Self-confidence in P&W

I'm one of those women who love self help books. I like to grow. learn and reflect on my personal development. One of the books I'm currently reading is about self-confidence. For the most part, I think I'm rather confident, but as a P&W leader I would say I'm anything but.

It is easy to know good P&W when you hear it. When you hear the masterful musicians playing, when you hear good harmony, when everyone is on key, when the leader draws the congregation in with their wise choice of words, your spirit feels connected and your worship experience is elevated. But what if you don't have a musician or band? What if you don't have a team? What if the team you have is off key? These things can bruise your confidence as a P&W leader.

Little by little I feel like I'm starting to pick up the knack of drawing people deeper into worship. Now no one ever says to me "P&W was great today," but from the self-confidence book I've learned that part of being confident is not relying on others to validate what you're doing, but rather to do whatever it is you need to do and learn from the experience - even if its a failure. (And I've had plenty of those.) It's about doing something even when you feel it's slightly out of your comfort zone.

As I lead our team and congregation Sunday to Sunday, my goal is to be able to tap into God's presence and move others into that special place where they feel like it's just them and God. I think that's what being a P&W leader is about. It's about finding your niche, your way of leading and being comfortable sharing it with others. I may not have a lot to say, I may not have the most deep or insightful thoughts, I don't have one of those strong, preacher-type voices, but I know that God wants to hear from each and every one of us and that's what I encourage others to do - sing out and praise God. And you don't need a band or a team to do that.

I am sure that one day, when we have a band or even just a keyboard player, my self-confidence will skyrocket. As we all know, music helps sets the mood. Until then, I choose to look at this time as the building blocks of me becoming an awesome P&W leader with just my voice, sometimes 1 or 2 others, and our humble cd player playing an assortment of worship tracks.

Blessings