Finding Your God-Given Purpose: Is This God—or Am I Nuts?: Loreen and Emmanuel Garilus

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Finding Your God-Given Purpose: Is This God—or Am I Nuts?

Guests:Loreen and Emmanuel Garilus

From the series:Love, Calling & the Life You’re Building (Day 2 of 2)

Air date:September 2, 2026

Emmanuel (00:03):

I remember during those couple months, I sat down with my mom. I said, “Mom, the same God that you guys serve is the same God I serve and this is what I feel like he’s telling me to do.” And two years later, I find myself in New York competing at the Apollo Theater, one of the world premieres to now become the first saxophonist to ever win that competition.

Ann (00:36):

Welcome to FamilyLife Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I’m Ann Wilson.

Dave (00:42):

And I’m Dave Wilson and you can find us at FamilyLifeToday.com. This is FamilyLife Today.

All right, we’ve got a saxophonist. We got Emmanuel and Loreen Garilus with us. Loreen works with us here at FamilyLife Today and she brought her husband Emmanuel in and he’s going to play later, but I mean their whole life, a married life with an artist who makes their living playing the saxophone.

Ann (01:17):

Well, and I’m thinking of the conversation you’re going to hear about that Emmanuel had with his parents when he was in med school.

Dave (01:25):

Yeah.

Ann (01:26):

Sometimes our kids come to us—

Dave (01:28):

—with things that sound crazy. They’re like, “Do not do that. Med school is the way to go.” And yet you got to appreciate what you’re going to find out, what their mom and dad said.

Ann (01:38):

Don’t give it away.

Dave (01:39):

Because it’s pretty special so let’s go. Talk about this because you are living a unique lifestyle that I don’t know what percentage of the world, has a married relationship where one of them is an artist. You’re a saxophonist and an educator and you’re working a FamilyLife. How is that navigated? I mean, you’re in your first year doing it, but how does that work? Easy? Hard?

Emmanuel (02:09):

It definitely has its challenges.

Loreen (02:10):

Yeah.

Emmanuel (02:11):

A lot of late nights, especially practices. I’m always practicing for something. And sometimes she wants to hang out. And that’s definitely different than if I was working like a—

Ann (02:25):

Nine to five job.

Emmanuel (02:25):

—nine to five where I just come home and everything stops. There’s always more work to do. I could be learning another song. I could be posting something on social media. I could be anything. Trying to find that balance to be intentional. Okay, at 7:30 I’ll stop. Let’s maybe have dinner and hang out. Because for us, dinner time or even afterwards when we’re watching something is really our time.

Ann (02:52):

Bonding time.

Emmanuel (02:53):

Yeah. She loves watching shows and therefore now I love watching shows. And maybe she sees something on the screen she loves and we discuss it. We have our time together. It’s a very unconventional life, different life. Some weeks I do back-to-back travels. So being on the phone and communicating with her frequently just so she can feel safe and feel seen that, okay, he’s not here physically, but he’s still here.

Ann (03:21):

How did you know that was your call, Emmanuel? Because a lot of us, Dave was in the band, the orchestra, all of it.

Dave (03:28):

In high school.

Ann (03:29):

Yeah. And also—

Dave (03:30):

Upright bass.

Emmanuel:

Oh wow.

Dave:

Can you believe that I have a little tuxedo and bow tie?

Ann:

And you play drums.

Dave:

Play drums in the marching band.

Ann (03:37):

Yeah. A lot of people, that’s fun, they’re doing it, but for you, it’s a calling. And your dream is being fulfilled by your lifestyle now. I think a lot of people, a lot of listeners, have these dreams and then life is hard and we have to pay the bills and so they set some of their dreams aside. But for you, how did you know this is what God wanted you to do?

Emmanuel (04:02):

Yeah. It didn’t always start this way. I think things really started shifting for me in college. So in college I was actually on the pre-medical track.

Dave (04:12):

Really?

Emmanuel (04:12):

Yeah. I was studying to become a doctor.

Dave (04:15):

Whoa.

Emmanuel (04:16):

My degree is actually in health science. And right after college, I was preparing for a medical school, took the MCAT, spent some months preparing for interviews. And during that time, I just felt a big pull towards music. During that time, I was still gigging, doing shows, but it just felt like more and more as time continued on, that I really felt like if I went down the path of medicine, it sounds crazy, but I’d be throwing my life away.

Ann (04:46):

Wow.

Emmanuel (04:46):

Yeah. I remember during those couple months, I sat down with my mom. I said, “Mom, I feel like this is what God is telling me to do.” And she told me something very practical, like a lot of parents would do. She said, “Well, you’re already so close. Go to medical school, become a doctor and go to residency.”

Ann (05:06):

She’s thinking you have something to fall back.

Emmanuel (05:08):

Right. And she’s like, “If you still feel that way after all of this, then you can quit and go play the saxophone.”

Ann (05:19):

Because she’s thinking, how are you going to make a living? How are you going to support a family?

Emmanuel (05:24):

And it’s all good questions. And what she was saying is very practical. During this time I’m praying and asking God like, “Why do I feel this way? Why is the pull this much that I feel like this is what I should be doing?” And I prayed on it and I called a meeting.

Dave (05:45):

With your family?

Ann (05:46):

I like this meeting thing.

Emmanuel (05:47):

Yeah. I called a meeting.

Ann (05:48):

We should have done meetings.

Emmanuel (05:49):

I called a meeting with my mom and dad and they set it up. And I remember sitting there telling them, “I’m not going to medical school.”

Dave (06:00):

They called me crazy.

Dave (06:02):

Did they? Were they pushing back on it?

Emmanuel (06:03):

Oh, it’s a lot of pushback. Again, totally understandable. If you grew up in a Caribbean household, they only know three majors. It’s medicine, it’s engineering and it’s law. Which is why my sister—

Ann (06:17):

I was going to say, what are your siblings doing?

Emmanuel (06:18):

My sister, she’s about to graduate law school in two months.

Loreen (06:24):

She really wants to do it.

Emmanuel (06:26):

Yeah. And one of my younger sisters, she’s actually going to college for engineering. So when I was sitting there with my parents, there’s such a lot of pushback. And I told them, “The same God that you guys serve is the same God I serve. And this is what I feel like He’s telling me to do.” After that for a while, when you have a conviction like that for a while, it’s so many unknowns. It’s not like I had this big result to show them, “Hey, this is what’s been happening and you guys can trust that.” There’s no way to prove to them at the moment that, “Oh, I’m right,” or “This is what it is.” And I just had to have faith in God that this is really what he’s calling me to do. And literally not even two years later, I find myself in New York competing at the Apollo Theater, one of the world premieres to now become the first saxophonist to ever win that competition.

Ann (07:29):

Really?

Emmanuel (07:30):

Yeah.

Dave (07:30):

First ever?

Emmanuel (07:31):

First ever, 92 years.

Dave (07:34):

Really?

Emmanuel (07:34):

At the time it was the 90th year. Yeah.

Ann (07:36):

Was that total confirmation?

Emmanuel (07:39):

If there was ever.

Ann (07:43):

And to your parents?

Emmanuel (07:44):

Oh yeah.

Ann (07:45):

Were you guys dating at the time, Loreen?

Emmanuel (07:47):

Yeah, we had just—

Loreen (07:48):

Yeah, that was a really beautiful year.

Emmanuel (07:50):

Yeah.

Loreen (07:51):

Because that was the summer of our wedding.

Emmanuel (07:54):

That was last year.

Loreen (07:55):

He won. Yeah, that was June of 2025. And then we got married that next month.

Emmanuel (07:59):

Yeah.

Loreen (08:00):

Yeah.

Ann (08:00):

And so Loreen, were you supporting Emmanuel when he had that meeting and they were pushing back?

Emmanuel (08:07):

Oh yeah, this was before her.

Loreen:

Yeah. So okay. It was before.

Emmanuel:

Yeah, this was before her. This was back in 2023. We started dating in 2024.

Loreen (08:15):

Yeah.

Emmanuel (08:16):

I remember each round after round, because it was four rounds there. I kept winning first place there. And God keeps showing me, “This is me leading you.” There’s a scripture in Proverbs 4:18. It says, “The path of the just is as a shining light, that shines brighter and brighter and brighter.” And when I first entered the competition, the way that they score it is that they have everyone line up and they’ll call your name and the crowd is the people that’s judging you. So they have a meter—

Ann:

—on how loud they scream.

Emmanuel:

—on how loud the crowd screams for you.

Dave:

Wow.

Emmanuel:

That’s how you do it. That’s why it’s actually one of the hardest competitions to be in because the crowd could also boo you off the stage. Many people get booed off the stage.

Dave (09:00):

While you’re playing?

Emmanuel (09:01):

Oh yeah.

Dave (09:01):

They’ll just—

Emmanuel (09:02):

Yeah. Within the first 20 seconds, they’ll let you know if they like it or not.

Loreen (09:06):

And if the mass amount is booed, you’re out. Then they have a little caricature man that comes out and does a little scat to almost make fun of you.

Dave (09:14):

Really?

Emmanuel:

Yeah.

Loreen (09:14):

They call the Apollo audience the most brutal audience in America.

Dave:

Really?

Ann (09:20):

What instruments usually win?

Emmanuel (09:22):

Voices, people that sing.

Ann (09:25):

Singers—so voices, it’s not just an instrument. It’s your voice as an instrument too.

Emmanuel (09:29):

Yeah.

Ann:

Whoa.

Emmanuel:

Yeah. So there’s people that sing. There’s people that come and act. So there’s all different types of acts that go on.

Ann:

There’s artistry.

Emmanuel:

Yeah.

Dave (09:36):

They do it once a year?

Emmanuel (09:39):

Yeah.

Dave:

Wow.

Loreen (09:39):

Well—

Emmanuel (09:40):

This year they’re not doing it because they’re renovating the Apollo.

Dave (09:42):

At the Apollo.

Emmanuel (09:43):

Yeah. But it happens throughout the year and the finale is interesting.

Loreen (09:46):

Because in the past, wasn’t it like every Wednesday there was a—

Emmanuel (09:49):

Yeah, it used to be aired on—

Loreen (09:50):

It was a night.

Dave (09:52):

So you’re going against a lot of people.

Emmanuel (09:54):

Oh yeah. Each round is you go against 10 people. So thousands by the time you get there, you would’ve went against thousands of people.

Ann:

Unbelievable.

Dave (10:05):

So you’re playing and can you hear them cheering?

Emmanuel (10:08):

Oh yeah. So I played I’ll Always Love You by Whitney Houston. And within the first 30 seconds, they started singing with me. And I said, “Wow, okay. We’re good.” Because while you’re there, the back-room people are freaking out because it’s like they’re hearing others getting booed off the stage and they have to go next. So it’s completely nerve wracking. So if the crowd starts to sing with you and starts to like you early on, then you know you have a shot. And man, just to see what God did during that competition. And back to the Proverbs, Proverbs 4:18, the first round I said, “Lord, if this proverb is true,” because a lot of time we read scripture, but we don’t see it manifest in our lives. I don’t want to just be reading the scripture because I know the scripture is alive. I want to see it.

(10:56):

I want to see the manifestation of it in my life. So when I read that Proverbs, it says, “The path of the just is as a shining light that shines brighter and brighter.” I said, “Lord, if that proverb is true, and I know it is, I want that every time I go on this competition that my score goes higher and higher because You say my passion—”

Dave (11:14):

Brighter and brighter. Yeah.

Emmanuel (11:15):

It has a shining light that shines brighter and brighter. And it’s out of 100. First time I went, I got an 82. That means the crowd screaming off and the leader says 82. The next time, 88. I said, okay. Imagine the first time my wife came, and my brother came with me. So you could say those are the only two other people I had in there screaming for me.

Dave (11:36):

Yeah. And these are different crowds each time?

Emmanuel (11:38):

Yeah, different crowds every single time. Yeah.

Ann:

Whoa.

Emmanuel:

The third time I had a 91.

Ann (11:45):

This is like the fleece of Gideon.

Dave (11:48):

I mean, it had to be pretty loud in there, I’m guessing.

Emmanuel (11:50):

Oh yeah. And the last time it was probably the loudest cheer I’d ever experienced in my life.

Loreen:

Of course.

Emmanuel:

Yeah, it was a 96.

Dave (11:59):

Wow.

Emmanuel (12:01):

I said, “Wow, Lord.”

Dave (12:02):

Do you play the same thing every time or totally different?

Emmanuel (12:04):

No, no, no. It was the same song every time because it’s a different crowd. So it’s a different set of people every time.

Loreen (12:10):

But he didn’t have to. Some people changed, but he even wore the same suit.

Emmanuel (12:13):

Oh yeah. I kept everything. It was this beautiful black suit. I just wear. Yeah. And it’s just to see how God’s Word is still alive. And when we trust Him and when we put our faith in Him, He’ll come through. He’ll come through in a big, big way.

Ann (12:35):

Wow. And I think too, many times we don’t sit and really talk to God about our passions and our desires. I’m thinking about so many listeners that have maybe had dreams and felt like, “Oh, I wonder if God could use this part of me and my gift and my passion.” When I was in high school, I had this dream. I remember writing it like, “Someday I want to write a book. I want to write a book someday.” But then you get married and you have kids and we put some of our dreams on the shelf and think, “Well, that was just a little kid’s dream.” But God can resurrect those dreams, and He knit us together in our mother’s womb. He knows everything about us. And so I’m thinking about you and your dream and passion. God’s passionate about that as well. But He showed you very specifically, Emmanuel, this is what I want you to do.

(13:29):

That was such confirmation. What do you think your dreams were?

Dave (13:32):

I’m doing it.

Ann (13:33):

What do you mean by that?

Dave (13:34):

Well, I mean, after I became a believer, which wasn’t until my junior year in college, I just very quickly learned I want God to use my life to lead people to Jesus. What else matters?

Ann (13:45):

Me too.

Dave (13:45):

And I thought at that time, it’s going to be football. It’s what I’m gifted at. And I actually turned down an offer to try.

(13:53):

Because the guy who mentored me said, “God’s call is not to be a football player, it’s to be a minister.” I’m like, it was bad advice. At the time it should have been. “That’s one way to do it.” Again, look at me. I’m not going to be some hall of famer in the NFL, but maybe I could have played a few years, but I would not tell. In fact, I didn’t tell my son that when he got a shot to play in the NFL. I said, “It’s an opportunity for a few years. Take it. ” It’s been your passion. You can be a minister in a locker room different way.

Emmanuel (14:18):

Many ways.

Dave (14:18):

But yeah, I just feel like I’m doing it. I never thought of being marriage or writing books or sitting in a FamilyLife Today’s studio, but here we are. And even when I’m playing guitar on a stage, I’m like, “I can be a light.” To watch people’s hearts be moved by music and what sound does that a spoken preacher can’t do.

(14:39):

It’s just so the way God and even made—because when we started our church and I told you, Mark, our music director really was arts director said, “We’re going to do this with excellence.” I was a strummer guitar guy. I just knew chords. And I’m like, “I want to play in this.” And I’m like, “I got to learn theory.” I didn’t even know what theory was. And I became a much better artist because I did the work. I’m like, “Oh man, God, look at theory. Look at how he—You know, you play it. It’s like God’s heart and sound. That’s what I think. So when I hear an excellent artist, it’s like watching an excellent athlete. People don’t understand how good that is. Even watching the Masters, golfers, oh, what they’re doing is a gift from God. So you have a gift.

Ann (15:31):

And so do you, Loreen.

Dave (15:32):

And you’re getting to use it.

Ann (15:38):

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Dave (15:54):

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Ann (16:05):

Watching you two together, you’re fanning the flame for Emmanuel’s call. And I’m wondering as your family grows and you’re married a while, you have kids, what will that look like in the dreams that you have, Loreen? You have dreams too. I think some women can feel like, “Well, this is Emmanuel’s dream and I’m just going to kind of fan the flame,” but you have dreams too.

Loreen (16:29):

Yeah. We were just talking about this in the car today. I’ve always been a chatterbox since I was little. And I actually thank my parents that they didn’t—

Dave:

Shut it down.

Loreen:

—shush me. Yeah. They didn’t shut it down. And I also was an avid reader and a writer, and I still am more so writing. I need to get back to reading more now so ingesting through podcasts. But yeah, I have dreams to speak. I love to teach. I mean, back when I was saying that I joined ministry at 20 years old, I just got married last summer, but still to date, my greatest accomplishment that I’ve done in this life so far is devoting all that time in ministry. There’s not a better thing that I—

Ann:

You wouldn’t trade it.

Loreen:

No. No. Because I think even in that time, I was in it because I wanted to grow closer to God.

(17:25):

And I remember I told my ministry director, I’ve spent all of these years just living for me. I want to live for Him. I want to make up for lost time. But I didn’t even realize in that time there’s so much professional skills that is cultivated in ministry. I was telling him they would have us go through a, they called it a witness training school. And so we learned how to teach people the gospel through Romans, like specific verses. It’s called the Romans Road to Salvation. Yeah. And so after you go through the course, then we go out and we’d go out to Lake Eola and we’d witness. And I remember when I did that for the first time, can you imagine? I mean, I know you guys know interrupting people on their beautiful Saturday morning with their dogs and their coffee to go up to them and ask them, “If you were to die today, are you 100% certain that you go to heaven?”

Ann (18:26):

It’s not awkward at all.

Loreen (18:27):

And then, “If you stand before God and He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?” To cultivate something like that at 19, 20 years old and then to repeatedly do that, whether it’s at a park or knocking on somebody’s door in the neighborhood, I’ve now almost become fearless in a way. I’m like now—

Ann (18:45):

I love it.

Loreen (18:46):

—I’m not scared to stand on a stage in front of other humans. It’s something really special that’s built when you apply yourself to learning God and wanting to share His gospel. So yeah, I have those gifts.

Ann (19:03):

It’ll be fun to see how God uses that. And I think in our families, it’d be an interesting family meeting to ask our kids, “Tell me what your passions and your dreams are,” as they get a little older.

Dave (19:15):

What do you want to do? I mean, do you ever feel like in your marriage—I mean, you’re in your first year—do you ever feel like, “Okay, come on dude. Let’s go get a real job.”

Loreen (19:24):

No.

Dave (19:25):

You are loving this. Who knows where this could go? Because this is not an easy life.

Loreen (19:29):

Because this is the thing. Ann was just saying it when she was mentioning the listeners that they have these artistic gifts, but they’re like—

Ann (19:38):

Or any gifts.

Loreen (19:39):

Yeah, or any gifts. Just what Emmanuel was saying about how he asked the Lord to make that scripture, Proverbs 4:18, come alive in that way. I think of the other proverb, I forget the address, but “A man’s gift makes room for him, and sets him before great men.” That’s real.

Emmanuel (19:58):

And even, “Do you see a man diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings and not mean men.” And I know I’ve experienced that. You can have the passion, and you can have the wanting, or you can have the gift, but you also have to develop it. I think there’s a place for heavy development. When it’s unrefined, we’re not there. You have to spend a time to really refine your gift.

Ann (20:20):

I love that.

Emmanuel (20:21):

And you have to spend the time to develop it to the point of excellence.

Dave (20:24):

Yeah. When we started our church, we called it the blemished lamb, unblemished lamb concept. Have you heard that?

Emmanuel (20:30):

No.

Dave (20:31):

Yeah. And Mark was the one that taught it and I’ve never heard it. And he goes, “God required an unblemished lamb.” And it’s like, “Why? He wanted the best. Give me your best. Don’t bring me a blemish lamb. You got to find unblemished.” He goes, “So if you’re going to do art, same thing.” And it isn’t like God doesn’t accept it, but God says, “Give me your best.” So that’s why we had auditions and said, “If you’re going to play on the stage, we’re going to require you to be excellent in your art because excellent art is what he does.” And again, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t accept a mistake because I played the wrong chord. I did. It’s like, “That’s fine. Your heart is right there.” But man, I did the work. When I came to a rehearsal, everybody in the band’s like, “He worked all week.

(21:12):

He didn’t walk in and say, Hey, one of the chords again. It’s like he has done the work because he’s saying, this matters. I’m offering God something that’s as good as I can give. That’s what you’re doing. That honors God and God blesses that.

Ann (21:25):

And we taught our kids that with Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work heartily for the Lord rather than for men.” Because we do it a lot of times for men, but God sees it all. I just think it’s such a good reminder of one, watching you two together. I love that you’re like, no, I wouldn’t want him to do anything else. This is his calling from God. Instead of being bitter, you’re gone all the time. And that could come, but you’re very aware of this is a calling for both of you. You want to do that and for listeners.

Dave (21:58):

I think we need to hear some sax. That’s what I think.

Ann (22:01):

I do too.

Dave (22:02):

And I think we got to get the scale out and start giving him a score.

Ann (22:06):

Do you have a video of the Apollo?

Dave (22:08):

Yeah, I saw it. It’s on his Instagram.

Emmanuel:

I do.

Ann (22:10):

We should put that. We should link it in our show notes.

Dave (22:12):

Yeah, we’re linking it in there.

Ann (22:13):

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