One of my passions is singing. I love getting people together to sing praises to the Lord. When I began teaching music in Thailand, I knew the power of music to bring us closer to God. What I didn’t know was that God can fill people with love through music, even when the lyrics are in a language they don’t understand.

I started a choir at church during my first year of service, and the congregation enjoyed our songs of praise. But I felt strongly that God wanted us to spread hope to those who needed it beyond our church walls. I talked to the church leaders, and they agreed that we should use music in our mission to reach hearts for Jesus and involve as many people as we could in this ministry.

That church was active, and the members enjoyed serving the community. Our only challenge was that, as an international community, many of us didn’t speak Thai. So, we invited all church members who wanted to join our singing group to gather on Sabbath afternoons to practice some simple Christian songs in the local language.

Once we mastered the songs, we prayed that God would lead us where He wanted us to go. In answer to our prayers, He sent us to many places, including people’s homes, villages, shops, hospitals, an orphanage, and a support center for people with disabilities. To our delight, we watched people’s eyes light up as they listened to our songs and were humbled that God was ministering to people’s hearts through our voices.

Each of those events was special, but I’d like to share two that were especially meaningful to me. The first was when we went to the Ubon Ratchathani Cancer Hospital. The nurses gathered the patients in a hallway, keeping them a safe distance from us to protect their health. Even though we couldn’t hug them, we could see how embraced they felt by our spirit of love. A nurse told us later that one old man who was always sad smiled for the first time in ages.

After singing at the cancer hospital, we went to a beautiful spot on the edge of a river to have sundown worship. We were singing in English, just to ourselves. We didn’t realize that a group of fishermen was watching us from afar. They liked our songs so much that they asked if they could record us on their phones. After singing some more, we prayed with them as we do with everyone we sing to.

It was getting dark, so the fishermen went down the river in their boats. We came home filled with the joy that comes only from sharing God’s message of salvation—a message that transcends races, cultures, and languages.

Is God calling you to go? Check out these links!

Volunteering: vividfaith.com and AdventistVolunteers.org

Tentmaking: TotalEmployment.org

I Will Go!: IWillGO2020.org