Our front porch is one of my favorite places in the whole world. Since we moved to our new, old house in Sainte-Philomène, the front porch is usually where you can find me. Why? Because there’s plenty of light there, the view of our beautiful yard refreshes my senses and nothing can compare with the gorgeous weather the Lord has given to us this time of year.

In fact, yesterday I enjoyed sitting out here so much (yes, I’m here again), that even as the darkness draped itself over our compound, I just couldn’t seem to compel myself to go inside. This time it was for a different reason, however. Since we share the compound with our third church plant and Tuesday night’s service was going on, I couldn’t tear myself away from the music that floated over the church walls toward our house. I sat glued to my seat as I soaked in the beautiful worship.

I recognized the worship leader’s voice. Claudel and I work together every Saturday with our youth choir and other groups in the mother church at Petite-Anse. Claudel has one of the purest hearts of anyone I know. His love for the Lord is always apparent through his adoration of Him. I didn’t recognize any of the songs he was singing and wondered if he had composed them. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. After the service was over, I made my way inside our house. I felt like a gentle rain had washed over me on a hot summer day.

As I awoke this morning, I grabbed my Bible and began to sing a praise song to myself. This is always my way of starting my devotional time with the Lord — prayer and praise, then afterward, meditation of the Scriptures. As I started to sing a simple chorus, new songs that seemed to come out of nowhere flooded my soul. They were just simple melodies flowing from my heart. The more I sang, the more new songs came to me.

Why was this morning any different, I wondered? This doesn’t happen every day. I then realized that it was just an overflow of what I had saturated myself with the evening before. The pump had already been primed when I had yielded myself to the worship service going on within our church’s walls.

This is not the first time I’ve observed this happening to me. A very gifted musician and songwriter, André Favreau, spent a week with us here in Haiti a few years ago. He held a music seminar with our musicians, as well as shared his own songs with our congregation. After André flew back to Quebec, I was surprised to see that a part of his anointing had stayed behind. I found myself crafting worship songs that I don’t believe I would ordinarily have written if it had not been for André’s own gift carrying over to my spirit.

It matters greatly what we yield ourselves to. Like begets like and this was just another example. After watching a movie, I’ve often found myself imitating one of the actresses, following her mannerisms and attitude. What we allow to come into our spirits makes all the difference. We become a reflection of that very thing, whether good or bad. What a powerful truth!

What is being replicated in your spirit? Can others see His reflection in you? Is it time to make a change?

I look forward to the next time I see Claudel. I want to tell him what an inspiration he was to me and encourage him to keep it up! And if you come looking for me, you’ll most likely find me on the front porch.