When worship ministry feels like being caught in the force of a riptide that pulls you away from the safety of shore … when the swift current regularly drags you under, rolls you on the sandy bottom, scratches up your elbows and knees and fills your swim trunks with sand … when it seems to take longer each time for the current to lose its strength, release you and allow you to swim to shore;

Remember to take courage in the assurance that He Is Able to do above and beyond all that you ask or think according to the power that works in you. —Ephesians 3:20

Take Courage …

When no generation is every really happy musically … He is able.

When you can’t sing too many or too few hymns … He is able.

When you constantly worry if your children will even like church when they are no longer required to attend … He is able.

When your ministry shelf life seems to be moving toward the expiration date because you are no longer young enough or trim enough … He is able.

When it seems like you are always a step behind musically, technologically and culturally … He is able.

When congregants target your family because they are upset with you … He is able.

When you are tempted to quit every Monday morning … He is able.

When your pastor refers to you as “his song leader” … He is able.

When you wish you served someplace, anyplace else … He is able.

When you have to schedule family vacation after the mission trip, Vacation Bible School and camps but before the fall music ministry kick-off … He is able.

When you are always the first one to arrive and last one to leave … He is able.

When it seems as if no amount of rehearsal can make your group presentable … He is able.

When staff collaboration actually means silent obedience … He is able.

When needed change is never well received … He is able.

When your family Christmas celebration can’t begin until after the pageant and Christmas Eve service … He is able.

When you feel like no one is holding your rope as you start to slip … He is able.

When date night with your spouse is the choir potluck … He is able.

When you are required to sacrifice family time and feel like you are missing out on your children’s lives … He is able.

When you have been terminated for any or no reason … He is able.

When your creativity has been exhausted and burnout is causing you to coast … He is able.

When shared ministry and staff communication is non-existent … He is able.

When you don’t have the resolve to take care of yourself spiritually, physically and emotionally … He is able.

When you try to succeed alone and then fail alone … He is able.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. —Jude 1:24-25