God’s marvelous direction in bringing me to Geneva College more than three years ago was also His hand leading my family into the RP Church. Though the denomination was new to me, and though I had never sung psalms exclusively prior to this time, I started attending College Hill RPC as a freshman.

What is gloriously divine is that God kept me there. I believe many people are uncomfortable with this means of worship, and, unfortunately, it is easier for them to leave than remain. However, God did not have that path for me. Actually, I had never seriously considered another denomination similar to the church of which I was formerly a member.

Throughout the following year, my family occasionally came from Pittsburgh to attend College Hill with me. As God was working in me to embrace this worship with joy, He also began fueling in my parents a love for singing the Psalms. This love was not nurtured through debate or persuasion, but through saturation. By being in worship on the Lord’s Day to see the purity and completeness of the Psalms, God slowly but surely brought our hearts to hold this aspect of worship dear.

The next step for my family was a visit to the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North Hills in Pittsburgh, Pa. My parents and my brother Adam were received with love and were welcomed into the thriving fellowship of believers at North Hills. Again God gave us a nudge toward the RP Church.

At the beginning of my sophomore year at Geneva, God was continuing to give me direction and gave me the desire to seek a mentor from College Hill. Pat Mason came into my life as a woman who loves the Lord, loves her family, and loves the RP Church. The last two years of talking and having lunch together have been a tool that God has used to bring me to love Him more through her example of godliness and excellence. God also increased my love for children by my observation of families both at College Hill and at North Hills. In addition to the example of my own parents, I have seen an immeasurable amount of godly parenting displayed at church and in homes that have been used to develop my own standards and desires for raising my children, Lord willing.

I sensed God leading me to consider the RP Missions trip to Scotland in June 2000. God made His direction clear early, and I knew I was to go. I was excited and ready, though I had to wait about 10 months for the departure date! One of the most amazing aspects of both the preparation time and the trip itself was the abundance of support I received from the North Hills congregation. My family and I had not yet joined the church. but I received the incredible blessing of prayer and financial support from the congregation and session. Once I moved back home after my semester was over in the spring, our family joined North Hills, and soon after I embarked for Scotland to serve the RP Church in Airdrie.

It was a delight to sec the work of God in Scotland in one small church, in a land where we claim our heritage. It was a privilege to work with the minister and the elders. and I was blessed to interact with the children and members for several weeks. It pierced my heart to learn of our predecessors who stood firm in the faith at the loss of their lives, and to see the places where the Lord called them home, sometimes through hangings or drowning. The examples of their lives increased my faith and strength in God. Most important, I saw the treasure of spending oneself for the sake of Christ, be it in a foreign land or a home church. God’s work is everywhere, and He is equipping all of His saints to be ready for the task.

My love for the RP Church increased in Scotland, and indirectly my conviction about psalmody increased as well. Through being so saturated in His work in that church, and having such a foundation of support coming from America. God intertwined true worship and a love for it in my soul. I delight to have the worship of God echo in every part of my being, and true worship is certainly the core of that delight. As I said. it was not through debate or persuasion that God drew us to the RP church, but it was through saturation in the Word and God Himself through His church.

Alicia is a senior accounting major at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., and is a member of the North Hills RPC in Pittsburgh. Pa.