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AINSLEY APIRANA |
Earlier in her life Ainsley lacked confidence. As time progressed she married Steve and went to a church where Ainsley learnt to hear God's voice and be obedient. Ainsley has gone on to make a CD of her own (entitled "Autumn") and enourages us to follow the desires that God puts in our heart. If we do this, anything is possible.
For as long as I can remember, I have loved music. I learned to play the piano and the guitar as a child, and loved singing. I tried writing my own songs as a teenager but never had any confidence and the two songs I did write I never shared with anyone. I studied piano to grade 7, studied music theory to grade 5 and then studied flute to grade 8. Still I never had any confidence and never felt good enough. I sang in a choir for 7 years and learned to hold a harmony and I always wanted to sing the solo but never let anyone know.
When I moved to New Zealand after graduating from Queensland University with a degree in Occupational Therapy, I worked in a Psychiatric Hospital with adolescents. I made lots of wonderful friends, met Steve Apirana, married him, and had three children. During these years I started singing Ruth's Song with Steve - one of his own songs. We would be asked to sing it at weddings and other occasions. So when we moved to Australia and people heard me sing Ruth's Song, they thought I was a singer. We went to a large church in Noosa and because my sister went there and when I sang Ruth's Song the ministers' wife asked me if I would like to sing with the team of musicians that led the worship. I had never done anything like it before but she didn't know that and I was so excited I said "yes" straight away.
And so for 7 years I sang with the team there - learning to harmonize and to sing out on my own. It was an amazing time and I loved every minute of it. The best thing about it was learning about God and developing a relationship with him - learning to hear His voice and to be obedient to Him. There were several things that had to change before I would start to write songs. One was giving up doing craftwork. This had been a huge part of my life and was difficult to get rid of but nothing was going to hold me back and I made the decision to leave it all behind. One day a woman from church asked me to sing the Lord's Prayer at a meeting she was speaking at. I couldn't remember how the melody went so I made one up.
I started writing my own songs in the middle of the night. I would wake up in the early hours of the morning - couldn't sleep, so I'd get up and pick up my guitar and sing. I have always had a very poor memory so when words and bits of tunes started coming to me, I got out an old tape deck and sang into it. The songs started coming thick and fast and over a period of about 4 years I wrote over 50 songs. For some reason I had a burning desire to record some of my songs and the amazing thing to me is that I did have that opportunity. In 1998 we recorded twelve of Steve's favourites, in one of the best studios in Australia, with some of the best musicians playing drums, keyboard, piano, organ, bass and guitar. It was a wonderful experience and a great privilege. Andy Sorenson produced it and I am truly honoured to have had the privilege of working with him.
This is simply a very quick overview of one aspect of my life - just to say that I believe God puts desires in the heart of every person on earth. Sometimes we go through our whole lives not recognising them, or afraid of them, or not believing them to be realistic. Some of us follow them easily; some of us only find them when we surrender our lives to God to change us. Some of us find them and never recognise the God who put them there.
But each of us can look inside our heart and dare to believe that there is something special that only we can do on this earth that will make a difference - however big or small. We never know how far across the continents, or the generations it will reach.
Sitting on the back porch in the early morning light, one day I was overwhemed by the awesome presence
of the Creator of it all who come to make Himself real in my little garden. How He longs to share
our lives!
Ainsley's CD's be ordered by sending 25 dollars Australian
plus money for postage to:
Ainsley Apirana
P.O. Box 433
Cooroy, 4563.
Queensland.
Australia