“ I went into every writing session saying , ‘ I want to write praise and worship , but I want the worship to be bold , confident ,’” says Shust . “ I don ’ t want it to be depressing . The most subdued song is ‘ You Redeem ,’ but there ’ s such a strength to it . There ’ s such a confidence in our God as we worship Him saying , ‘ You do this . You do that . These are the things You do . This is the way You are . We are declaring Your character and declaring Your attributes . We are declaring You as worthy . We are declaring You as higher than us and that ’ s why You are worthy of our praise and worship .’” His declarations are even more compelling considering what life has thrown at him and his family over the last few years . Both of his children have faced severe , life-threatening illnesses , including down syndrome and epilepsy , among others . “ We saw 18 specialist doctors in Pittsburgh ,” shares Aaron . “ When we moved we had to find new doctors and , with a new diagnosis , we ’ re up to 19 specialists .” Every day is an exercise in faith and patience . A recent trip to Disneyworld encapsulated what the Shust family deals with all the time . “ We were just about to see the Lion King show in Animal Kingdom and we were carrying my son , Michael , when his feeding tube popped out . That ’ s one of those things you can ’ t just pop back in . You have to have surgery . And that changed the day . But we weren ’ t frustrated . There was a peace ,” he shares . “ It would be a disservices to the Lord not to honor His peace .” Tha calm and peaceful resolve are characteristic of their daily psyche and approach to life . Despite constantly dealing with life-altering situations that could easily tear a marriage apart , Aaron and his wife have allowed their circumstances to draw them closer together and to God .
“ I don ’ t know how marriages survive if God isn ’ t a part of it ,” says Aaron . “ I really believe the analogy of the triangle . The husband and wife on each side and God is the third point . The closer you are to God , the closer you are to each other . “ People get married when they hardly know each other ,” he continues . “ A couple of years in , we realized we had nothing in common . She wants to run triathlons , I want to take a nap . From music to tv and just about everything else , we realized we have nothing in common but God . That was a pivotal moment that released us . We realized that that was enough .” In the same way , Aaron has an intrinsic ability to bring together the most disparate of people by way of God . As he humbly allows God to pour into him , the overflow of His love makes its way into the hearts of people who have nothing in common but God . And as Aaron can attest , that is more than enough . “ Whenever I ’ m on stage singing , I want the words to be confident ,” he says . “ The congregates may not be in a place where they want to sing . They may not even be believers . But there ’ s something about singing the printed word and truth . I want the words to clearly point to all of God ’ s incredible characteristics . I often try to employ future tense in the lyrics we sing regardless of content . To stand on the promises of God — He will redeem , He will restore — even if we are not experiencing those promises , we can still cling to the fact , declaring truth . We have freedom from the past .
23 PAGE | ICONIC MAGAZINE