Hey! My name is Grace. So glad you’re here!
Before we dive deeper, you’d probably like to know about this month’s narrator. I am an 18-year-old senior in high school right now, set to graduate in a few months. My favorite color is green, my favorite ice cream flavors are mint chip and caramel (not together of course!), and my favorite past-times are reading, writing, and making music!
I first started attending Ashland Impact Mission (AIM) in 2021. Before AIM, church was something to check off my to-do list. I didn’t have a personal relationship with the Lord, so it didn’t excite me to worship, pray, or read my Bible. I didn’t want to praise because I didn’t know intimately who I was praising. The fire hadn’t been lit yet, but this isn’t the end of the story. A good story doesn’t end when there’s still more to tell!
Joining our church’s worship team was truly a transformational event in my life. The Lord has used (and is using!) this team to teach me what authentic worship is, how to surrender wholeheartedly to the Lord, and how to lay down my old ways to pick up everything the Lord has in store for me and for those in His Body. After 14 years of “living”, I accepted Jesus on June 26th, 2021, and got baptized on August 15th, 2021! It’s truly a remarkable thing when you realize for the first time that you’re out of the grave you were in. However, our stories don’t end here either! Ever since that moment, my life has been a journey of joyful celebration mixed with tears of desperation, breaking down fleshly barriers while building up what is unshakeable, and learning to press into the power of one’s willful surrender. This is still ongoing, mind you, and will continue because God isn’t done yet. He is still perfecting. The story isn’t done until it’s DONE.
As for the RESONANCE Collective, I could write all day about the tidbits I have learned from these incredible people. It is in this Collective that I have been stretched past my comfort zone into areas of creativity I never saw myself venturing into. Walking in this community of believers has taught me that we don’t create just to be creative; we create to please the One who gave us creativity! We must lift it up, because God is doing a work through those who are bold enough to raise their pens, their brushes, their sewing needles, and everything else for the purpose of giving the King His due glory and praise. The resonant sound that echoes off the praises of a people throws the enemy for a loop. There is power in the anointing of creativity, and it’s not able to be manufactured. Life is all about our Creator, for our lives are not our own, yet we are given the opportunity to embrace what He has given us and lift up a pleasing offering.
The writer in me desires to describe anything and everything I am able to, but there are some things we must experience for ourselves to truly grasp their concept. I pray for you, reader, in Jesus’ Name, that the Lord would reveal Himself to you in new and mighty ways. I pray for your heart to be opened to receive what He has for you, your eyes to be opened to see the glory of the Lord manifest in your life, your ears to be opened to hear the voice of the Almighty, and your mind to be opened to allow the Holy Spirit to limitlessly flow through you. He’s not a God that He would hide, so call and He will answer. Your story is not done yet, so keep turning the pages with expectancy! Who knows what God has in store for those He loves? Keep seeking Him, dear reader, for there is so much more.