I am sooo sleepy and about to hit the hay, but I just had to share something. I'll try to keep it short! Tonight was a Wednesday night so, of course, we had The Edge (youth worship). Jimmy wasn't feeling so great so he asked me if I would look over his notes in case I needed to pinch hit for him. He came back just as we were starting the praise and worship time, but about half way through the last song interrupted me (ie. my eyes closed, hands raised, praising like crazy) to tell me he was stepping out of the room. So I sang the words with a new fervency:
"Your will above all else.
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
To bring you praise.
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Neverending
Your glory goes beyond all fame.
In my heart, in my soul
I give you control
Consume me from the inside out, Lord...
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord, my soul cries out..."
I offered it as my prayer of surrender and asked Him to use me as His vessel.
Now my guy is very supportive of all that I do, but he doesn't sit and watch my Beth Moore video at home with me in preparation for our ladies' study and he definitely won't come to our actual group time! So imagine my shock when I flipped open his Bible, and see the title, "Where Is God?" WHOA. WWWHHHOOOAAA!!!! I had seen Beth's intro video for Esther twice now ~ where she teaches us about how important it is to know that God is there even when you can't feel Him. I stood up in front of almost 60 kids and said, "I feel Him here tonight." Then proceeded to explain with a quavering voice what I just told you. And thus, with NO preparation, I winged a 20 minute lesson on what to do when you can't find Him or feel Him, and how important it is for them to KNOW Him, not just settle for a relationship based on surface emotions ~ to know Him by the truth of His Word~His faithfulness, His promises, His enduring love. And so on...
Afterwards, several kids came to me and said how much they appreciated the lesson, how it spoke to them, etc...so...yea, I'm pretty much crying again 'cause I know that was all HIM. ALL HIM.
How good He is to us. How gracious. How loving. How cool. I don't ever want to get over Him. Be glorified, my sweet Savior.
3 comments:
Cindy - I'm so glad you're a part of Becca's life! She's enjoys her time at church SO much on Wednesdays, and I know a big part of it is because of you! Although I believe that parents should hold themselves up to be the primary role model in their children's life (I get really annoyed with parents that hold others to a higher standard than they hold themselves - athletes, celebrities, etc... just because they consider them role models), but I'm incredibly thankful that she has other positive, strong female figures in her life - strong in faith, and strong in character! I appreciate you very much!
Cindy, I am so thankful to know you and I am so very looking foward to spending the next 9 Tuesdays with you-I have a feeling we are in for a ride-and I would not want to be riding with anyone else-
I miss you, I miss youth with you, and I miss these Wednesdays. I know exactly what Lori is saying and I agree.. you were, and are, such a role model in my life as well as many other girls. Your passion and hunger is so strong that it cannot stay contained in just you, it pours out of you so elegantly. I'm really looking forward to our Beth Moore bible studies! I love you Cindy!
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