At the start of my Supervised Ministry class in January, one of our first skills to discuss was that of a Worship Service. We were to plan and implement one with our mentor. Doc and I discussed having the children and teens do a Worship Service. We looked over the calendar and decided on Palm Sunday. We wanted to bring our two church groups together. On Tuesday nights, we have twelve to twenty-five children and teens in our home for Activity Night and on Sunday mornings, we have ten to twenty adults for Morning Worship. It is held in a funeral home which is not kid-friendly so there are few Sundays we have children. Yesterday was challenging in many ways but at the end of the service we were very blessed. First, we had almost half of our adults out due to travels or work. This meant it was us along along with Kenny to set-up the canopy and sound system. We had a family of four children and teens who needed picked up due to parents working so Doc had to drive the church bus to do so. Second, we had children and teens not available due to being out of town or their parents chose for them not to participate. During a song, the sound system quit for about five minutes. I filled in with having a little preK girl (who lives too far away to participate in Tuesday Activities) to come up and sing Jesus Loves Me. She not only knows the first verse but also the second verse! Our youngest child turned three yesterday so we sang Happy Birthday to her while we waited on the sound system. It rained lightly but that did not stop us. We praised God through the entire time and were blessed in abundance for our efforts. We had a glimpse of what life will be like when we can all meet under one roof. I am thankful for my class that prompted our Palm Sunday service. Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! I also am grateful for the invitation for dinner last night with our dear friends who are more like family to us. It is going to be quite different not being two doors away from them but I am thankful they only moved 3.2 miles away instead of Japan or California! With Dave being a Marine it could have been a lot different. Our meeting three months after we moved here was definitely a God thing. We've been through so much together and depend upon one another as family. Another thing I am grateful for is the way the Lord woke me during the night to pray for a dear friend Kim who is driving from Maine to South Carolina due to her mother's health issues. He had me praying for her protection as she drove. I found out this morning it was soon after the time I prayed that she made the decision to stop for the night. Maybe that is why He had me praying for her. I also prayed for her mother and step-father while I was awake. I prayed for the doctors to have wisdom with her situation and for God to wrap His arms around them. As I was praying, these words from "Reckless Love" kept going through my mind. I wasn't sure if it was because we sang it yesterday or what but I was blessed by them.
There's no shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
There's no wall You won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me
This family is in a place of unknown where they need to remember God loves them and is there with them. As I sang this song during the night, God took my prayers to all the people who had experienced tornadoes yesterday but especially for those in Shelby, Ohio. As I saw pictures of the buildings including homes that were destroyed, my heart broke. I cannot imagine living through one of the those. The picture of the car that was picked up and tossed around before landing in a field was amazing. The pastor and his wife in it had only minor injuries. The stories of people who needed oxygen and had no electricity were heart warming as people helped them. The amazing thing with all of the stories was God had spared lives even though material things were gone. That was not the case in other states where one family were in a car that a tree fell on killing the children in the backseat. Such heart wrenching stories. It reminded me of James 1 again where we are told to take joy in hard times because it will draw us deeper in our faith. A few years back I put that scripture on a business card. I did not realize then just how deep my faith was going to be taken. There have been many 'hard' days. Yesterday was one filled with the enemy trying to stop us but he did not win. I refuse to let him win this battle. I refuse to allow him any power to stop us from loving with God's love on the people of Beaufort County, South Carolina. He may have little victories from time to time but he will not win. My God is greater than anything he throws our way. Yesterday after the building was locked up and I drove over to pick Doc up from parking the church bus I turned on the radio and blasted praise music into my being. I sang along and praised God for the 'good' aspects of the morning and refused to dwell on the 'bad' aspects. I refused the enemy any joy in having even one little speck of my words, actions, or attitude. Instead I chose Joy. I chose Jesus. I chose life instead of death. I chose speaking the Name of the Lord. Woo hoo! Oh how I pray for God to empower me to keep this way of living up because I know the enemy is going to continue to try to tear us down. I refuse to allow that to happen.
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for all of the 'good' things that happened in the last twenty-four hours! Thank You for protecting my Momma through the storms yesterday! Thank You for being My Joy through the tough times yesterday! Thank You for blessing the children and teens through their efforts yesterday! Thank You for ones like Kenny and Chris who helped yesterday! Thank You for cleansing me this morning so You can fill me with more of Your love! Thank You for the way You will work in and through me throughout this day by giving me Your words, actions, and attitude. Father, continue to be with Sandie and Jim through this ordeal they are going through; for Kim as she continues her trip here; Doc as he sees the orthopedic surgeon today; Bob and Connie as he continues to be hospitalized; Bonnie who was hospitalized; Ellen as she continues her battle with cancer; Betty with her injury; Mr Fran with his health issues; and all with damage to their property from the tornado. Thank You Jesus for being My Joy! Amen.
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