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With a talent for tennis and the chance of a glittering career, Jasmin Jones was stunned when she felt God tell to ditch her racquet.
And she was even more surprised when she clearly heard him tell her that she should start her own band!
Jasmin explained: “The only thing I knew about music was that I wanted to learn the guitar as a child, but I dropped lessons when I started playing tennis!”
But she was committed to doing what God told her, so switched sets for singing.
It wasn’t the easiest path to follow as Jasmin, who was born in Australia, believed she didn’t have the talent for music. But she wanted to be obedient to God’s call.
Obedience to God wasn’t on Jasmin’s radar until her mum insisted she attend church at the age of 16 while struggling with life following an accident. She had moved to Portugal – her mum’s native country – to develop her career, which was put in jeopardy when she twisted her pelvis.
She said: “I hurt my back lifting a suitcase but then went on a trampoline. And when I did a seat drop, that’s when the back went out of place and I twisted my pelvis. I couldn’t walk for three days!
“I went to chiropractors and physiotherapists, but for six months nothing was working. I was depressed. I couldn’t play tennis, couldn’t go out dancing. And then my mum said one Sunday: ‘Are you’re coming to church?’
“We had the biggest row ever because I didn’t want to go. But I agreed and sat through the service; however I didn’t want to be there. When the service ended a man went up to the front and picked up the mic and said: ‘I really feel God wants to heal someone here with a sore back.’”
At that moment, Jasmin felt a tingling, pins and needles sensation all over her body. And while she didn’t want to get up, she felt her legs moving her to the front.
“As I got to the front of the church, he said a really simple prayer, then I just went home and forgot about it,” remembered Jasmin, now 40.
THE FIELDS WERE GREENER
“The next day, I woke up and I was completely healed. I leapt out of my bed and looked out of the window. The sky was more blue than I’d ever seen and the fields were greener. I just knew God was real!
“God just started really speaking to me audibly through dreams and visions. And that’s when I just really started pursuing him with a hunger.”
It was then Jasmin was presented with her toughest test of faith: to quit the sport she loved for a totally new area, music!
She said: “I was 18 and was on a mission trip to Africa when I felt God calling me to be a ‘voice to the nations’. Months later, during a worship conference in Holland, I heard from God while watching a worship band. He told me to return to Portugal to start a band.
“I didn’t think I could sing but I wanted to be obedient. I shared it with a friend who played the guitar and he said he would help me form a band.”
They started out re-imagining worship songs and tried different genres before the band broke up after 10 years. Feeling burnt out, Jasmin was left confused and moved to her home country of Australia where she became a tennis teacher.
Having a vivid dream where Jesus told her to jump from a cliff, a friend interpreted it as her needing to take a leap of faith with her music. Not long after, she heard the Holy Spirit telling her to enter a newspaper singer songwriter competition.
“I thought ‘no way’ as it would be just me and my guitar. I was used to being in a band,” explained Jasmin.
POWERFUL SONG
But she sat and wrote a song that the judges considered so powerful she took the prize. After a number of radio interviews, Jasmin was persuaded to record the song, Gold, through crowdfunding.
She said: “I was asked to join a small tour of Europe, so I moved to London. It was a big decision to be on the move again after four years. This would mean me packing up my whole life again and starting from zero all over again.”
After praying and fasting, Jasmin decided to make the move and ended up being a worship leader at a church in London.
Whilst in London working with churches, street preaching and singing at events, Jasmin has continued working on her music.
Her work has culminated in writing an album, New Beginnings, that will be drip released over the coming months. It’s Time is the first track to be released from the album.
Jasmin says: “It’s a prophetic song that is rallying the church because it’s time for all Christians to return to their first love, and it’s time for the church to rise!”
And she believes that even though her journey hasn’t been the easiest, being obedient to God means it’s time for her star to shine.
• It’s Time is available from all digital music platforms. Listen now and claim your FREE gift.
