Break!

Today was awesome. We met at a coffee shop instead of the building for Exploring Worship class. We talked today about our attitude in approaching worship, & how easy it is to allow pride to keep us from worshipping properly. The book described it as "reverse hedonism"...if it feels uncomfortable or we don't want people to think of us badly, we don't do it. But worship in no way feeds your own ego. It has nothing to do with you. Praise is contingent on who God is & what He's done. So don't think you're "too cool" to lift your hands or be "too afraid" of what people think to shout out to God. Both are examples of pride, & neither one pleases God.

Instead of class, we went back to the building & Teresa led us in prayer. Basically we just prayed for like 5 minutes on our own, & then went around the room telling what God had showed us while we were praying. We did it twice, & both times all of the words & pictures we had all lined up for a specific person. The first time was Stef, & the second time was for John. I had a really interesting picture for John...though I didn't realize it was for him until after. Anyway, I saw a circus elephant (random, right?!) performing all sorts of stunts & tricks for peanuts. And I thought, "Why would such a massive animal do all these ridiculous things for something as insignificant as peanuts?!" At first I had no clue what it meant, but then once God showed me it was for John, He gave me the answer: God promises to reward us for our faithfulness. So the peanuts, as insignificant as they seem from the outside, are the reward. And the elephants LOVE the peanuts, & the peanuts motivate them to do the tricks. It was definitely the weirdest picture I've ever had, but I liked it.

Songwriting was good, but it draaaaagged on after lunch. Haha. We didn't have worship teams so we got out an hour early. Josh is coming to pick me up at 4:30 & then I get to go home!! Another thing God was speaking to me during our prayer time is Change. He told me that change will already be evident in my life to those I haven't seen in a few months, & that the change in me will affect them. I don't know if this will come by example or by a word for someone or what, but if you think of me at all this week, pray that I will hear God's voice clearly if it's the latter. I'm not entirely sure how this is going to come about because God didn't tell me, & I personally don't feel like I've changed THAT much...I mean, I KNOW I have, but I don't feel that different I guess. Anyway. Pray for me if it crosses your mind.

And with that I'm off to finish packing!