He Leadeth Me

Fifteen-year-old Drew Bishop volunteers to play the piano every week at Dannevirke Salvation Army. Drew has a growing relationship with God and offers some encouragement for other young people who may be struggling to find their place in a small faith community.

‘Don’t be afraid to embrace your faith,’ says Drew. ‘It’s not just for adults. Share your love for Jesus. I don’t mean you have to shout it from the rooftops, but for me expressing my love for Jesus is as simple as playing piano for the 20 people at my church every Sunday.’

Drew comes from a family of strong faith and active service. ‘Many of my family members are Salvationists—my parents and grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins. I feel quite proud that so many of my family love Jesus like I do,’ she explains.

Drew attends boarding school in Feilding and lives with 20 other girls. ‘It’s like having 20 siblings! When you live together you get to know each other pretty well and have a lot of input into each other’s lives.’ Some of the girls that Drew lives with have parents who have been through difficult divorces, and other girls have parents who died young. ‘I felt so sad that they hadn’t gotten to experience Jesus yet—that they were going through all this without him.’

As Drew paid closer attention to the lives of those at school, she began to listen more in church. ‘I noticed that the sermon had real meaning for my life and wasn’t just random blabberings I had to sit through while I counted the panels on the ceiling and waited for church to be over,’ she says with a laugh.

Around this time, Drew started volunteering to play the piano at church. Every week she was given a meeting programme which included the Bible passage for the sermon. ‘That got me curious, so I started opening my Bible! The older I get, the more I see how the message connects with my real everyday life. Having a part to play at church helped me to become more engaged and active in it.’

Piano Gran

Drew was especially close to her gran, who was a passionate vocalist. ‘I would go to her house and play the piano and she would sit with me and sing.’

When Drew’s gran died last year, it was a difficult time. ‘I had never been through a loss before, and it hit me hard. Gran was so supportive and came to every netball game, swimming competition and music performance. When she passed, it was like a big dark cloud suddenly hung over me.’ Grief sparked questions within Drew: ‘Why would God take someone I was so close to and leave me feeling like this?’

Soon after, Drew attended a women’s retreat where her cousin shared about the conversations she had with God. ‘I remember listening and feeling really upset,’ admits Drew. ‘I wanted God to speak to me the way she had described—like two friends. On top of the pain and grief of losing Gran, I could feel this anger building up inside me. Why didn’t God talk to me like that?’

Palmy Army

One weekend last year, Drew felt ‘a nudge’ to call her aunt to see if she could go to Palmerston North Corps with her. ‘I’d never been to a church before where there were so many other people my age. Not only that, but people my age who openly expressed that they loved Jesus!’

The message she heard at ‘Palmy Army’ that morning was about feeling alone and persecuted as a Christian. ‘I had been feeling alone and mocked for my faith at school. No one took me seriously and I just didn’t know any other people my age who loved God too.’

During the service the band played a tune Drew described as ‘captivating’, and decided she would learn it so she could play it at Dannevirke.

‘I didn’t know what the words to the song were, but when I read them back home, I instantly realised that God was speaking to me!’ The song was ‘He Leadeth Me’ (SASB 725), and the anger and confusion Drew had been feeling began to dissipate.

‘When God speaks it’s not this big audible voice. It’s still loud and clear, but it’s more like a soft whisper.’

Love language

Clearly, music is a language that God uses to speak to Drew. ‘When I first started playing piano at church my heart wasn’t in it. But then all these things started happening and I began to really appreciate that playing piano and the gift of music was something God had given me. Being the only one in the church able to play at that time gave me a chance to step up into what God was asking me to do with what he’d given me.’

Drew followed another of God’s nudges and attended Amplify arts camp earlier this year. Everyone in her small group was given the opportunity to share their testimony and Drew was able to share those special words: ‘He leadeth me, he leadeth me! By his own hand he leadeth me; his faithful follower I will be, for by his hand he leadeth me.’