lord IS good! (Psalm 34:8) He knows what we need even before we ask! (Matthew 6:8)

Are you hosting again?

Absolutely! I’m always hosting something. I’ve always been bringing people together but now I have a sole purpose. I want to help build relationships that draw others to a deeper understanding of and obedience to the will of God. I believe we can do that when we have a safe place to just be ourselves, have real conversations and explore God. Maybe the question isn’t am I hosting again… but perhaps…. are you coming?

This is just another documentation of my guitar journey and spiritual growth. Please share with others and tell me how this was helpful for you! Let me know when you host!! May God bless your time together as everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Hosting Christian Worship at Home Come, now is the time to worship. After an impromptu time of worship (read about that…

#faith #gathering #guitar #home #homeworship #invite #leadership #learning #music #relationships #spiritual #Spiritual Growth #worship

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