Worship Singer Pat Barrett on Finding Peace in God’s Timing: ‘God Plays the Long Game’
By Movieguide® Contributor
In the years leading up to college, Pat Barrett was involved in leading worship, so come freshman year, he imagined that opportunities in music would come easy but found that not to be the case.
“I felt like one of the reasons that I went to that university that year…was because there’s going to be some continuation of songs and music, and it took only a few months in college to realize everything was not going as planned,” Barrett told Ally Domercant on the “Snapshot Testimony” podcast.
“It didn’t happen, and I have a memory of being so frustrated and disappointed that I showed up to this stage of my life and just felt like I was waiting. And so I was praying about it a lot,” he said.
“It wasn’t like I was hoping my music would take off. It was more like I wanted to feel a sense of direction for my life that I didn’t feel…It felt like for the first time in my life, I was aimless,” Barrett admitted.
One night Barrett brought his frustrations to God and what the Lord responded with “set the tone for the next twenty years” of his life, according to the 39-year-old.
“I just had this sense that God was saying, ‘Patrick, you’re 18, and I have a lifetime to complete what I started.’ And that’s all I heard,” Barrett recalled. “Then all of a sudden, I realized that God plays the long game.”
“That connected to so many areas of my life, and I don’t just mean career. There’s a reason why the scriptures talk about finishing a race. And not just running quickly at the beginning,” he went on to say.
The Georgia native said that circumstances didn’t change overnight, but it changed his prayers from “out loud anxieties” to a posture of “quiet trust.”
“I started to learn that at 18 — and I’m continuing to learn that at 38 — that if you want to walk with Jesus, you better get ready to slow down,” he said. “You can feel the rest of God knowing ‘Okay, Your terms, Your time,’ and I can either fill the gap with chosen anxiety or I can fill the gap with the ‘yes’ of trust.”
The father of three wants to set that example of spiritual maturity for his young kids as well.
“Now when I look at my kids, I’m like, wow, I would love to, in some way, model for them that type of trust, and hopefully it instills in them a sense of like, okay, you never know how much time you have,” Barrett said. “[R]egardless of how much time you have, you can always have a lot of trust.”
The singer eventually did step into his calling in music with hits such as “Good Good Father” and “Build My Life.”
His advice for striving artists is to learn patience and to not compare oneself to others.
“We look at people that we really admire, and we’ve been impacted by the ministry, right? ‘I want that now,’ but they didn’t even get that now. They went through years of walking and learning, and they’re still learning all the time, and there’s still discipleship going on in their lives,” Barrett said in another interview.
The singer/songwriter also stressed the value of humility and having people who showed that quality in their lives.
“One of the things I’ve seen modeled for me from people I really look up to and respect is the value of staying low. Humility isn’t thinking you’re nothing when God said you’re something,” he said. “Humility is using the gifting and strength that God has given you to serve. Even Jesus, the most powerful person on the planet, modeled servant leadership.”
“I’m lucky to have people in my life that model that for me and that encourage that for me,” he added. “I would just encourage anybody to find those type of friends.”
“Also I drive a minivan, so that’s easy. That’ll do it. That’ll keep you real humble if you’re doubting it. You can do all that or just drive a mini-van,” Barrett joked.
Barrett recently wrapped up the “I Believe” tour with Phil Wickham and Benjamin William Hastings and will be hitting the road again joining Chris Tomlin for his “Holy Forever” tour this summer.
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