Worship is the Key

Tope: Our guest today on the show is Mrs. Paige Squirrell, and she’s a life coach, gifted bible teacher, a worship leader, and an author. She’s passionate about helping people discover their identity and empowering them to pursue their purpose and live fulfilling lives. Paige and her husband Jonathan lead the Kingdom Breakthrough Ministry. They support small groups and churches.

With a heart to see breakthroughs in every area. God called them to serve and they minister under the network of global awakening. She is a mom. Four incredible adult children and two lovely grandchildren. She and her family are based in Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Mrs. Paige: It’s so good to be here. I’ve been following you on Facebook for some time. I think we first met in Becky Harmon’s group, didn’t we? That’s where we first met. It’s good to finally connect in person. It really is. You just never know with the internet and just how it’s now, it’s a global village where all it really is sort of connected. Yeah, yeah.

Tope: Well so I want to start us off by just having you share with us a few fun facts about yourself.

Mrs. Paige: That’s just taken me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting that question. Well I don’t carry the passport of the country. I was born in and I’m not living in the country I’m a nationality.

I was born in Turkey and lived there for a while. And then I grew up in Germany, and then moved to the States. I carry an American passport, but I married an Englishman and I now live in the UK. Some people would think I’m really confused, but you know I’m not. I’m excited to be part of all these different places. I’m thankful for the lessons I’ve learned and I came to real peace about who I was when I realized that my citizenship is in heaven. And it doesn’t matter where I was born, what passport I carry, what language I speak, or what country I live in. So God must have been, that’s interesting.

Tope: God must have been really doing work in all these different places. So you have what I will call a diverse exposure. Multicultural exposure. How have these cultures influenced your life? Have they shaped you? Have they influenced your life? 

Mrs. Paige: Yeah, tremendously. I think through it, I have such a love for God’s diversity and his creation really. And recognizing that we aren’t all the same. And there’s beauty in, in his people everywhere. I’ve often said here in Norfolk, God has got me on a mission to discover the hidden treasures, the hidden gems  in his places. And there’s so many hidden people aren’t there, who just radiate God’s beauty and glory. It’s given me a real appreciation that sometimes the way we think things should be done isn’t the only way. But there are different ways of doing things, and that’s okay. Yeah. And so yeah, I, I think the biggest thing, it’s given me a real love for people in all their diversity.

No matter where they’re from. What they’re like. 

Not too long ago, we were ministering at a church and I wasn’t looking forward to going to this church because it wasn’t quite what I was used to and I thought it would be. Boring is too strong of a word, but I thought, oh Lord, I don’t know what I’m gonna make of this. Yeah. And I sat there in the congregation before the service started and just as it started.

I saw God’s beautiful people who had been faithful to him

I felt the Lord say, Paige, I love these people. And they have been faithful to me. And do you know, my whole attitude just changed and I looked around and I saw God’s beautiful people who had been faithful to him through the years and that the Lord delighted in that and it really . Again, it was another lesson.

We can have preconceived ideas. But it’s like Lord, teach me to see individuals the way that you see them. And that’s been a lifelong lesson for me. Wow. That is a powerful story page. That is powerful. So the Lord helped you to see. As he sees them. He gave you a new lens to see them.

Tope: Yeah, absolutely. And just as he sees them. Yeah. Through the eyes of love. Through the eyes of grace. Yeah. And, it teaches us to be open. Oh, it does. Yeah. Because many times we, you know, like you mentioned, we have this preconceived idea of the way things should be, or how things ought to be. Yeah. And it was, it was, I think it was fascinating to hear you. You kind of were apprehensive a little bit, but then you were also open. To hear from them. To help you see, to help you receive what he had for you even though it was different. I think that’s the lesson I’m taking away. Yeah. , right? If I encounter something that’s different instead of focusing on it’s different and I, it makes me uncomfortable, and I don’t know how can I turn that around and say, Hey, yeah, how can I be open? Lord, what are you doing here? Absolutely. Yeah. And I think if we start living like that, we’ll make it. Into this world. Yeah. And will be, will be the living expression of who Jesus is. And that’s what he’s called us to be, isn’t it? So that’s my heart . I hear, I hear you. I can definitely see what you are sharing. Plays right into your ministry of empowering small groups and churches, you know, to empower them to serve well in the areas that God’s called them to serve. It means you have to be open, ’cause every church is gonna be different. Absolutely. You are also gonna be different. Small groups are gonna be different. In life, we all face challenges. So what’s one challenge that you’ve faced, and how did you overcome it? 

Mrs. Paige: I have faced many challenges . But one that I just feel the Lord would like me to share. And it’s amazing.

We prayed before we came here, didn’t we? That the Lord would reveal what he wants us to share. Yeah. And. So several years ago, our youngest son went through a really, really tricky time and he got caught up with the wrong crowd and he was away from the Lord and was really depressed and discouraged. And I kept praying for him, praying that he would come back to the Father. During one particular season where it was really rough, I just sensed that the Lord asked me to go into his room every time he was at work cuz he was still living with us at the time. And to worship.

So I started doing that. I wanted to be obedient and sometimes I’d go in for five minutes, sometimes it was 10, sometimes it was 15. I went in with my phone and all the worship songs that I had on my phone and I would just start playing and, and worship the Lord in his room.

Worship led to real declarations and prayers of breakthrough

And that worship led to real declarations and just prayers of breakthrough and just speaking life over him. It was like I was really contending for his soul. I did that for a year. And the journey, I mean, it was a long, it was a long journey. I think sometimes we love these stories where we say, I did it for a day, or I did it for a week and God broke through  and I saw this amazing miracle, but I, I did it for.

A year, and then I felt the Lord say, you can stop now. But I didn’t stop, obviously praying for him to cut a long story short, he did, he came back to the Lord and was baptized. He’s now married and has a little boy, and we’re still on the journey together. There’s still ups and downs, but I think the Lord.

Showed me through that, that when we’re facing hard times and we’re going through situations where we really wanna see God break through and work. Worship is a key. And just worshiping the Lord and praising him. He took me on a journey with worship before I did that, where for a year, I was worshiping him every 10 minutes during the day, and I carried a buzzer in my pocket. My husband set it up on my iPod and I carried it and every 10 minutes when the buzzer would go off if I was on my own, I would just praise and worship the Lord and just thank him. If I was in conversation with someone, I would just turn my thoughts to the Lord in the midst of conversation.

It was amazing because there could be times when I was so concerned about something and then the buzzer would go off and I would have to start praising the Lord. And it was like, Lord, thank you for who you are. I just praise you. I glorify you. You are the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

You never change. You are faithful, you are good. And I would start praising him. And you know that just lift. The worry and anxiety and after I did that for a year, I realized every time I had a fear  or an anxious thought. My default mode was to worship. And it made me think of Paul when he talks about being anxious for nothing but in everything, give thanks and make your request known to the Lord. Known to the Lord. Yeah. And whatsoever is good and beautiful and noble and right and true. Think about these things, so, wow. So worship has become a major part of my life in dealing with challenges.

Tope: Thank you for sharing that story.

God has created us to need him and to need each other.

Mrs. Paige: Yes. And there’s room for that. Yes. But I love going to God and, and. Reading his words until he speaks to me, until he just grabs my heart. I say, oh Lord, this is for me. I’m going to hold on to this in this season. Yeah. So I would just encourage anyone who’s going through a hard time, you know, pick up the songs is a great place to start and just read until. Drop something in your heart and you say, that resonates. That is for me. I’m going to take that and stand on it and hold onto it in this season. 

Tope: We know that the word of God is true and that hasn’t changed. Yes. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yes. And we can stand on that. Yeah. And I think we need to, we need people who are rooted. In the word of God, who will take a stand Yeah. And not be swayed.  If you struggle with worship and someone is saying, oh, I’d love to worship, but I don’t know where to begin, then take heart. Start in the Psalms and just take some of the words that David wrote and use them as your own words and just turn them into worship. It’s powerful.