A Service to Remember

God gave us a beautiful reminder that He is in control of everything. No matter what happens, He can turn it into something that honors Him. We had a guest speaker planned for this week who became ill and was hospitalized (Thomas needs continued prayer for healing). Michael had been preparing a teaching for next month, but felt he could give it on Sunday. However, on Sunday morning he woke up with the full effects of the flu he had had for a couple of days, so we knew that he would have to stay home.
The leadership team prayed and talked and felt that we should not have a teaching at all, but that this would be a Sunday for the whole church to participate. God has been touching lives through prayer and worship and this would be the opportunity for everyone to give glory to His hand in their lives.
Our missionaries in Guanacaste were with us this weekend, so we started off with worship songs with plenty of percussion for Diego to use the bongos with gusto! As we started to share what God has been doing in our lives, we heard a poem about looking to God, reminding us of Psalm 1, and we heard about encouraging words like “fear not, for I AM with you”. We heard about times when we don’t seem to be hearing God “like we used to” and how we need to be willing to walk in what we know, even though we have no “sensing” to go with the steps. We heard about God speaking through impressions and about the fear to move from our comfort zone by following those impressions. God was calling us to joyfully follow Him, encouraging us to obey Him – simply obey Him.
The children did drawings, obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit, of whom God was, and where He was: a house, a castle, a knight in armor, a chair… chaos – He is there too! The young boy who drew the armor had a word for someone in the congregation. This young visitor knew right away that it was for her and we brought her forward to pray for her when she told us. The chair was drawn by a child who said that the chair meant peace. Her parents encourage her to sit quietly in a chair when she is having a tantrum or a struggle – and she finds peace there, with God!
We prayed for one another and for others, we sang worship songs and we quietly listened to God as He encouraged us. We sought to joyfully follow Him as He leads us out of the storm clouds, and with grateful hearts we closed by singing the beautiful Scripture from Numbers: “The lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace”