Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You experiencing a small, contained faith, tired of settling for less? Well, this podcast is going to help you live out your faith in a spacious room because you were made for bigger things.
You close.
Well, hello and welcome to this week's episode of Spacious Room. And today we're going to be talking about in the leaders talk. Let others hear your song about becoming a worship warrior. And I want to introduce my good friend of over 20 years, Leonie Slosser. And she is a wife, a mother and a worship leader in her local church. And she has learnt that others need to hear the song of her life. And she is such a worship warrior. So I want to welcome Leonie to the spacious room. Hello, my friend.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Good morning.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: How are you? I'm good, thank you. That's good. I'm so excited that you're on my podcast.
We've known each other for well over 20 years. Yes, that's right. And you can't stop being my friend because you just know way too much about me, right?
That's right.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: You know where I live.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: I do.
And it comes totally the other way as well. I know so much about you, too. But I've invited you on because I really want someone listening, someone today to say, what's all this song and the worship warrior? And because you are a worship leader and because you're a singer, I just want to talk into. It's not always about singing. Worship is not always about the song because, yeah, I'm a gifted writer, but I'm not great at singing. I think I was at the back of the queue when God was hanging out gifts for that one. Right? So just let everyone know, I've done all the departments in church, but not worship leader, and there's a reason for that.
So, yeah, if you've ever watched the Little Mermaid, Disney, then the seagull in the part, that's my part.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: No, I don't think you got that.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: This is why I make friends with people who have the gifts that I haven't got. Because I'm like, yes, this lady can sing, but I brought you on because we want to talk about not only the song and worship and what that actually means.
From my book, a song is rising, reigniting the warrior within that I wrote last year.
I talk about Miriam and how her song, her life song, just showed her leadership, it showed her tenacity, it showed her courage, and I really want us to speak into that today. Leonie, and your thoughts on Miriam and who she is as a leader, as a prophetess, just all these things she was sister to Moses and Aaron. She's just this epic woman that we know the story of, know, hiding Moses, his mom put her brother in the basket and the princess thing and all that. But there's so much more to her, right? There's so much more to.
So, Miriam, like yourself, Leone, has learnt that worship is a song. And it's the weapons of warfare, of when the path becomes unsteady and uncertain in your faith. So have you learnt that? That your song has become weapons of warfare? That when you feel unsteady with the path of your faith, that your song has really girded your courage to move forward? What's your thoughts on that?
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Well, I have a very special place in my backyard, which is my rose garden, and I have a beautiful friend of mine who also grows roses. But in two years, my roses are mature roses and I really feel it's because I sing over these roses. But when I am up against something that is hard, that is not easy, and I really don't know the way forward.
God often puts a song in my spirit and I often sing over the garden and sometime I actually sing in the streets. I'm pretty sure my community knows me very well and it's usually a song and the words, because I am a words person and God knows that. I have been a singer since. I don't know, I could speak. I think I sung before I spoke.
And I used to sing everywhere. Drove my family insane.
But, yeah, the neighborhood loved it because they could hear me. And it was joy that came out of my spirit when I was a child, unaware of what the world was about. But now, in relation to what you were saying, your life song and how it projects you forward through challenges, I've been, particularly at the moment, enjoying psalms.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Because, oh, psalms is a great book.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: I know, but it's also songwords and I'm connecting to it every single psalm. And particularly today, I read psalm 23.
If you are feeling sad or if you're feeling lost, or if you don't quite know what tomorrow is going to bring, just read that psalm, because. Just to rest in his peace.
And that's what that psalm is all about. A lot of people know it because that's what priests used to like. Ministers used to read over every funeral in the 18 hundreds. Right.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: The favorite, exactly.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: And it was one of my mum's favorites, too. But if you really soak in that psalm, you can really hear what God's. God's heart.
And that's what I think.
I was speaking to a friend yesterday and she was being judged for not being able to read her bible. But she is a full on singer, she's a musician, she's everything. She's operatic. And she hears God through song and so do I. I hear God through song and he leads me to where I need to go.
That's my battle cry. And it also formulates my next step, my next direction.
And I think I was saying this to you just recently, I had a bad year last year, so this year I'm really praying for better. And God has promised me that, but he's not showing me where I'm to go. So the song by Curry job, Lord, I seek you, he said to me before he put that song on my heart, after I'd done my normal.
By the way, I really loved Elizabeth and the fact that she actually said, you need to soak as a leader in the word and all that sort of stuff. You need to be filled.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: She's a worship leader too.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: She is. She is so right.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: If you didn't listen to that podcast, that's the one before this one in the importance of being in God's presence.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: And that just spoke to me because that's what I do. Because if you don't fill yourself, if you don't fill your cup up with his presence, how are you going to lead others to do the same?
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: So I found that podcast and Phil's very empowering. I just wanted to say that this is a great series, by the way.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: But anyway, I didn't pay her to say that.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: No, I know, but I love it. I absolutely love it and I'm soaking in it.
Lord, I seek you is because God said to me, I need you to seek me for every decision this year, before you even make it, I want you to seek me. I want you to sit in my presence before you even step forward. I've never done this before in my life. He's always showed me a vision on where I'm to go, but this year he showed me nothing. And he said, because I want you to take each step. And another verse that I love from the Bible, which his mercies are new every morning. And I really, truly believe that regardless of what I've done the day before, he's given me a fresh new day, a fresh new start. And so in just encouraging those that are listening, yeah, just seek him every day, whether it be in the night or in the morning, whatever time of the day that suits you, because everybody's different.
But can I encourage you listeners to actually do that? Even if it's painful, do it because you will be so enriched and you will give more into your day from his empowering. And I think that's what he's speaking to me this year, is allow him to empower me every step.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: Because that's the thing, isn't it? When we talk about worship, people automatically think, oh, it's a song we sing at church and there's part of that. And yeah, we sing songs of affirmation and adoration and all that to worship God. And that lifts our spirit, too, when we're singing to him.
However, from what you're saying, that worship is a whole lifestyle.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: It is everything.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: It's not. I'll just sing a few songs and then I'm done and move on with my life. It's like God is going. You abide and soak and seek even when you're not singing all the notes and all the. I mean, speak about this in my book, about the tempo and the rhythm and the pitch of the song and all the elements of the song. So one part of worship is singing. However, all the other elements of our life that makes up who we are, our identity. That's right.
Becomes this symphony almost, that God is sort of molding together. Good menu.
So that you've got the high notes and you've got the low notes and you've got all the in betweens because we always want it to be this pitch perfect sort of feel.
But it's like God's going, that's not how songs roll. Songs have to have high notes, low notes, bridges.
I mean, we could talk a whole podcast on bridges, how we got to cross over bridges.
But that's our life song. And like you're saying when you were a child and you just had to sing, unbeknownst to you at that point, like Miriam when she was a young child, a young child when mom was saying, this is the plan, we're going to put your brother in a basket and send him down the river.
Her innocence, because I hear that through what you're saying, that innocence of worship. And everyone loves to hear you sing when you're a child, it's like Miriam has. You've carried that through into your adulthood and you are still trusting whole. And being a worship leader, I want you to speak into that, too, about what it means to worship lead. So it's not just a set of songs on a Sunday morning or whenever your church service is.
How do you go from a set of songs to then singing them to then the church experiencing that presence of God again. You know what I mean? That whole. You're sort of leading them into worship.
How do you cultivate that and how do you bring that to the forefront? And you say, I'm just leading you into God's presence.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Well, for a start, worship leaders are the start of the battle. They're at the front. They're a front line. And I never understood that until God took me through four years of being a backing vocalist in worship team. He did that for a reason. That was my wilderness. So in that, I saw what worked and what didn't work, and where people's mindsets were, particularly worship leaders tend to fall into the performance space, whereas they're performing.
They see their congregation as an audience, not as a congregation or as a partnership. And I saw all that as a backing vocalist. Just being behind there, I saw that.
And it wasn't what I wanted in my heart. It was wrong.
There was other leaders that I was under, which were.
I called it stardom. So there would be one particular worship leader who would be amazing at singing, and she would constantly get the main roles, and it was like stardom she could never fault. And it just put unnecessary pressure on them, and it made the rest of us feel like we weren't part of the team.
Many times I tried to walk away because before that, as you know, I led an amazing kids church ministry with Wendy, and we had a ball, and I loved it. I loved it. I loved that time. And God took me from that very nice, comfy little blanket back into worship team.
And I'm like, but why?
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Didn't go?
[00:15:06] Speaker B: But I went, and I failed many, many times. Constantly failed until, I think it was a couple of years in. And then I felt the voice inside me wanted to rise up and just burst. I had something to sing, something to lead, and I was constantly pushed down by, particularly leaders at that time who didn't feel I was ready or they felt I was a threat. I am not sure of the motive, but maybe it was God saying I wasn't ready yet because my mindset wasn't ready yet. So four years of in the wilderness. So, yeah, you're right. You don't just stand up on a Sunday and sing. It's not about that at all. And it's not about stardom. It's not about performance when you're in a church. It's not about any of those. What it is about is delivering a message that God has put in your heart. That is what it's about. And it's about your heart song, what you relate to in your life. Because when you stand on that stage and you worship, you're not just projecting a song. You are worshipping with the congregation. And through your worship, through your joy, through whatever your emotion that you are conveying, through that trial that God has taken you through, you are elevating the congregation to rise up with you in praise, in adoration, in awe, in whatever it is that we need to unify in to bring it up to God. And during COVID I realized how much I loved the congregation, how much I loved partnering with them to sing God's praises. It wasn't about me. It was about all of us just loving on God because he deserves it. And so when I was, I found it a massive challenge to do what I'm doing today. To be in front of this mic in an empty room, it was horrifying. And all of us felt the same. We all felt.
I don't know, it just didn't feel right.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: This is during COVID Yes, during COVID.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: So we end up closing our eyes. Even though we were on screen, people could see us. But when we actually worshiped, we had to close our eyes and imagine our congregation in front of us in order to really worship and love God.
Because we're here as a team. It's not about us. But in saying that the worship team, as I've noticed when I've taken over for the last two years, I have now become the actual. I run the whole CT team. So I'm a worshipper. I run the worship team. And until recently, I used to work with a production manager who used to run my production side. Now I run the whole lot, but also with your beautiful husband's help, praise God. But the thing is that what I was trying to say is that humility is the big thing. So when I was striving during those four years to sing better, to be better, to be a performer, to be all that sort of stuff, he just stripped that away and he continued to let me fail and be humiliated because he's going, your focus is wrong. It's wrong.
And it wasn't until this role basically got dropped in my lap. Complete shock.
I did become a leader because finally one of the leaders saw something in me, or two of them, actually, and they allowed me to rise. I didn't feel it was my best, but there was one Christmas where I got some coaching from a vocal coach, and I really wanted to deliver the Christmas message. Not my message, but God's message. And my heart changed. And I stood on that stage and I sung right down to my feet. I just sung it with everything I had in me. And people stood up and applause. Not that I did it for that, but the message got across. And it was a turning point for me when I realized that this is not a performance. This is about you, Lord.
So worship to me, as you said before, is everyday life, as I sing every day, but as I am at work and just everything I do in what I do, not so much the song, it's my life.
And being a worship leader, not that any role in serving is not tough because it's all tough because when you're out there, you're out there. But what I'm saying in particular with worship leading, whatever goes through you goes into the congregation. So if you have anything that is not worthy to be praised or have any issues, it's going to come out in the congregation. They're going to wear what you're singing because you're a vessel. So some practice that I have taken up since I've taken over the team is I get them to pray it out before we even start.
We take a deep breath in and I say, okay, everything you've experienced this week, let it out, let's give it to God. Let's breathe it in, breathe it out. Let's get rid of it and let's ask God for forgiveness or whatever. So we have a session where if you have anything that you feel you need to bring up, we bring it up before we even start.
And I do check in on my team during the week, anything that's going on and we put that aside. It's not putting a band aid on, it's just putting it aside for now in this time that we are worshipping and that we are leading the congregation into this so that God at the Holy Spirit can work through us like a clean vessel and into the congregation. Because the last thing they need after they've had a hard week is to have our rubbish onto them. So that's what we do beforehand. I always say to my team, it is not I who is leading you, but the Holy Spirit. So in one of your questions that you asked was, what do you do leading up to the Sunday? So I not only lead, but I have a beautiful team that leads, too. Like, I have amazing vocalists in my team and musicians. And so what I say to them, if you're leading this week, I need you to soak in God all week. I want you to soak and I generally get them to do this because we have a roster system ages before the week before to really soak in God and to pray.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: So they know when their roster is on.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Yes, they know when they're on and they soak in God. And I want them to bring songs forward that is in their heart that really God has spoken to them because the impact is massive. So we've been doing that for the last two years, and people just get taken away by the emotion coming out of the girls. And we used to have a guy as well. He was an amazing vocalist. And guys, I had guys, I had my sons, who are great voices, but they used to do that and people would always come up at the end and go, oh, I really felt that this song and this verse or this really spoke to me. Oh, my gosh, that was amazing. One thing I did stop the congregation from doing was coming and elevating the singers.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I was just going to touch on that. Yeah.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Because I didn't want them to lose it and become stardom. Star eyes. So my pastor used to go, oh. Because they used to be the biggest ones that would do it, particularly our head pastor. And he go, that's right. You don't want me to accolade. And I go, look, you can go up to them and go, that was great worship today. Really enjoyed it. This is what I got out of it. Please do that because you're encouraging my team. Do not go up and say to such and such, I love it when you sing. I love your voice. Oh, your voice is just an angel voice. They don't need to hear that because.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: Then it brings in the gift. Yeah, gifts. God gives us the gifts. But then it's not the person then, is it? It's what you're bringing. And then we all focus on the gift rather than actually seeing God through the person, through the songs, through the worship, through the lifestyle that you have cultivated. So now you're projecting that and saying, hey, as the worship leader, you're saying to your team, hey, this is how we're going to do it. We're not just going to hear some songs, learn them and then perform them almost. It's, no, you soak in this and I want you to. It's like you're saying to your team, I want you to get as much out of worshipping God as you're going to lead the congregation into worshiping God.
And then it's not a platform thing, is it? Then it's the worship leader is in with the congregation and they're like, well, here's a song. Let's just sing it. And I want to just touch on when you talked about the wilderness, and I think going back to the Miriam story in she, her, her brother was all good. He came good. The pharaoh's daughter took him and all that, and the years went by.
So we know the story that Moses went into the wilderness for 40 years, come back into Egypt, and he wanted to. God's like, let my people go. And I just want to sort of speak into what Miriam was feeling. So you've done the ten plagues. We've gone all through that. We're speeding through Exodus people, right? We're going through it.
If you want to read the whole Exodus story, it's amazing story. It's one of my favorite stories.
But with Miriam, so her brother's back and they are standing at the Red Sea and they've got Pharaoh and they've got the Red Sea. And for Pharaoh, because he's got an army and he's very military minded, he would have totally gone, well, my army's here. The Red Sea is in front of you. You've just fell into a trap. You're going to go back to Egypt, right?
I've just always put myself in their place.
And I think when we have a lifestyle of worship and the song and rising up even before they got into the wilderness, that was a moment of their identity shift, because we're talking about worship transforming us and that transformation from being a slave in Egypt, and that's all you've known all your life to then you're at this crucial critical moment and God has led you to this. And then you see this massive wall of water in front of you see the Red Sea, and you can imagine Miriam going, okay, so what now? Right? What now?
And all that mean, you know, you've spoke about it in your own life. It's like, well, what am I going to do now? Is fear going to kick in?
And she's probably going, Moses, do something. You know what I mean?
So in their know everything, what Egypt offered, and they were going to go into this normadic know, they knew desert was on the other side, very know. Egypt was stability and routine and provision. It was just this settled life. And God's going, well, here's the Red Sea, and then there's desert. I mean, they didn't know it was going to be 40 years of desert after that.
And that's the thing, it doesn't tell us these things because we'll just freak it out.
But I want you to sort of in that moment, how Miriam felt. She's left everything behind her now she's at this point with the Red Sea, and she's going, and the art and pharaoh's army and that whole identity, cris, that transformation of that pivotal moment of, so what do I do now? And when we know in the story, obviously, the Red Sea did part, miraculously, God pulled it off.
And then when she got to the other side, you can carry on the story.
What's the first thing that Miriam did?
[00:28:12] Speaker B: Her life song came out of her. But not only did her life song come out of her, who she was came out of her. So she became.
I'm sure she was a prophetess before that, but it was really evident, once she went past that struggle, what her anointing was, and she was to become a prophetess, but not just a prophetess. She was to lead women. She became a leader of women because it's very strong in the Bible how it says she led the women, and they all picked up their tambourine. So not only was she a singer, but she was also a musician. So God had equipped her for this moment, just like with me, with my life. He had equipped me. And I bought a t shirt recently which called I was born for a time like was. It was empowering. And I think with Miriam, she was born for a time such as that to actually. And she sung, like, I would call it, like a warrior song, saying, yay, we got victory, the Lord has. But it was all to praise God. It wasn't about her and what she had done. It was what God did. What God had done. You know what I mean? And in that moment, I really feel that her eyes were open and she was in awe at how amazing God is. And instead of looking to her brother, which I'm sure at when she was looking at the Red Sea and that army was coming, she's looking at Moses going, what are you know?
[00:29:50] Speaker A: And then you've just got a stick. That's right. You just got a stick.
[00:29:55] Speaker B: Where's the weapons? Where's the guns? What's going on? So I'm very sure that at that stage, she had no idea how really, like, she had just gone through all the plagues, everything. But really, I think in that moment, it was personal.
It was personal. She was in it. Like, she crossed that sea, she saw all those beautiful whales and everything going past that. Can you imagine it? Can you just imagine it? So she saw that. But not only did she see that, she saw God making a decision on behalf of all of them. By crashing all those waves over their enemy.
[00:30:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: She saw God personally fight for her and everyone.
Not Moses with his stick, no one. There was no guns or nothing blazing.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: God.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: God in his purity.
And when you see that, and I've seen that in my life, where I'm just in awe most of the time, I think my pastor said to me, leon, you don't ever lose that wonderment about you. You have a wonderment.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: It's that childlike faith. Yes.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: It's that childlike faithful where you're just in awe of what God does. And what I was saying to you before as well, and same with Miriam, is that I always say to my team, keep your vessel clean, because what God is going to bless you with, it's going to blow your mind because you're going to see his miracles and blessing in front of you.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: And that's not saying perfection. It's not being perfect, not at all striving, because it's not you.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: When you recognize it's God doing the work in front of you, then there is no perfection in that. He is perfect. I'm not saying that he is perfect.
And you have a ceiling. Like you imagine. Just think yourself, listeners, the most awesome thing that you can think of that God could do and then triple it, because that's what he brings and that's what I see. And I just get blown away. If you don't mind me. There was a moment in our church not too long ago because our church closed and now is reopened in another location. But in that time, there was a lot of emotion whether our church was going to close and it was painful. And God came down. God came down. And one particular girl in my worship team, and she knows who she is. If she listens to this, she has got such an anointing of God on her. It's amazing. I get her to help me select songs because she just has this anointing. Like, they all have anointing, but she particularly has this one. And this day I was looking after her children because I heard from God that I need to keep her on stage. Right?
[00:32:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: And anyway, she was on the stage. I was just playing with the little kitties while they were worshipping. I was worshipping with the kids on my hips, but I was looking up at stage and all of a sudden I noticed that she stopped singing. And I'm like, why does she stop singing? And then I couldn't see her because she was on her knees. And I'm like, she's on her knees. And then all of a sudden, it felt like a mild earthquake went through the place. Like it was just a very slight tremor and then like a heaviness, like a rush, just like something just smacked down on the floor and just went.
And it made me look. It made me stop, and it made everybody look and stop. And we all felt it because we're all looking at each other going, what was that?
And we looked up and there was Amy. Oh, I said her name. I shouldn't have said her name.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: That's okay. Hello, Amy on her knees, speechless, trying.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: To get this song out. And her beautiful, the other beautiful singer, she just took it up. God empowered her to continue with the song. Yeah, but people at the front row, which is mainly our leaders, and one particular leader, who is a very biblical woman, was on the ground prostrated. Now, if you know this lady, she don't do that.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: So this was huge.
And they all felt like there was this big, huge, heavy thing that had just exploded. But it was beautiful at the same time. I can't explain it, but it just took your breath away.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: It was like the presence of God totally ascended over straight away, and then.
[00:34:42] Speaker B: All of a sudden, it just lifted. But we still felt the tingling of it. And in that time, God said to me, I am with you. Wow, are you very emotional. Because I've heard about this happening.
I've heard about this happening in other countries, about seeing fire and wind rushing and the presence of God and just having the respect of the Holy Spirit. But to actually happen in my church in that day was mind blowing. And it just gave me confidence to walk on to the next phase that he had for us. And at that stage, I didn't know that the church was going to close. I didn't know that.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: But what God was saying and relocate. Yeah.
[00:35:34] Speaker B: He just said, I'm with you. I'm with you.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: Feel me?
[00:35:37] Speaker B: I'm here.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: And that's our echoes in Miriam, isn't it? It's like saying, don't worry about the water and pharaoh, because I'm with you.
[00:35:50] Speaker B: And what he did, how he separated the water and said, let's go.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Made a way where there's no way.
[00:35:56] Speaker B: And then her eyes were open. And that's what I'm saying. To me, what happened in our church was personal. What happened to Miriam was personal.
[00:36:05] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:36:06] Speaker B: She saw all the miracles. She saw everything.
And she knew God was amazing. She saw the angel of death go through. She knew. She experienced all that. But it wasn't as personal as this was, because she was walking in his miracle. She was walking in that water, the wall of water.
That's amazing. That just, to me, is amazing.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: What you said earlier about battle cry, and I think we always. I've just had this revelation while you were talking. You always think it's this battle cry, but from Miriam's story and your own testimony of the song, your life, the battle cry is really humility.
That's the battle cry.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: Allowing him to work through you.
[00:37:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Humbling yourself and going, oh, my gosh, God, you pulled through.
There was a pharaoh and there was water, and there's a crisis and a struggle, and I'm leaving stability, I'm leaving provision, I'm leaving routine, I'm leaving that settled life, and I'm trusting you, but there's a wall of water in front of me. There's pharaoh behind me.
You got to pull through.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: What? And it's those moments where that battle cry of the heart and you can only be humbled by what he does. You can only go, oh, my gosh. It was owned. Like when you said the presence of God fell on the congregation in the.
That wasn't orchestrated. It was orchestrated by God, but it wasn't manufactured. It wasn't strived to. It was just that release and surrender and humbleness and battle cry of God. You got to pull through for us.
We need another building to worship in. We need a new direction.
[00:38:04] Speaker B: We knew we needed a new direction because we were drowning. We knew we were drowning.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: And God just came. He just came in that moment.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: That's amazing. And I really hope, listeners, this is really helping someone to.
If you're a little bit lost, if you're struggling, if you see a wall of water in front of you and you got pharaoh behind you and you're thinking, God, I know God, you're asking me to leave the stable life, this routine or life, this settled life. And I don't want to go into the wilderness because I don't know what's going to happen in that wilderness. But it goes back to you saying, I just trust you, God. My battle cry is being humble and humility and all that. And that's what comes with the transformation, isn't, know, I touch on the metaphor of the phoenix, of the greek mythology of Phoenix and that. But it's Miriam. And even in your own worship life, and I've seen it personally because I'm your friend, this whole transformation, and it's not an overnight thing, I think people want this quick fix, this microwave faith, whereas God's like, it's not going to last.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: Doesn't help.
[00:39:22] Speaker A: It'll fill you up like two minute noodles, and in half an hour you'll be starving.
No, this has to be a slow cooked meal. This has to be an eight hour.
That meat's got to fall off the bone. And that faith of that and that seeking and that abiding and that just slowing down and going, all right, God, I can't have a quick fix anymore. I need something that's going to help me through those wilderness moments. Because who knows?
Miriam didn't know she was going to spend 40 years in the wilderness.
They needed to rely on God for everything. I mean, everything.
It just blows my mind, that and just the whole bravery of it and the courage and knowing that God is on their side. But they still had to take those steps out of the stability, out of the provision. And that's the thing. That's why they kept complaining, wasn't it? They kept going, oh, we were better off in Egypt, Moses. Oh, we were better off in Egypt. And you're thinking, what is wrong with you israelites? But don't we do the same all the time? Don't we go, I don't want to go in the wilderness, because then I've got to really rely on you, God. I'd rather have the provision of Egypt, but he's like, but you're a slave. You're not free. Yeah, you're in the wilderness, but you're free. You're free. And that's a journey in itself. Right? And I've known doing the journey with you for the past 20 years, seeing us both step into that freedom more and more and more. And really, I mean, gosh, to rely on God, and then when he sets challenges, and then you think, I never did rely on God. You're just like, oh, my gosh. My whole life has got to be worship. My whole life has got to be a battle cry of humility. My whole life has got to be you. I've got to pull through God because I don't know what I'm going to do. It's those moments that it's such true worship, and that's the testimony of the song. When people see your life and others who have really tapped into that, seeking God, like you mentioned, the lady at church, it's like that is tangible. I can see it. People left that service going, oh, my gosh, I just had an experience, and I don't know what happened.
I don't know. And it can be only God. And then they go and tell other people, and that's your life song. That's your testimony. That's the rising up.
[00:42:02] Speaker B: And that's also knowing that you're leading people well, too. When it wasn't you at the front.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: When it was your team. Yes, because we're team and then we work together and we respect each other and we respect each other's anointing, something that Elizabeth said yesterday, which was end yourself, which was wonderful, which said about not feeling that you have to compete with your team. You don't have to compete. We all have different anointing. And you as a leader, as a CT leader, creative leader, whatever you call yourself, worship leader, you need to allow these people, like your phoenix, to soar. They have to soar. Otherwise your team's not going to soar. And therefore, because to me, my biggest goal now is just to seek his peace. I want to be in his peace. And the only way I'm going to be in his peace if I'm doing what he wants me to do. And that's not elevating myself. In fact, anything, it says in the Bible that the lowest of lows will be the one that will be blessed. So I want to be the lowest of lows. I want to elevate my team. I want them to be the best that God has made them to be. And with that, we will feel his peace. We will feel his presence, because he'll come into that, because he's being honored, he's being respected, he's being loved, he's being praised. And that is my reward. It's just getting closer to him.
None of this. Oh, you're a great leader or anything. I don't need any of that. I don't want that. It's not what I'm seeking. What I am seeking is him. I'm seeking his peace, his love, for him to feel loved and worshipped and praised because he is everything to me. He has given me everything, every possession, every gift, everything.
And I could not take a breath without him. And that's where I've come to because of the wilderness, because of many wildernesses.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: That's what I love about the tambourine, because people think, oh, my gosh, that's a 1980s vibe you're rocking there, Wendy. Or like 1970s, you mean seventy s, eighty s. Yeah. It was the whole I'll put my hand up. I was in the tambourine sort of feel. We had the ribbons and the stickers and the whole thing going.
But the tambourine, when I researched it, it talks about it's considered a secondary instrument and used to add color to a performance, rather than toeing the melody line. And I'm like, I don't want people feeling like they're a secondary instrument. I want them to feel like they are part of the whole symphony. Because if we didn't have the percussion right, it would sound really different. And the fact that it just blows me away. The fact that Miriam just which she's crossed the Red Sea, and then she goes, oh, look what I brought.
Tambourine.
[00:45:27] Speaker B: She didn't bring a ta or a piano.
[00:45:30] Speaker A: No, she couldn't drag that across.
But the whole tambourine, how it's had such a bad rap over the years, and we don't do tambourines so much now in church. But that's a weapon of warfare.
That's a beating of a drum. Sort of feel that.
Let's get the rhythm going and sing a song to know. And the fact that all the other women, they had their tambourines, too. It was like they were going, hey, Miriam, guess what? Look what we've.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: There's a weapon of choice.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Tambourines. I know it was easy to put in your bag.
They had the tote bags going. They were like, let's leave those red shoes behind. I'm taking a tambourine.
You know what women are like. Women, if you're listening, you know what it's like when you're packing. Know, even an overnight, my husband's like, you know, we're only going for one night. I'm like, it's the just in case outfits.
[00:46:31] Speaker B: Right?
[00:46:33] Speaker A: And you know what, Miriam, probably. It was like, right, grab your stuff and be ready in the morning when the angel of death came, as I'll be ready. And she probably looked around and says, rock, what I'm going to take. And the tambourines, I've got to stick that know and that whole mindset of, there's going to be a moment that I'm going to worship God, and I've got to be ready.
And, yeah, there's always that moment. And she didn't know it was going to be after the Red Sea and the pharaoh moment. She had to go through that struggle. Like you said, it had to become personal for the weight of that song and that worship. What we read thousands of years later, that song of warfare, of the horse and rider is thrown into the sea. And, my God, he's saved us, and he's rescued us, and look what he's done for us. And to go, I brought my tambourine just in case.
And I definitely needed it.
[00:47:36] Speaker B: It was most likely put on their hearts and they're probably going, absolutely. But I need that extra piece of food. I don't need a tambourine. I need that much time. Or I need those red shoes. I do.
But, yeah, I reckon God spoke to their spirit before they left, told them to put that in. They probably thought it was absurd. I don't know if the listeners have ever had this happen to them, but sometimes God asks us to do the absurd things and we go, why?
[00:48:07] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: But then it becomes obvious. And I'll just give you a quick story.
Years ago, when I was younger, I had a friend of mine who was very much doing Bible college, and he said, isn't it funny how God makes us do absurd things? And he said to me, he heard a preacher say, you need to surrender all. So he went, yeah, I'll do that. I surrender all. And he said, I was in the train, and next minute God said to me, I want you to go to this certain station and I want you to stand on your head next to the coke machine.
[00:48:41] Speaker A: Wow, that is absurd.
[00:48:43] Speaker B: That's crazy. Why would I want to do that? And then he remembered his promise that he was going to act and be obedient, whatever God told him to do. And he went, oh, God. And so he went to the station and he found the machine, and he's like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe I'm doing this. Like, this is absurd, lord. Anyway, lucky he was a younger man, so he could do this, and he did a handstand on his head, and all of a sudden there was a screeching, like a crying, and this woman came out of he doesn't know where, and she was crying and falling on the ground, and she went, you do love me, Lord.
[00:49:21] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:49:22] Speaker B: So sometimes God makes us do absurd things because one of us has prayed in an absurd thing.
[00:49:29] Speaker A: I'm just going to say she's a totally prayed, right? If someone comes and stands on their.
[00:49:32] Speaker B: Head, you know what it is?
[00:49:34] Speaker A: I mean, God.
[00:49:37] Speaker B: So that sort of taught him that.
Just do it.
[00:49:41] Speaker A: Even if an obedience. Yes.
[00:49:42] Speaker B: So I'm sure that when those women were looking at maybe the extra raisin cake that they done, and God said, no, I want you to put a tambourine there. They're like, going, are you crazy?
[00:49:53] Speaker A: And it depends how big that tambourine was, right?
[00:49:56] Speaker B: I could put ten cakes in there for my journey.
[00:49:59] Speaker A: I could put at least three pairs of shoes in there, could see your.
[00:50:03] Speaker B: Direction or a lovely outfit, but you want me to put a.
[00:50:08] Speaker A: Yeah, chuck out the hairdryer. Miriam, your tambourine's going in. Right, so just to wrap up, I just want you to read or speak on just the bit we've been going through. Before we started the podcast, we were talking what we were talking through, but I just want you to.
Leona's written in a note's last word, and I really want this to be the last word on this whole.
Let worship be your song and becoming that warrior. And when you read it out before we've started recording, I thought, that is just beautiful.
And I just want you to finish on that and your thoughts and then just want to help the listeners just to sort of solidify what worship. And it's not always about song, it's the whole life.
[00:51:09] Speaker B: Okay, so I've put down here God's gift, gifted you from birth. Now, whatever your worship may be, it may not be song, it may be anything. Whatever it may be, my husband's gift is serving as in practical service to others, and he is just so treasured for that. So, God's gift from birth, think about it, pray about it, look about what he's done in your life, because he has got you ready for a moment. And nothing is wasted. So nothing you've learnt in life is wasted when you learn a new skill. So God will use your gifts to lead to increase the kingdom with humility. Humility. Just highlight that one. You are clearing your vessel for him to work through you. Jesus is the best leader of all. To have him work through you is an absolute awe moment and it absolutely blows your mind. So allow the best leader of all to work through you by keeping humble, by praying things through, keeping your vessel completely clean so he can work through you. And then just watch the show because it's amazing what God does and how it just will keep you in wonder and.
[00:52:37] Speaker A: Yeah, that is fantastic, Leonie. Well, I hope listening to these nuggets of wisdom you have got so, I mean, I've got so much out of it. So much wisdom right there. I want to say thank you so much, Leone, for joining me in the spacious room. I love you. I love your heart.
I can't imagine life without you.
But, yeah, thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your heart and raising that battle cry of humility. And just your whole life is worship and it's not always about song. So thanks for listening, folks, and I will catch you next time.
Thanks for listening. To catch all the ladies from me, you can subscribe to my website, thebigvoiceonline.com, or follow me on Instagram. Wendy J. Parkofriter see you soon.
