Hello friends!
Not sure  how many people use eblogger as opposed to wordpress or even facebook, but i have severely neglected this blog.
My humble apologies.
This is going to be a short post to say that if you are wanting to read more on my blog on
wordpress, you may find the link here: https://wordpress.com/stats/insights/handmaiden4him.wordpress.com
I reserved this site actually for posts on music, worship and home vs church style worship settings.
As of this post, i was able to lead worship (or model a personal relationship with God through worship) for about two and a half years in a small home fellowship. It taught me a lot about  how to bring some consistency into my life and also to facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit in a home fellowship.
Be convinced that if you start to do something like this or any kind of missionary style ministry that you will encouner resistance in the Spirit. That is something that will put a few layers of skin on your spiritual "body" so that you can handle some things with more wisdom and authority.
When this group disbanded (because the lady whose house we were using, sold her house), I had opportunities in other fellowships.
From this experience, I find that certain types of female worship leaders do better than others in that ministry.
I feel that i have discovered that i would be better on a team of worshipers than by myself.
I only say this, because I believe God is calling men into positions of leadership in the body of Messiah and i desire this, so if i have to "give up" territory (: ) to accomplish this, i will. God is able to expand my "territory" if this is something i desire.
By territory, i mean a "field" or an area of musical control that makes one's life have less drama. Drama comes with any area where you are in leadership however, some do it better than others.
Some of the things i learned from small groups is that i have used a microphone in some settings and it is VERY helpful to me since I have a low voice. I resisted this for a long time because of my experience in radio broadcasting that allowed me to say some pretty stupid things to thousands of people! I recognize that God has brought me out of that and instilled in me a certain respect for this technology that magnifies my voice. Whose voice do we want to magnify? the voice of the Lord!
Secondly, I have learned some techniques that may seem elementary to experts that have music blogs, and that is to "breathe". It has helped me tremendously to learn to take deep breaths. It even can change my voice.
Thirdly, i have had bouts of hoarseness for years due to sinus drainage and colds, ie., bronchitis. I have finally found an allergy med that actually helps me through the worst of it and that is Singular. Plus, when a BAD cough or throat issues occur, i have learned a helpful secret: i take a tbsp of honey, water and red cayenne pepper. Slowly swallow but have a glass of water ready! This helps with a lot of phlegm and irritation. The other remedy is Mucinex at the very beginning of the cold to keep from getting bronchitis. Plus, gargling with salt water and mouth wash.
I am at present without a setting where i can serve the Lord in this way, but I'm in some kind of transition and also taking care of "me mom".
So, I continue doing my own daily worship with my audience of "ONE". and ask Him for opportunities as He leads.
My grandchildren also get to hear "nana" sing and play the guitar and i invite them to sing some of the "songs of the Lord". I want to instill in them that His songs change the atmosphere and change the hearts and minds.
Shalom! (the happy minstrel)

Gosh, I have not written anything here for awhile, frankly, because I haven't had anything to write! I am not one of those who write something every week, or  even, every month! I am retaining this blog space, however, for the purpose of worship topics, and it's an awesome subject; a subject about which I am passionate. I am an amateur guitar player and small group worshiper/leader.

I read several articles this morning, the day before 2014, on worship. I was truly wanting to find a better way to deal with different personalities in a home group we have, and possibly, children, which are there only on occasion. But I want children in our home group, so I often over prepare for that inevitability.

Fortunately for all of us, there is the INTERNET! I intended only to find articles about interruptions and how to deal with other issues that might cause a lack of reverence, or a lack of focus. I did not "grow up in church" except for army chapels, so I'm not totally informed. However, I had enough experience to know the difference between, say a "dead" church, and a vibrant one. Sometimes, in my experience with different churches, after the Lord transformed me in my late teens, I found that a church was vibrant in one area and not another, like Bible study or worship. Still, that made that church tolerable,because when I married and started a family,  that church was where we were attending and our family needed something like that for that time in our lives.

However, I am concerned about how to lovingly  handle some situations in a home fellowship. I know that home fellowships are not as formal as regular "not in someone's home" gatherings. There is a place for both. I truly "heart" home fellowships because that is where the heart is! I also love large worship gatherings but I like the intimacy of the home gatherings. I've been in some very structured home gatherings that were Bible study oriented and some that were more prayer oriented. I have been in some home fellowships that were not structured, really, at all, but the presence of God "taught" me how to "behave". That to me is the ideal situation.

But we must be prepared for reality, because we live in a toxic culture. I read a shocking  article about organized interruptions to church services. See link here:http://rturner229.blogspot.com/2012/06/family-policy-council-bill-will-prevent.html. I hope I never have to deal with this, because it is definitely civil disorder and not just a "demonic interruption". But Yeshua was prepared the day this happened.

 Luke 4:30-37But he passing through the midst of them went his way, 

And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.  And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, - Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. 

I don't know what Yeshua would have done in the situation that these folks found themselves in, but I'm sure that it would be difficult for most folks to prepare for something like this.  Even if you had policemen in civilian clothing, they would be overwhelmed by a group as large as was in this church.

Obviously, a church setting is vulnerable to disruptions because the doors are "open" to all.  That is how people like that take advantage of that venue to make a "statement" and direct hateful and offensive messages to folks they don't agree with.

It is traumatic and can disturb one's "peace". So, walking in the Spirit, like Yeshua, is the only way to counter things like this, in our toxic society.

But back to worship, and the components of good worship, and how to avoid interruptions. I read one article that talked about the length of worship services. This fellow was in the Ukraine and talked about how their services last about 120 minutes compared to American services that last for 60-90 minutes. It was an interesting article because the same church goers that don't like "long" church services, will sit throught 150 minute movies. The article had a chart. Go here to read this article:http://sukofamily.org/the-problem-with-short-worship-services-in-the-church/

I actually have no problems with long services because I know how long it takes to cast off worries, and concerns and feelings of rejection, and distractions that interfere with really allowing God's presence to fall on me. I love International House of Prayer in Kansas City  http://www.ihopkc.org/, because it is a mission base for worship and prayer and they are NOT IN A HURRY. Trust me on this. They can sing one phrase for an hour. Who cares? If that phrase is what God wants to sink into your spirit and it takes an hour, who's going to argue with the Chef of the Universe about the length of marinating time that is needed for His meal?

I still don't know how to handle some things in a home fellowship, during worship, which is that particular time when we decide to focus our thoughts, our voices, our bodies, our instruments on who God is. We think about who God is, according to the scriptures and who God is, according to our own history with Him, and who God  is, according to how others have experienced Him, and who God is, according to the nations, and many other ways to relate to this awesome God. He's so much bigger than me. So much bigger than you. We've got to get to know this God. He's worth it.  Let's give Him space. Let's give Him time. Let's give Him ourselves.

CCM-Contemporary Compromise Music

One of the things I've noticed that frequently happens when Christians gather together for fellowship or food or whatever, is that they are a musical bunch of people. Just pull out a guitar and start playing around on it, and soon, you'll find 4 out of 10 people in that group play or are learning to play a guitar.

Why is that?

From my casual observation, it's probably because the guitar is a portable instrument, and it's easy to learn how to play because of all the tutorials on the internet, and because it's a great aid for worship. Anyone who calls them self a Christian will acknowledge (if they are truthful) that there is always a desire to connect with God in corporate settings because God seems to like to reveal Himself to folks in those kinds of settings in various ways. People will testify to this. It's not my imagination.

So anyone can whip out a guitar and sings songs about God or to God and, given their abilities and God's presence in that certain situation, people can connect with God. That's what families do. They connect with mom and dad. God the Father and the Holy Spirit will show up given the right ingredients. There is a mix to worship and encounters with God but no one REALLY  knows the formula. They just know it happens. 

There are many scriptures that point out man's failing to connect with God in corporate settings and many that talk about ways man does connect with God in corporate settings.

Most of the time God is not showing up is because of sin in people's lives. Jesus (Yeshua) tells us that the Father (God) seeks worshipers who worship in Spirit and Truth. .The "ruah" of God, His breath, is necessary for the flesh to die and the Truth (the word, written or taught) is necessary for the flesh to die. Notice I repeated myself, because God also tells us in His word that no flesh will glory in His presence.

The point being that there ARE standards for true worship and a lot of people today in what is called "contemporary Christian music" are crossing lines and committing outright apostasy in the name of feeling good, and "reaching out".

Prefacing this link I will share with you, is my own feelings about rock music and other forms of modern music. I happen to like classic rock and I like drums. There are many that feel that drums in a song sound like African voodoo music. I do not agree with this, and may differ from brothers and sisters on this notion. I do not, however, listen to secular music intentionally. I work in an environment where I hear it all the time, so I am familiar with most mainstream music and a lot of it is quite good and some of it is so terrible. Since I work in a children's department of a large store, I'm conscious that children are listening to these lyrics and am very disturbed by what they are hearing.

The link I'm sharing with you is quite long and very detailed but he makes a good point. I took my kids to all kinds of Christian concerts in the early days and the tone of those concerts were more worshipful then than they are now, but I wouldn't call them "worship" services. It saddens me that the Christian music industry has changed so much for the worse. I remember a young girl from work telling me that she danced in a  church "mosh pit" with  bunch of other teens and how she was quite proud of it.

The point this blogger makes (the link) is: "Are we winning people to Jesus or winning people to Christian music"? Christian music won't save people. It's a wake up call. I'm hearing it and am becoming very wary of so called Christians who are in the music industry now. I guess the shocker for me was when Jennifer Knapp came out on her web site and told all her fans that she was gay...and that's another topic. But for now, here's the link:http://basicsofguitar.blogspot.com/2012/02/just-thought-i-would-like-to-share-this.html. You will see the link at the bottom of the first blog from this worship musician and web guitar instructor, Daniel Choo. (who, by the way, has awesome guitar instruction for beginner and intermediate guitar players who worship God with their music). I couldn't get the link to work from the actual website. 

Fellowship and worship

I just finished rereading my blog from May and am amazed that I typed that whole blog without taking a breath. Well, one thing  that is good about a blog is that you don't have to keep reading it if you are bored!
I only know that worship is important to me and will be what I blog about. Worship is the part of my life that is my "living sacrifice" to Yahweh, which means that I choose to lay myself on the altar! (It also might mean I talk about it a lot! : )
Which brings me to this blog. We've been having discussions lately in our small fellowship that is what's called in trendy circles (tongue in cheek) a "messianic" fellowship. Our discussion is about trying to start and end at regular times and because we are frequently mostly women (we are praying for the men to arise!), women love to talk and need to be herded over to the place where we are focusing on SOMETHING.
So my younger friend who has experience in this area, tells me that she thinks she can help in this area to bring focus and clarity to these gatherings.
We know we all like a lot of things. We like food. We like worship. We like studying the Torah from a Hebraic perspective. We like praying for one another. We like giving. So much here. So little time.
Eventually, when  SOME OF US THAT WORK ON SATURDAYS get a regular weekly job, we will meet on Saturdays and we can spread out Shabbat from Friday night to Saturday night. So we can have extended worship and extended Bible study and extended ministry and outreaches.
But for now, we are trying to squeeze a size 10 woman into a size five dress. It ain't lookin' very good...unless she goes on a diet.
She is looking at her plate and saying, "What do I have to let go of? Does it have to be less worship songs?" Her heart is breaking. She can't let ANY of that go. It's like the hidden chocolate some of you keep in the cupboard that you eat when the kids aren't around.
Is it the Torah study? Absolutely not!. That's like the broccoli and tomatoes and steak. Vitamins and protein. We need the truth even for our worship to have a good foundation.
How about the food? Well, some people who might eventually come, might come straight from work and be hungry. That's a ministry.
  I used to do that myself! I would drive an hour and twenty minutes to take part in a messianic fellowship. I was so grateful to find food downstairs after the service! Ministry is like potatoes! It fills you up! No empty spaces!
So what do we do dear friends? We get a bossy girl like me to tell everyone to stop the yakking and we'll get done on time! (we got done at 10  p.m. which was out goal (except everyone stayed and talked til 10:45.) Now we know what's slowing us down! : )

It's been awhile, folks, since I posted anything. As I have said before, this is my music blog and will remain a music blog. I know that there are others on the internet (and in the world, that other sphere where people live) who love worship music as I do and love to talk about it. So it is my choice to have a blog simply about worship music.
Worship music for me has evolved into something that still involves playing a guitar and singing songs in small groups or driving 18 hours to Kansas City to listen to the most amazing group of worshipers on the planet, the International House of Prayer, founder Mike Bickle. The Song of the Lord is a living and active thing, just like His word is, and if you allow it to move in you, you'll go places with Jesus.
I've always loved music, being an avid Beatles fan (Yes, dear husband in heaven, I loved the Beatles way before I met you), and was a disc jockey for 5 years. I met my husband while I was working at our college radio station. He was the guy who called and asked for me to play "Cold, Cold, Cold," by Little Feat.
My stint in radio only  caused me to drift away from the God I loved, however, because the cosmos  is ruled by the prince of the air. The prince of the air does not glorify God.
When I returned to my first love, I began to search for songs to express what God was saying to me. Songs have always been a way for God to reach deep inside me and fix what was wrong.
When I first drifted away from the Lord, He used a Billy Joel song to "fix" what was wrong inside of me. I was all alone at work in the studio doing my night shift. I had arrived at a point of despair, and desperation in my walk with Jesus. He'd never left me. But I had left Him...somewhere back there where I decided I needed to "forge my own destiny". What a joke. He is my Destiny. So, in that mental state, I had put on Billy Joel's song, "I Like you just the way you are". Suddenly, while I was just sitting there thinking, "Wow, what am I doing here, why am I so lonely, and why do I feel so empty inside? How did I get this way? Does God still love me anymore?" I felt the goose bumps actually before I realized what I was hearing, but it wasn't Billy Joel singing anymore. It was God singing to me, and me alone in that control room that night. "I love you just the way you are".Yet I knew that God wasn't saying that He loved my sin. He was saying that I was someone He died for. Someone He cared about deeply. He hadn't given up on me. He LOVED me. What a powerful love He is!
One of the greatest and most prolific producers of songs that are not just for singing was The Vineyard movement> They were songs that talked about God's tenderness and waiting on the Lord. They really meant it when they talked about waiting on the Lord.
 I had a friend who LOVED Vineyard music. He had a worship blog where he shared songs with people, songs he had written, which I have never done. I've never written a song. I found it amazing at the time, that he actually made an impact on people living on the other side of the world with his songs. I  remember when he first got started and his web site began to get thousands of hits. He started getting emails from a guy in Germany that had a worship web site and he asked my friend to write an article about worship. I know that did a lot for my friend's self esteem.
I am actually not a worship musician, ie., part of a worship team at a church. I was for a short spell at one church that I attended for ten years, and then God slowly weaned me from the idea that I needed to be on stage, After I left that church, I went to another church where the worship team was part of the pastor's family, and God grew them musically while I was there. There were some awesome times there, but that church closed, because of various circumstances, and now I am in a small home group. I am the self appointed worship leader right now, but when someone else steps up to the plate who is actually a trained musician, I can see my role changing. For now, I enjoy the challenge of putting a song set together and making power point slides for songs when I decide a recording is better than me playing.
I like the magic of people singing along who are enjoying the song and the One we are worshiping.
I'm still not relaxed enough to allow much to happen spiritually during a song like they do at say, IHOP, where they can sing "Mary had a little lamb" five thousand times, and you finally get it about the thousandth time of singing it/ That happens when the Holy Spirit is singing it with you.
My spiritual musical roots started with scripture songs, like "Seek ye first". Wow.. That was a magical song when we first began to sing that in little home gatherings with young and old alike. Some of the young people in our home fellowship in New Jersey, decided to run down to the beach and watch the sun rise while singing worship songs like this one. Everyone who had a guitar had to learn how to play at least this song.
At the beach, I just remember it being kind of cold and thinking, "I hope I'm spiritual enough to stay out here on this cold beach" : )
I learned to do something called "positioning myself before God" to allow Him to strengthen me to be able to wait on the Lord. The words to that song, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, can still have their effect on me, and I am still seeking the kingdom of God. I think I've found it sometimes, and then some horrible thing happens in my life that sets me back ten steps, and i have to start seeking again. I'm speaking of miraculous things now. Listen to Susy Yarai sing "He's Alive" and you'll get an inkling about what that means. Google it on You Tube...you. : )
 I know that I hear that same heart cry from others in churches and from those that actually saw miraculous things happen in the earlier Jesus movement of the 60s. I hate to hear about stuff that God did in the past. I want to see Him doing stuff like that in the present...because that's where I live.!
Playing worship songs and facilitating group gatherings with songs that connect the people in a room with a Holy God ... just makes me happy! That's all!
 I know there's more than this in my walk with Jesus,which is why I know that God "wants to sing a new song", in different spiritual seasons, where He will actually shepherd believers into New Moves of the Holy Spirit. This is also a reason to sing and play. Singing and playing worship songs while waiting on the Holy Spirit adds a new dimension to worship. All of a sudden, the music comes ALIVE.  People weep or laugh and things  happen to people that are supernatural.
Now, it's 2012 and God is singing new songs. They sound a little Jewish. Are you ready for this?

Music lessons are over...Still stuck in neutral...

Well, my little foray into internet/skype music lessons ended after a brief three months. I guess I couldn't handle the butterflies in my stomach. Having a "teacher" really gives me the willies. I guess I didn't feel that way when I went back to college because I knew that there were other people in the room that were "nervous" like myself.
But having a one on one music lesson with someone who may or may not give you a good grade on your performance is kind of scary.
All I know is that I tried it and don't really like it.
It was worth the money I paid for it. The teacher was a young man who was very kind, understanding, talented and inspiring. I guess I was not ready for performance based instruction. But I did learn some things. Because I wanted to "impress" my teacher that I had been learning some things, I went to different YouTube videos and learned new songs so I could ask him how to play this or that chord or riff.
When I did that, I actually learned things from that effort. I learned to "breathe" when I sing. That has revolutionized my singing. No kidding.
The second thing was the finger exercises. EVen though I don't have time to do this now, I know when my job changes or I have more time, I'll be doing this. It helps me play with more desterity.
I also found a DVD set that has all the info on it that explains again and reinforces what I learned from him.
Lastly, I learned while watching this video , what kinds of things make for a good worship leader. I never thought that "trust" was important between a worship leader and his/her congregation. It really is. If you don't feel like you know your worship leader, it can hurt how much you press into God. Also, if the worship leader does not try to connect with the people, to know more about them than just "the people who sit in the chairs", there's not going to be much trust created. The worship leader can't just think, "Aren't you lucky that I'm here leading worship because I can sing and play the guitar/drums, etc.". That was profound and highlights a lot of problems with churches and their worship leaders today.
Check out Music Academy video for worship leaders. Good stuff.

Brain...Meet Mr. Hand.

This is not going to be a profound blog. It's just about music. Music is pretty profound all by itself, and that is why I'm taking guitar lessons at 59. I already know how to bang on my guitar (as my mom calls it) but I want to grow vertically. I've grown horizontally for awhile, learning one new song after another, and that can help anyone grow vertically, but not as much as understanding a little music theory will.
I'm trying to catch another gust of wind now because I believe a little instruction from someone who actually understands music theory will help give me some wings.
So right now, I'm in my second month and my guitar instructor is teaching me about barre chords. I wrote this down: "If a chord is rooted on the 5th or 6th string, the same shapes can be used over and over to go up and down the neck to find different voicings of basic chords you normally play down on the first three frets.
Also, he was showing me that the 1st and 6th note on a scale will help me find out where I am on the fret board.
All of this is what he calls fretboard logic. I'm not a very logical person, but I can arrive at logic sometimes by intuition! So, I've got to practice this week to remember and grasp what he was trying to teach me.
Plus, he gave me some assignments to challenge me.
All of this is to develop control and clarity.
I saw on on you tube video an exercise with the fingers that looks helpful (besides the scale exercise that my guitar teacher showed me. Here is the link for this one for developing clarity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05uwfe2TWGw
For control, this website was helpful in explaining that. Having control when playing the guitar, means three things according to Claude Johnson (who also offers guitar lessons)> It means "esssential technique, fretboard knowledge, and the brain to hand connection."
I understand the brain to hand connection. I remember someone telling me that you have to become "one" with your instrument. That takes practice and getting to know your instrument.
Until then, my brain and my hand are trying to get to know each other better! We want to become great friends and make beautiful music together.