Music is very prominent in my family, and all 7 of us kids either sang or played an instrument. We all were raised to love the LORD and serve Him. As a 4 year old child, I remember begging my mother to let me take piano lessons, but it wasn't until i was 11 that my parents were able to find a piano teacher... I was thrilled!!! I started piano lessons, but 3 months later, my piano teacher stopped teaching to go work a second job. I was devastated at this news from my teacher; little did i know that it was the LORD's divine intervention.

     For the next 4 years, I continued to go through my books on my own, just enjoying playing whatever I could. When I turned 13, the LORD brought Kim and Jason into my life. Though i did not get the chance to get to know Jason, Kim would tell me how he was doing because he was deployed in Iraq at the time. Through her telling me things he would say and the circumstances, GOD used Jason's testimony to convict me and bring me to my own salvation. It seemed that Jason was always happy no matter what!!! I asked Kim how it was that Jason could be so happy over in Iraq fighting a war; it was she who told me that it was because Jason had the LORD  in his life,and I didn't. On October 17, 2007, i was saved.

     Soon afterwards,my mom was able to find another teacher in town, named Erica; we decided to try her out. She is a college student and a Christian herself. I love learning with her because she is learning with me and is not ashamed to admit when she cannot answer a question that i have, but she rather looks it up and tells me the answer when she can get back to me. The LORD has used her in my life not only to teach me piano, but also to encourage and teach me life lessons. Through Erica, the LORD has helped me progress and further improve my talent to be able to use for HIM.

     There have been many times in my life that i wanted to give up and say that it was no use to even try. Well, those were usually times when my priorities were out of order, and once again I had gotten them out of order when I felt like I should just stop because as I looked back on my "career", I only saw the fact that I had been working so hard for so long and I felt like I was getting nowhere at all....I did not think about all the things GOD had done for me throughout my life. Finally, after fighting with it for a while, I prayed and asked the LORD to give me wisdom and tell me what HE wanted me to do; I kept asking HIM why i felt like quitting, and why i was not getting anywhere as far as progress was concerned. I knew that if i did quit, then i would be wasting a LOT of time, money, and effort that had been put into this. Also, I had already planned to go to college to major in music, so this decision was also going to determine what i did for the next 3-5 years of my life.

    Our youth group had a youth rally coming up at the end of that week. I didn't really want to go, but my parents told me that i should go to support my youth leaders, so I went. The church that's hosting the youth rally usually has a guest speaker. The man that they had come decided he was going to give a presentation instead of preaching a message. He gave a presentation on diligence, going through the meaning of the word first, and then showing us how many times it was mentioned in Proverbs. He started talking about the ant and how Jesus tells us to look at the ant and consider her ways. It was like the Lord was sitting next to me instead of my friends, saying you wanted to know why and what you were doing wrong, well there's your answer!

    Now I am trying to commit every single day to Christ and live for HIM. I decided to continue playing piano, but this time I'm going to let GOD do HIS best through me, not just me doing my best. I'm so much more useful if I just do what He wants me to do, and let HIM work through me than if I try to do everything myself. Now I'm happy to be playing again, and I'm excited for  the future that GOD has for me. I know that the road will be rough and there will still be trials and temptations to deal with, but I hope and pray that it will be a different perspective as well as motivation for me from now on. 

    As i look back on my life now, i realize how amazing God is, and I thank HIM for everything and everyone He has brought into my life. Thank you everyone who was praying for me during this time in my life. I appreciate it very much! I hope you all have a GREAT day!!!

Esther