“Use what’s in your hand to establish what’s in your heart.”
- Brian Houston
In my experience, most musicians and creatives are also dreamers. We have dreams for our careers, our families, and our ministries. However, I think all of us have, at some point in our lives, watched one of our dreams die. It’s painful process that can cause confusion and heartache. We are often left asking God, “Where are You? What do I do now?”
On this week’s Worship Together Podcast, I talked to Joel Houston from Hillsong UNITED. Even though Joel is one of the most successful artists in the world, he is not immune from this pain. In fact, the death of his dream became the catalyst for creating UNITED.
Houston: “I had a band with Mikey (Michael Guy Chislett), Marty Sampson, Luke Munns and some other friends. Everything was going great. Wonderful, to be honest. It was all lined up and then, out of nowhere the band broke up. It was heartbreaking because we had been in this band for six years and then, right when it was all happening, it was over. I remember Mikey was devastated, and so was I.
“My dad (Brian Houston) was preaching a message at the time, that he still preaches now, which says, ‘Use what’s in your hand to establish what’s in your heart.’ So Mikey and I just talked and said, ‘Let’s just throw ourselves into what’s in front of us. So we looked at what was in our hand, and it was our youth ministry. So we just threw ourselves into making Friday nights the best they could be and making the music something that we liked and that our friends liked. That essentially became what is now UNITED.”
Joel continued, “Sometimes it looks like we're not getting what we want because God knows what we need. But when you get what you need, you realize that everything you want, and everything you never knew you wanted, is in that as well.”
“Proverbs 16:9 says, ‘A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.’
“I think for us it's actually just been a process of obedience. We've never had these dreams. If you asked me at any time along the journey, even a few years ago, how long I would be doing this, I would have said, ‘I don't know’. We're just doing it now because it's what's in our hand. And so when we were 19 that's what it looked like. When we were 25, it was still in our hand and the desire has been to, as long as it's in our hand, give the best of what we have.”
To come close to your dreams and then watch them slip through your hands is difficult. It can be so painful that often we want to give up. In those times it’s important that we keep our faith in Him and remember that we do not labor in vain. If we are faithful with what God has put in our hand, He will continue to refine our hearts and fulfill dreams we don't even know we have yet.
This article was taken from the Worship Together Podcast. To listen to the full interview with Hillsong UNITED’s Joel Houston please visit Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider.
