my journey
My spiritual journey began at a young age due to the
influence of my German Lutheran grandmother who
instilled within me the fear and reverence of the Lord.
In 1978 a friend gave me Hal Lindsay's book "The
Late Great Planet Earth" and after reading it from
cover to cover, I knelt by my coffee table and asked
Jesus Christ to be my Savior.
I began to attend a local church and to grow greatly
under the teaching influence of Dr. John M. Gauger. As
time passed, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
I began to write gospel songs.
My hearts desire is to help people to truly
understand the message of the Gospel and the love of
Jesus Christ, because it was only after I myself could
comprehend Christ's love for me that I had any hope of
sharing it with others. I began yearning for the Lord's
direction in ministry, so I prayed fervently that He
would tell me what to do with the songs I had written.
After some time God impressed upon me to become a music
evangelist. I have always had a burden for lost folks,
so God's leading in this direction was truly where my
heart is.
I Samuel 12:20 says, "Serve the Lord with all
your heart," and that, in a nut shell, is what I
intend to do today.
I dedicate my 1st album to my parents Helene and Gene
Sinar, who are now with the Lord and who would have been
so proud of their little girl.
I have always been a singer. I used to stand on my
grandmother's couch and make her listen to me sing even
when I was as young as 3 years old. And my German
grandmother, my Oma, would always clap and tell me that
someday I would be on a real stage singing. My Oma was
the one person in my life who taught me at a very young
age to fear the Lord our God. She instilled in me a
sense of respect and reverence for the Lord that came to
fruition later in my life.
As I grew up, so did my love for music. I attended
church and Sunday school regularly and loved the
Christian music that surrounded me. Although I love all
types of Christian music, southern gospel has always
been my favorite. In 1978, I realized I needed to have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ after reading a
book called "The Late Great Planet Earth", by
Hal Lindsay. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be
my Savior and Lord. This changed my life forever! I
became active in the church and grew as a Christian
under the teaching of Dr. John M. R. Gauger. I had
always sung solos in church and in choirs and other
projects and my love for Christian music just kept
growing.
I started writing in 1985 with the help and direction
of my friend and mentor, Dennis Moore; I guess you could
say he "taught me the ropes." I won a few
local song writing contests, and with Dennis's
encouragement I wrote more and more songs. There was a
slight problem, though; I was writing them solely for
me. Although my songs were good they were missing that
something special. My songs seemed to have a prideful
attitude that was undesirable to me. I prayed fervently
for the Lord to give me the answer. I realized one day
that I needed to write them for the Lord and not for
myself and soon my songs took off in a different
direction. Now I pray before I write and ask the Lord to
help me write what He wants me to. His songs are
different from mine; the Holy Spirit guides me along as
I write.
Then in 1997 I got the shock of my life. I wound up
in the hospital with a heart condition called
cardiomyopathy. An undetected virus attacked my heart,
weakening it and enlarging it and leaving me with
congestive heart failure. I left the hospital with only
15% of normal heart function. But, God is so good! He
soon gave me back another 15% to equal 30% and I thought
I could easily handle that and live at a comfortable
slower speed; and I did so for a while.
In 2002 I abruptly went into arterial fibrillation
and was rushed to Johns Hopkins Hospital. My life was
hanging by a thread, but I knew it wasn't my time yet
and that some how the Lord would pull me through and He
did. Oh, and how sweet that so many, many saints prayed
for me; my own church of course and many other churches
and friends as well. I now have a
pacemaker/defibrillator implant and it is working great.
My heart muscle function is less than 10% now, which
makes me a candidate for a heart transplant.
UPDATE I am slipping in this update for you: As
of April 2006, I am no longer on the Heart transplant
list. I recently had an echo cardiogram done that
revealed that there was marked improvement in my
heart. My Doctor took me off the list because I am
doing so well. I praise God and give all the glory
and credit to Him. It is such an honor and
privilege to serve my Lord.
After all this had happened to me, I came to
understand that I am a "broken vessel," ready
for God's use. I believe that I went through a time of
testing by God and He waited until I was broken to renew
in me this special calling. Now I go out and spread the
gospel of Jesus Christ through my testimony and songs on
my Savior's strength alone and not on mine. I rely
solely on the Lord to give me the strength I need to get
me through each performance in order to fulfill His plan
for my life. I have a genuine heartfelt desire to win
souls for the Lord and to minister to hurting, lonely
and lost persons. Someday He'll have a new heart for me;
if not here on this earth, then, up in Heaven. There I
will be His servant forever; and, you know what? I
wouldn't have it any other way! Praise God!
In Christ Jesus,
Moni Lutz
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