Obey Him anyway!
It was a Saturday evening, and I’d just gotten home, exhausted from a long day and looking forward to relaxing. As I settled in to watch a movie, a WhatsApp notification appeared on my phone screen.
I wasn’t particularly excited to receive it, so I tossed my phone to the side of my bed and refocused my attention on my computer screen. The message that had come in was from a lady from the church I attended, the worship pastor.
The first few words read, “Hey, Gael. Super last minute, but do you mind…”
I didn’t open the message to read the rest because I knew what she was asking me to do: to lead the service the next morning at church. Now, those who know me very well know that I’m highly reluctant with last-minute requests. I function best when I’ve been mentally prepared in advance.
I tried to ignore it for a bit, deciding I’d think about it later.
However, I wasn’t at peace after that. My spirit couldn’t just be calm and at rest.
The Holy Spirit kept nudging me, and I thought to myself, “It’s not like I haven’t led service before. It’s not rocket science. God is the one who functions through me even when I’ve prepared anyway. Plus, I’m probably the only one available for the task at this moment.”
I can’t count how many times I’ve prepared myself and got on that podium only to completely go off script.
However, every time that has happened, somehow what I say has been in line with the Word to be preached that day. It always blows my mind. I never get used to it.
Two hours later, I was still wrestling but slowly submitting. My phone rang…the worship pastor was calling. This time, I was cornered. There was no way I could ignore it. If I did, I’d have probably ended up lying about why I couldn’t be reached the following day.
NO! I wasn’t going to allow that.
I needed my conscience free, at ease, and at peace. So, I answered… and acted as if I didn’t know what was coming (I’m not proud of that).
I confessed to her a few days later, though, and I’ll tell you why. After agreeing to lead the service the next morning, I immediately felt a weight lift off me. I should have just answered that text two hours before.
Sunday morning, the praise and worship session was awesome, and the whole time I prayed, “Lord, I’m sorry for resisting, but thank you also for Your grace. Thank you for choosing me. I don’t know why, but you do. Whatever it is you’ve called me for, let it be done. I’m here.”
At the end of the praise-and-worship session, I stepped onto the podium, prayed, and began the service. I introduced myself, “My name is Gael Tunga Rutembesa, and I’m honored and privileged to lead service today. I don’t know why God chooses me for things such as this, but He does.”
I had told myself I wouldn’t say much, but then I went on, totally off script again.
“At the beginning of the year, I challenged myself to obey and do whatever the Lord tells me to do and go wherever He tells me to go. It gets hard to do that because sometimes it requires us to step way out of our comfort zones. Sometimes we resist out of insecurity. We think we are not capable or that we are unworthy. Even Moses almost resisted what God called him to. He had a stutter, yet he was being called to speak to the Pharaoh of Egypt and the elders of Israel. But what did God ask Him? ‘Who gave you that mouth?’”
BOOM! That hit me at that moment, too.
May that be a challenge for you, too, to answer when God calls you. Whatever God asks you to do, do it. He’ll enable you.
I didn’t even know who the preacher of the day was. I found out when our senior pastor invited her onto the podium. She was visiting from Nairobi, Kenya.
She tactfully and gradually built on her sermon, and for a while, other members of the congregation and I were lost. We couldn’t tell where she was going with it. At some point in the middle of her preaching, she looked at me and said, “Gael!”
I stood up fast like a soldier at attention and answered loudly,
“YES, MA’AM!” (Just kidding)
“You preached my sermon. You are in the Spirit!”
I didn’t know what to do or say, and so I raised my fist halfway in the air and said, “Glory to God?” with a confused look on my face. (Not kidding this time)
She went on and shared the story of when Jesus turned water into wine.
“Imagine it yourselves,” she said.
“It was a wedding ceremony. There were lots of people. And the wine was finished. There were six large stone jars of water nearby, and Jesus told the servants to fill them with water before telling them to draw some and take it to the wedding MC. The MC tasted the ‘water that was drawn from the jars’ and told the groom, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’ The wine was top-notch. How long does it take to make the best wine? How long does it take for grapes to ferment to the finest quality? It takes years, right? Imagine what the servants were thinking when Jesus told them to fill the jars with water. The wine was needed urgently, and a man told them to fill jars with… water?! It didn’t make any sense, but they did it anyway.”
And Jesus’ first miracle was witnessed, defying all human logic and showing God’s Infinite Power.
Towards the end, the pastor pointed us to verse 5 of the passage she was drawing her sermon from, then looked at me and said again, “Gael, I told you that you preached my sermon.”
I was done after that, hearing the words that popped out of that verse. I won’t tell you of the tears I cried after, but I will say that God had broken me and blown my mind yet again.
The verse reads what Mary, mother of Jesus, told the servants after the wine had run out.
“Do whatever he tells you.” John 2:5 (NIV).
