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Ordinarily I would totally tease her about ruining the sincerity and sacredness of the moment by pulling out her phone and capturing it. But, honestly, I am so glad she did.
I know how this morning will live in my heart and mind. But seeing it again makes it real and floods my soul anew.
It was church.
Our Thursday morning ladies bible study group came to hear a video of Priscilla teaching on Gideon and God stole the show.
The Lord had directed me to do things a bit differently this morning. You know...shake it up a bit.
The ladies were game for it.
They listened as I relayed all that God had done this week in my life. (I feel like I could write a mini-novel from Monday to this morning) I could tell by the looks on their faces and the nods of their heads that they too had run a hard race for this week.
As I shared my hits and misses of the week they cried openly in understanding.
These gals go for real. As their leader I don't have to hold back the raw-ness of all that is going on....and neither do they. We share it all. Burdens are halved. Joys are doubled again and again.
Some days are grand with God! These are days to celebrate!
Then there are those other days...the days that we wish we didn't have to admit were real. The days when the best we can give God are the broken pieces of ourselves and ask Him to be the balm that can bind us back up again.
We shared. We related. We understood. We prayed for ourselves. We prayed for others.
Then we worshipped.
A friend of mine went to the piano and began playing a song that God had told me were to sing.
Sing we did.
Some sang with hands held high.
Some sang with heads bowed low to the floor.
Some were singing words that they can't bring themselves to even say...
Some were tending to others hurting and in need.
What is it about worship that does this?
All focus was on Jesus and His goodness and grace toward us.
The world, hardships, diseases, problems, evil, brokenness, anger, doubt, and anything else competing for attention had to flee.
Jesus Christ alone was lifted up.
The atmosphere in the room was sweet with His presence. The heavenly hush was felt and heard.
An hour in the bible study video hadn't been watched yet....and no one cared.
Bigger things were going on here and we all knew it without anyone uttering a word except in song.
I sit here 12 hours later and I am not over it yet.
We ended our time of worship and this group of godly women encircled me. This is the picture above. They surrounded me and spoke to God on my behalf.
It was the moment when the teacher gets taught.
The prayers and faith of these women are such that I could easily sit at their feet any day of the week. The fact that God allows me to lead them is so backward to me.
We did finally get to the video of Priscilla teaching us about Gideon.
It was like the delicious icing that topped an already glorious cake.
We walked out of that room differently than when we entered.
Loads were lighter. Faith was heavier. Eyes were lifted to God in expectation....thankful for what we had received.
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16
2 comments:
Miss you guys and Bible study so much. I love to hear how God is working!
You forgot to mention the reason I was up and able to snap the photo was because I had to go to the bathroom to clean the snot off my face!!!!! :) Truly a moment to remember. God is good and we are desperate for Him.
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