Perspectives: Hannah
Hello friends!
I'm thrilled to introduce you to another one of my dear friends. Meet the lovely, talented, and sweet-spirited Hannah Patelunas! This young lady continually amazes me with not only her talents (and gee whiz can this girl SING!), but also by her keen insights and wisdom. She moves with grace, has an infectious smile, and her heart is as big as the ocean. I'm thankful for the genuineness and sincerity she brings to our group. If anyone ever needs an encouraging word, you can rest assured that she'll the first to offer it.
She's got a wonderful story to share with you about fulfilled dreams and the fact that we really do get to worship God on stage every day. Please enjoy reading her perspective!
"DREAMS DON’T WORK UNLESS YOU DO.”
Amazing talent is a measure of ones thriving success. Isn't it? I was auditioning in New York City, taking singing lessons, dance classes, studying at a performing arts high school and doing “all that jazz” that performers do. I was a teenage hot mess believing every word of that quote.
In my mind the next step was living in Manhattan to study for a BFA in acting. But along the way, a still voice from within beckoned me deeper. It was a spirit I can today proudly call my Heavenly Provider. That’s right. God spoke in his perfect peace. Over and over again I caught glimpses of a power unlike any thrilling performance or any applaud.
When I was sixteen I went to a summer worship camp and wrote this:
I am speechless to your ways Lord. Ragamuffin Christian comes to mind because I’m feeling rebellious in all the right ways! There is a flame set in my soul that the Lord has placed, telling me to drop everything and follow. I don’t understand all that will happen, but I’m going to create and follow His lead. I’ll create with Him and be like a shooting star made in His image.
All I know is when I am singing to Him I can’t help but feel like the happiest puppy dog. I always end up crying because His love through music overwhelms me like a hurricane. I’ll have to work on that one when I become a worship leader. I say that because deep, deep down in the dark place of my cavern, I feel His hand pull me toward music. When I sing for Him my heart leaps in harmonious tones of joy and I see so clearly the face of peace. So much beauty it overwhelms the brain; I have no choice but to jump and rejoice shouting HIS NAME! JESUS MY GOOD SHEPHERD MY GRACE AND GLORY! At last, I have found where I belong.
Lord please give me ways to worship everyday. Singing is so important and critical to my recharge with You.
Little did I know, God would use that in an amazing way!
Hannah, Emma & Nick on their weekend trip to her home in New Jersey.
Around that time I saw a performance of Joseph at Sight and Sound Theater. They mashed together theater and Bible stories to glorify God. It was a dream! It was my dream of worship. All of a sudden that still voice whispered, “You will be there soon.” Stupefied, I sat in my seat and began to cry.
I never shared that with anyone. I was afraid that it was just my subconscious mind playing tricks on me. But senior year rolled along and I kept getting advertisements in the mail for the Sight & Sound Conservatory: where young adults study and perform on stage for a year!
Despite my already set plans, I decided to audition. I got in. I made a hard choice. The choice to live outside of my boundaries and follow God. If you take nothing else from this, please understand this: by choosing God you will never go wrong. The will of God is not so much following the works He guides us to do but, more so, allowing Jesus Christ to penetrate your very spirit. This way we are truly free.
Which leads me to my next experience. This year the cast is performing Jonah. Our acting instructor has been teaching us how to break down a scene, and the technique has helped me tremendously for most scenes in the show. But I never need to apply it during the Nineveh scene, when God revives a nation of people drowning in sin. When we sing the song I Am Free, we all sing it truly to the Lord. I never need to apply any acting techniques.
A still from the original 2012 production of Jonah. The scene in which the Queen sings about the freedom that Lord has given them, no matter what the outcome will be.
There is another point in the scene when all the Ninivites reach out to Jonah. He is the man who has shared the truth of God with us. At this moment of the show, our in hopes are that Jonah will save us instead of realizing that God is our true hope. When I look at Jonah I symbolize it as a false hope in my life I am reaching toward to fill that God shaped void. But, as the scene progresses, we soon realize that "we are free" regardless of our circumstances and regardless of what people say. Even though I'm technically "acting", my heart truly shifts from hopeless to restored freedom in the Lord!
He gives me everything I need to have a fully realized moment on stage. God has answered my prayer by allowing me to worship Him in song almost everyday! My mindset of hard work has shifted through the lens of Gods will. I realized He will always give me everything I need when I open my heart. I am not my talents nor my statues, but a child of the heavenly Father. So, I propose a new thought: