Testimony behind the audio

This past year I watched my oldest daughter, Elisa, begin to be influenced by the spiritual environment of Belgium.  I became very concerned about her, as she confessed to me that she had serious doubts about God's existence.   None of her friends in school believed in God, and she had never heard His voice.

In my Spirit, I was grieved.  I prayed: God, you sent me to Belgium!  You cannot allow my daughter to spiritually die!  She must know you!  

I must say that during my years in Belgium, the presence of the Lord has always been with me.  He ministers to me daily, strengthening and encouraging me, giving me faith to go on.  I couldn't understand why my daughters didn't experience God in the same way.

I prayed with Elisa and encouraged her to seek the Lord. I encouraged her to worship the Lord, and told her that I thought the Lord would meet with her as she worshiped.

Elisa had a $25 dollar guitar that I had bought for her a few weeks earlier.  She had learned to play a few chords and a few simple songs.  She took my advice and began to worship the Lord with her guitar.

Two days later my wife told me that Elisa had written a song. I was a little bit skeptical at first, because I knew how limited Elisa's musical experience was.  But then Elisa played the song for me, and I was touched.  It was a fully developed worshiped song, written in Dutch with a catchy melody, and clear, powerful lyrics, titled U bent God.   Elisa told me that while she was playing and worshiping, she suddenly had a strong desire to write a worship song for children.  She said that the lyrics just flowed into her mind together with the melody.  Elisa was convinced that God had given her this song, that He was speaking to her.  She was very excited about this.

Three days later, Elisa needed to give a speech in school.  She wanted to give a speech about the guitar I had given her, and she wanted to play a song for her class as a part of the speech.  I asked her which song she intended to play.  She was thinking about playing Yankee Doodle.  I asked her why she didn't want to play the song that god had given her.  She told me that she was a little bit embarrassed.  None of her classmates were Christians, and she was afraid of witnessing openly about Christ.

I encouraged her to play her new song, and to pray for God to use the song to touch her classmates.  Elisa and her sister Ruby went into her room.  They prayed rather loudly for about an hour, asking God to touch Elisa's classmates.

The next day Elisa came home from school very excited and told us her story.    That morning she had given her speech about her new guitar, and then she told her class that she wanted to sing a song for them.  She closed her eyes and sang her new song as strongly as she could.  When she opened her eyes, she was amazed.  The whole class was crying, including the teacher.  God had touched all of them!  The teacher insisted that Elisa bring her guitar to school the following day so that the class could sing the song together.

And So Elisa's class began to worship the Lord.  On many mornings during the remainder of the 2009 school year, Elisa took her guitar to class so that she and her class could sing together.  Elisa wrote half a dozen more worship songs, some in Dutch, some in English.  These songs all contained a clear testimony of Jesus Christ.   Each song came to Elisa as she worshiped God.

This year, I saw my daughter become addicted to the presence of the Lord.  When she comes home from school, she immediately goes to her room and worships the Lord for an hour or two.  He touches her during these times, ministers to her, and speaks to her.  Her doubts have been replaced by a powerful faith.  She is now leading worship in the church, and God is opening different doors for her to play her songs.

God is faithful!  I know that my daughters are safe in His hands.  They are safer in Belgium than they would be in America, because God has sent us to Belgium and He protects us here.