With Everything

PRAISE GOD!

We finally got the word... the Deacons had a candidate coming! We were all so excited. It's been almost a year that we have been without a pastor and I know this will sound wrong but here goes...

It's been a great year. 

There. I said it. It doesn't make sense, but it has been.  God has been moving and working in such amazing ways. Every time something happened that should have been the "final straw" really just drew us closer together as a church family.  We have spent the last months learning each other, encouraging each other to grow closer to God and to each other. We have been casting the vision for our church of what it looks like to move forward through adversity and then we put action to our faith in God. We have looked to Scripture and prayer like never before to lead and guide. And what did it lead us to?

 We have started an amazing new Mom's ministry. Although smaller than before, our youth group is still going and still excited to get together.  We still have small groups encouraging each other to grow deeper in their relationship with Christ. We have new believers coming to the Lord and we have new members joining our family. 

God has been blessing us even through the refining and sifting.

Back to the candidate. We have prayed and hoped and had faith and prayed. And prayed. And prayed.

God finally brought him this past weekend.

We had a great time getting to know him, sitting under his teaching and listening to him preach. He and his wife gave their testimonies and then he answered the church's questions. Then they left so that we could vote. In about 10 minutes the votes came back. 100%. Yes. 100% affirming him as our choice for pastor. Now, if a room full of Baptists agree 100% without debate and lively discussion, you KNOW it is God thing. The whole weekend was blessed. You could feel it in the air as everyone's excitement and expectation of God's moving grew. God, as ALWAYS, did NOT disappoint. Not at all. Not even a little bit. 

My heart is just so full of love for my God. He is so faithful and so loving and so patient. His timing really is perfect. I know it has been said so much that it has almost become cliche-ish, but it is so true. As we look back over the past year, when we were sure that God wasn't listening, that we couldn't take the strain or the uncertainty any more, we can now see how God was working in those situations. Through the things that divided us, the things that hurt our hearts and tried to shake our strength, God was saying "Trust me. Wait and trust Me." 

"So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." Genesis 22:14

Thank you God that we did! He provided exactly what we needed!

The only song that I can sing these days is Hillsong's With Everything. I play it a lot. I sing it really loud. 

I am inviting you to join me this week in flat-out 100% glorifying God through song. 

He is soooo good!

Stop by Amy's for more great examples of God working through the lives of His children.