Laura Rowsell


Laura Rowsell

Laura Rowsell

Canada and Bermuda Territory

My music ministry began when I was just a kid and my officer parents started having me sing in church. At the time, my home church helped to develop that passion and skill in me. It developed even more as I spent summers working on camp staff and studied at Booth College in Winnipeg after graduating high school. I have worked for The Salvation Army for almost 10 years now, first as a Youth Director and now as a full-time Worship Director at Glenmore Temple in Calgary, Alberta. I am so thankful for the passion God has given me for leading His people in worship; I’m not sure who I would be if this seed hadn’t been planted in my life at a young age. I’m so thankful for people who have mentored me and continue to mentor me along the way. My husband Steve and I have been married for 14 years and have lived in Calgary for the last five years. We love to hike in the mountains and are always up for an adventure!


Take My Life

I’ve never been much of a songwriter. I have always wanted to be, and I have admired the way people are able to put together simple words to create the most beautiful, poetic phrases about faith, hope, love, and life. Over the last few years, I’ve felt God putting melodies and words into my heart. I’ve been trying to work up the courage to turn them into something. The words of the hymn Take My Life, though simple, have always been challenging and beautiful to me. One morning during an online church service, God breathed this new melody for these ancient words into my heart and it was almost completely effortless, as if He was sitting next to me and singing it over me. The words of the chorus, “I am Yours, even when the doubt sets in, even when I’m running in the opposite direction” expressed a feeling I was wrestling with in my own heart at the time. I know that feeling isolated and alone is something many people can resonate with after the last few years in the thick of the pandemic. I was feeling particularly low, and I was too busy being saddened by everything around me to run towards God (even though I should have) and instead, I kept running toward everything that only fed that sadness. This song is a real, raw reminder that we have doubts, that we make bad decisions, that we often get ourselves into dark times that seem hopeless; but God is always waiting there to remind us that we are held, we are known, we are His. We must be intentional every day about running toward Him and choosing to say, “Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee.”