Never Feel Unworthy

In the past I would've let people make me feel unworthy or not good enough for them because I never attended a college, never got a fancy college degree. Instead, I knew I was called into music ministry and I jumped in with both feet.

After high school, the band I had started began touring regionally, playing shows at churches, youth camps, clubs, birthday parties...really anywhere we could. I had bought into the plan, I wanted to share my story with whoever would listen. See my life had been radically changed when I was 15 that I wanted everyone to know that there is more to life, there is a Jesus who loves them. Two years after my graduation we played a label showcase in Nashville for a major christian label, they offered us a deal on the spot after we played. After months of back and forth with our respective lawyers, we finally signed on the dotted line and I awaited my pay day from them. I still had a story to tell but things began to change after signing to a record label. It became about me, Jared, instead of about Him, Jesus. Its funny when you turn 21 and you finally get a big pay day from a record label how you start to put God on the back burner. Even though, He is who brought you to that point, He is the one you wanted to do it for in the beginning. After years of touring and slowly but surely turning my back on God and the church, my life hit rock bottom. I had nothing, the band was over, I had no college degree, I had lost a lot of friends, I was working a dead end job. I really felt I had nothing to live for...

In 2010 I started writing songs for a project I started with a good friend of mine. It felt great to write again, to create again, to feel alive again. It just wasn't exactly the same though, you see, I had left God out of it. I still believed in God but I thought, I can do this alone. I was still missing something, obviously it was putting God at the forefront of my life and anything I was doing. I was chasing a dream that I wanted and God wanted me to chase Him.

Towards the end of 2010 I began filling in on guitar for a friend at a church back in Oklahoma. Little did I know that would be first steps that God wanted me to take to fully understand what He was preparing me for. I'm a firm believer that God equips who He calls and He had equipped me from an early age to sing and play guitar, write songs, to be creative, to work hard, to just trust, believe and keep going. Was I working a terrible job while this was going down, yes, did I give up, no! I believed and stood firm that God had plans for me and He would open up those doors when He knew I was ready. I kept serving in that church for months, really getting more and more excited to worship Him on Sundays while playing the songs. Something I felt had been missing for years in my life. I was "getting it", understanding that its about Him and not me. My life is not mine, its His!

Here I am, living in Harrisonburg Virginia and have been working in full time ministry as the worship and creative arts director for Valley Church for the past year. Doing exactly what He equipped me with when I was a young kid... playing guitar, singing and believing. I am working in a creative job, where I am able to think creatively, outside of a box all the while giving glory to God.

Does God equip those He calls? I am living proof that if you just believe, trust, obey, and pray, God will supply your needs and guide you to where He wants you.

Never feel unworthy, not good enough, shameful or anything other than unending joy that you had the faith to just believe and
trust in God to take you and lead you where He wanted.

Matthew 6:31-34
"So don't worry about these things, saying, 'what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."