Here are a few highlights from the call:
You've got to be happy serving where you are.
One of the questions in the Q&A segment was something like how do you go about pursuing recording if you feel that God has placed that calling on your life, but you are not there yet.
I can't say that this is my goal. My dream job in life would be to sing backup for Solange. (Don't judge me - she's funky and I like her stuff.) But what a great question and Erica's answer/testimony was even greater. She explained that you have to be happy serving where God has placed you at this time. She explained that at her church, she and Tina were doing the choir thing. One of the things the choir did was to sing and minister in the hood and she loved doing this. This was before Mary Mary and before she had an inkling that she and Tina had something special. She emphasized being faithful at her church. She also explained that she knew she'd be recording at some point, but that it took 8 years for it to happen. Talk about patience. She stated that even though she knew some aritsts and producers, she was an outsider to the industry back in the day. She would attend concerts and no one would ever ask them join her (she clearly stated that wasn't her reason for attending, but that this is a somewhat common practice) and producers didn't know what to make of Mary Mary, as they clearly weren't traditional gospel nor traditional pop. She had to wait on God to do it, but she never stopped serving. How great is that?!
Then she went on to state that we've got to be comfortable where we are, it's ok to want more, but we have to be OK with where God has placed us at this time. OMG this really spoke to me! I spend a lot of time internally complaining about the lack of participation of the audience during P&W, the difficulty getting the team to rehearse, not having a musician, the distractions going on in the audience during P&W, how much better things would be if we only had x, y, or z. Clearly, I'm not comfortable with our current situation! I need to change my attitude to "God, you have placed me here for this time and for this season. Use me right here, right now."
There are some things that just come with the work; accept it.
Erica mentioned that she is often tired and she has to deal with it. As a full time working mother of a toddler, wife, P&W leader, daughter, this list goes on, I can relate.
One of the things that really came across in the call is how deep her roots are. She talked about not being influenced by others, but that we should be listening to what God is telling us. Further, when God tells us something, we should listen and act accordingly. She mentioned that you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate and that in business we have to be men (or women) about things. (That is scriptural.) She also mentioned, that she had to learn how to better manager her time when she came home from the road because she was getting overwhelmed spending all of her time trying to catch up with family and friends and was getting distracted from spending time with God. She seemed to be very open, honest, and wise. She talked about mistakes in how she's treated people, past relationships, and catching wrong attitudes or feelings. She packed so much into that call, it was crazy.
In closing, I will leave you with Erica's favorite scripture as a bit of encouragement to those of us seeking wisdom in this Praise and Worship ministry:
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
No comments:
Post a Comment