The Story of How I Became A Music Teacher: Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about my initial decision to pursue a music degree.  You can catch up here.

A few years and semesters of music education down the road, I found myself at a crossroad.  I was very much enjoying my music classes, and all my new friends, but was struggling with the demands that all the practicing, rehearsing, and homework took on my life.  It was an easy excuse, but I often felt like I let my degree get in between me and God - practicing clarinet was a priority, but reading my Bible rarely happened.  I realized God didn't give me a gift in order for it to drive a wedge between us.

Then one Thursday night in July 2003, I tearfully told God if he needed me to change my career path, I would.  

For 48 hours I was so devastated.  I couldn't utter the words to anyone else that I was considering changing majors.  I knew if God called me to do it, he would carry me through it, but I surely wasn't ready to talk to anyone else about it.  This was just between He and I.

And then Saturday night, as I was getting ready for bed, one of the gals I worked with at camp that summer knocked on my door.

"Hey, I was just reading my devotional and this page made me think of you!"

A weight came off my shoulders, my heart became light, and tears filled my eyes as I basked in the the faithfulness of my God.  The devotional page was about music; what a wonderful gift it is that God give us, and if He has gifted us with musical abilities, we need to use them.  It quoted Psalm 150:

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the Lord.^[a]

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
    praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

I took that as my answered - I had to be willing to surrender everything, including my love of music.  And I guess that was my wake up called.  Pursuing music was fine to do, but I had to purse my relationship with God first.

And I lived happily ever after  as a music ed major and then a music teacher.  Until I got baby fever and decided I really really really needed to be a SAHM, and now I am totally happy to be teaching several private piano and guitar students.  For now.