For some of you that view my blog this skit will be old news– It’s been around for awhile and the youth in our church have done it for the youth group. However, there may be a few of you who haven’t seen it. It moves me to tears EVERY time I watch it. It’s VERY powerful!!
Well sweet friends this morning was great!! I definitely missed a few notes but didn’t feel like I distracted from those worshiping which in my book is a success. Josh did a great job working with everyone. I believe God really moved! The congregation was standing by the end of the choir special!!
God did a work in my heart during the invitation.
Let me share a bit of history:
When we first moved here we were really outgoing with our neighbors. However after several of them moved, Monica Grace was born. When the new people moved in we never extended ourselves. I think I was using the excuse of having a newborn and that we already do so much at church I just want to be “home” when we’re at our house. I know — so selfish!!!
Well about 2 -3 weeks ago some policemen showed up at the house across the street. We knew an elderly lady lived there but the extent of our relationship consisted of hand waves and shouted hellos across the way. When we inquired from the officers if everything was okay he assured us it was but didn’t go into any details. Later that night the coroner car showed up… I cannot express to you how deeply that grieved our hearts. We had lived next to this woman little over a year and had no idea of her spiritual condition. We have really been muling over the shame of that incident. Needless to say we have grieved over our negligence and are continuing to pray about steps we can take on our street to redeem some time.
The first step Steven took was to invite our next door neighbors to “Friend Day” today at our church. We have our suspicions that they are buhdists due to statues and such that we’ve seen. When he came back from his visit with them, I sarcastically made the remark that I’m sure they would want to be apart of our church due to how “not” friendly we’ve been.
Well I looked up during the invitation and guess who was smiling in the audience?!?!?! You guessed it — both of them! They looked like they were enjoying it so MUCH!!! My eyes immediately filled with tears. God’s grace extended right before my eyes and mans’ forgiveness too! Needless to say we are filled with joy at the opportunity we feel we’ve been given not just once, but twice! My eyes brim with tears again just thinking of that reality… Do you guys have anyone that you’ve seen for forever but just haven’t shared God’s grace with? Apparently when you’re willing it’s never too late– at least that’s what I learned today. God is GREAT!
Oh I also learned that you can stop an offertory 4 pages short of being finished if you can find the right chord to end on. After the first two pages, I caught myself pondering our neighbors visit and then caught a glimpse of myself up on the big screen. My brain screamed there is NO WAY I’m gonna make it through 4 more pages– we otta just stop now. They had just finished taking up the offering anyway– it worked!!! ….. well sorta… =)
I have several thoughts I want to put down from today but I thought with my time limit at the moment I would touch on the funny part first. Laying in bed last night, I asked Steven to tell me something nice to go to sleep on – I was looking for that thought that just puts a happy sigh in your heart so I could then drift off to sleep- ya know what I’m talking about. Well my “Romeo’s” endearing thoughts were as follows:
” You smell a whole lot better than Rosco (our family dog)”
“You’re not too fat!”
“You’re not nearly as annoying as last night.”
Isn’t that just the greatest!! (sarcastic roll of the eyes inserted) It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for but after giving him a hard slap I did end up giggling pretty hard… What would we do without our men?!?!? =)
I’m so relieved — I finally feel pretty good about the choir piece “Something Happens”. Whew it’s been ALOT of work! I know your prayers will be what makes it come alive tomorrow. Thanks for all you support and love!
It was really strange, last night our children’s pastor was talking with Steven and asked him about a song for a video he was putting together. It was called “When the Saints,” he thought but wasn’t sure. He new it was a female artist and who wrote it in response to a recent mission trip to Rwanda. Well of course after yesterday’s post I thought it was the song I posted yesterday. It wasn’t- it was a different one about the same trip Sara went on. It was just as great!! This video quality isn’t as good as “I saw what I saw was” but it’s the only one I could find that I could post and I wanted you to hear it. If you have a moment really listen to the words and let them sink in. I’ve posted some of my favorite lyrics below the clip. Oh and if you like these songs you can buy them on i tunes for 99 cents!
I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear
I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sister standing by the dying man’s side
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down that door
I see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
when the Saints go marching in…
This morning a friend of mine who just got back from a mission trip to Rwanda shared with me a story of a Christian brother who witnessed his entire family be killed. He hid under a jeep for 9 hours before he was able to escape. What is he doing now??– serving the Lord! I was reminded of the great needs in other cultures and also of the serenity that brothers and sisters in Christ seem to have in insurmountable odds.
From his story, I was reminded of a great video clip I saw a few weeks ago. Sara Groves also went to Rwanda and in this video she puts what I was reminded of into words. The challenge in the song is powerful too…
Lately it seems to be that I’ve been living in a whirlwind. We’ve been busy doing house renovations, making new friends, visiting with family, recovering from d-now and other youth trips, resuming my piano schedule, and our evenings seem to be filled as well. For the last month Eli has woken up and asked, “who’s coming to our house today, Mom?” as though it is expected to have daily visitors (which like I said it has been).
However, I’ve started to sense the strain of a long, LONG to do list and began to feel really tired. I keep thinking , “I’ve got to stop- – breathe– just enjoy Jesus,” but sadly I must admit it’s been difficult for me to stop. I’ve caught myself wishing that I’d wake up and God would have just e-mailed or posted something to me on my blog during the night, surely that would be ALOT easier than stopping and trying to hear from Him. I’m mean you’d think that the creator of heaven and earth would understand the pressures of needing to check things off the to do list!!!! — wouldn’t you? Well last night I did stop for just a moment and the Lord met me right where I need to be met. He is so good! There are times when I know the Lord walks right through my day with me and then there are times when He demands that I stop and give Him my attention. Last night was one of those times-
Jeremiah 31:21-22a , 25
“Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns. How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter? …
I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
It was a good check point to read those verses– what are my road signs? where am I headed? what does my road map look like? What came to my mind was one of those river tributary maps from 5th grade geography that show little spindly watery paths twisting and turning all over of the place. These verses were needed to get my attention to redefine and ask the Lord to straighten up my paths for the things which are important to Him. I know the Lord doesn’t demand of me to live a monastic life of solitude and quiet but I know that I need to SLOW DOWN and remember to listen.
“Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the king in His beauty deigns to walk.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Well it’s about time I finally opened up this account! I have experimented with blogging since November on my xanga site. I’ve become more and more of a believer that this whole technological “thing” is something that God has given me to do for this season of my life. It’s been good to keep in touch with friends, keep a record of little “funnies” my kids say and do, and stay accountable in many ways in what the Lord is teaching me. I’ve put off actually starting this site because I thought I would need to cut and paste some of my other posts so you could see what this whole thing is like but ALAS I’ve given up. If you want to know just look at my old site http:/xanga.com/purp0sed4him . As of today this will be where I post. It’s free of advertisements, should not be barred by school systems software blockers, and can be made a bit more personal than xanga. So sweet, sweet people- I love you and look forward to hearing from you!
