Today, Brazilian Assiria Nascimento is an award-winning singer, but growing up she never dreamed she’d become a professional musician. She says, "I never thought I was going to be doing anything professionally. It was God’s idea in my life, not mine. I accepted the Lord at five years old and when I was 13, I lost my only brother who was 17. He drowned, and that was a turning point in my life. At an early age I realized that life can be fragile. Like James says, you can be here today and gone tomorrow."
Assyria brother’s death impacted her quite deeply. She says, "He was sold out for the Lord. He was a youth leader in my church, his life impacted many lives and through his death, many people came to know the Lord." Shortly after, Assyria decided she was going to make a difference with her life and go on to Bible school. "I had the privilege of going to the United States to study, and that has been my lifelong dream, to live in the United States. I went to Bible college and to study missions and Biblical education, and to become a missionary."
"After many years in the States I, like Jonah, didn’t want to go back. I fell in love with the United States, and living in New York City, I thought, ‘Lord, you want me to live among the Indians or go to Africa or, live in a little tiny city in Brazil. I don’t think so, Lord; I want to be in New York City." After so many years just trying to live my life, the way I wanted to, and, even after a failed marriage and many heartaches and disappointing detours, I came to a point in my life where I said, ‘Lord, there is nothing else that I can offer you any more. Can you really do something with my life?’ How I can still serve you, with a divorce and a young child. Can you still have me as a missionary? How can I still serve you?"
After 16 years in the United States, Assiria finally decided to move back to Brazil. She says,"Actually, someone decided for me; God first, and then my husband, Edson." Edson Arantes de Nascimento or Pele as he is more popularly known, the world’s most popular football player is Assiria’s husband. "We knew each other ten years before we got married and when we met again, ten years later, he proposed. I came back to Brazil to get married, and that is where I have been living for the past 11 years." They have three children together.
Since Assiria’s life took the detour that it did and she married Pele, God has revived some of the dreams and the passions that she had that were once lost. She now sings and ministers around the world. "God never wastes anything, He is a wonderful maker and re-maker, He re-writes your story; that is what God did for me. Like in Psalms 40, He took me out of the pit and the mire; he set my feet on the rock. He gave me a new song. When I came back to Brazil, I knew that God had not put me back in Brazil and made me marry someone so well known, like Pele, for no reason. So I said, "Lord, How can I serve you? Where do you want me?" God led Assyria to a long abandoned love and passion for singing. She says
"I always sang in church, always sang in choir, but I never thought of singing professionally and in front of, hundreds and thousands of people."
One of Assyria’s most recent albums is in Spanish, and its titled "Brillas" meaning "You shine." One of the tracks in it features a romantic duet between Assiria and her husband, Pele. She describes her husband as "a man of many talents." Pele sang with his wife on their relationship. "Of all the titles and the prizes that he has gotten, the fame and everything, our marriage and our love, is the best of all and, by God’s grace that is the way we want to keep on going. It is a very beautiful tune."
As a mother, a musician and wife to Pele, how is Assiria able to juggle things and what is her advice to the many women out there who want to be used by God just the same way that she is being used today? She says "It really takes a lot of grace and a lot of wisdom; I do have struggles a lot with that. In the beginning, you get so excited, and you just want to do everything. All of the invitations that come, you want to do it all. However, my first and foremost call is to be a wife and mother and that has to come first. My missionary call comes third. Sometimes women wonder if they can serve God just by being a housewife and a mother, but that is the most wonderful call of all."
"God is a God of second chances, I am a proof of that. I really hit rock bottom and I never thought I could be here today, that God could be doing all of this in my life. God sees the heart, He sees our needs. He doesn’t look at our mistakes and use that against us."
"He uses His grace, and His grace is overabundant, He looks beyond our sins and our past. God is hope, God is love and there is nothing He cannot do. In the song "You Shine," I sang, that God, the creator of the universe, created the stars and everything in it, so what can He not do?" If He can create everything, He can re-create your life; He can rewrite the chapters of your life and give you a new start. It is only up to you to let the Lord open up your book, the book of your life, and rewrite it. Just give Him a chance and you will be surprised at what He can do."
