Roadtripping

"I would not be the person I am today if..."




...Nathan completed that sentence last night by giving recognition to a man who had walked with him for a season. Just last Thursday, I completed that sentence at lifegroup... also by giving recognition to someone who had walked with me for a season. Emily Rowlett was her name (it's now Emily Blosser), and I would not be the person I am today if she had not called me out.

Once, I thought I could just stay in the shadows. I loved serving God enough... but I didn't care to be up front... especially up in front of others. Once, I thought that being "up front" would mean being prideful. Really though... my hiding was more prideful in the end. Emily encouraged me not to hide. She called out an anointing that she saw on me... she called out something that I could not see myself. She was God's voice in my life, calling out the spirit of worship that I had never really known what to do with. And we had been roadtripping.

Well, maybe not literally... but from the first day I met Emily, I knew I wanted to walk with her. I knew I secretly wanted her to join with me on my way.

She did.

She came into my life, and I began learning from hers. When she called me out of youth group and into the "big service" on Sunday mornings, I thought to myself, "Why?" Why would she want me to sing with her on Sundays? Why would she want me to play the guitar when my skills were, at best, mediocre?

"I know you live in the shadows of those who you think are 'better' than you, Jenna... I know you think there are others more talented, more qualified..." She could practically read my mind...
"But ya know... I think there's a difference between being 'good' and having an anointing... Jenna, you have an anointing." End of the mind-reading. I was definitely NOT thinking that.
But as much as I wanted to disagree, I could no longer deny what she had seen. And we had been "roadtripping" together long enough that I knew I could trust whatever she intentionally had to tell me. I didn't know she would intentionally tell me something like that.

I was 15 when I met Emily. I was 15 when she began walking with me. I was 18 when she called out that anointing in me... and I'm still struggling with embracing certain things about that... but the seed has been planted nonetheless, and God has not allowed the shadows to keep hindering its growth. Emily and I roadtripped for 3 years... roadtripping with Emily was like growing in a greenhouse. My passion for music came alive. Calling others to worship through music became what I felt alive for...

Of course, there's more to my life than "a worship service"... there was much more to Emily's life too. We just shared in that soundtrack... that roadtrip music... we just shared those songs that gave us space to pray and breathe and come face-to-face with God... we shared an awesome season... there's so much more that I could say about that time of my life. There's a lot more that I could say about how God used Emily in my life--in His calling out of me--in my stepping out into an anointing. And there are others who have called me out... for other seasons. But those are other roadtrip stories.

For now, I just wanted to finish that sentence... because it's true; and it's good.

Really. I would not be the person I am today if Emily hadn't called me out.

So call someone out. Start a roadtrip.

Cause you never know who they could be tomorrow...