Good Day!

Today was awesome. Worship was amazing. Lately I've been feeling during worship that God just wants me facedown before Him. So flat on my stomach is usually where I end up pretty fast, but then He speaks such amazing things to me. Today it was great because He showed me that I'm trying to take control of certain parts of my life again, I'm trying to make things happen the way I want them to because of all of the amazing stuff God's been showing me. But I've jumped the gun. He told me to wait, & I wasn't waiting. So I'm done now. I'm done worrying about other people & what they think of me, because to be honest I just don't care. Other people will mess up, because other people aren't God. Everyone will let you down at some point, but God is sovereign no matter what. His grace is sufficient for me, & I've just been messing everything up by sticking my filthy hands into it, so now He has to clean it up again. But I know He will. He's faithful when no one else is. Augh, it's so FREEING! Stef had a word about how God is bringing stuff up to the surface in each of us now, & how it hurts because it takes a long time to rise to the top...but once it does, God deals with it. He doesn't want that crap to hold us back, so He just wipes it away completely once it's surfaced. I've seen evidence of this in my life already, & it is awesome.

We had class with JL & discussed the next two chapters of God's Lavish Grace. Gaaahhhh this book is so amazing. I can't put it down, seriously. Once you've caught a glimpse of what grace truly is, it's like there's this whole new sense of...relief! Fact is, we don't measure up, we're not good enough, & we never will be. But it's okay, because everything stupid we do has already been taken care of. The funny thing is, it makes me want to extend grace to other people more often...which is humility! AHH! So much revelation, my mind could seriously explode. I can't even believe how lucky we are to have a loving God that actually CARES what we do. Grace, after all, is what allows us to run & not grow weary. We are supernatural beings because we have GOD'S strength in US! Which is why when He tests us to make sure our priorities are straight, asking us to give something up, He actually gives us the power to do it! When we think of giving stuff up, we usually think of stuff that will hurt us, or cause us to sin. What about giving up stuff that God Himself has promised us? Like Abraham & Isaac...Isaac had been PROMISED to Abraham by God, & STILL Abraham was willing to give him up. God of course spared him, & the great thing is, it's not like He will ask you to give that stuff up over & over! I'm sure Abraham didn't sit around wondering when God was going to ask him to kill his son again. It goes back to what Stef said about stuff rising to the surface...though it's painful at the time, it will be so worth it once the test is done with!

While JL was teaching, God spoke to me again about the issue of trafficking, & told me to talk to JL about it. It was kind of nerve-wracking, actually, because I mean, he's the apostle. I'm sure he has about a billion other things to do than talk to me about something abstract that God has been saying to me. But after class I asked if I could talk to him, & got a little bit of time with him at the end of lunch. I just went straight into it & said, "What do you know about human trafficking?" He kind of raised an eyebrow & said, "Increasingly more, actually...funny you should mention this, because there's a girl that used to work for Skillet, actually, that's really involved with an organization nearby to fight it. Why do you ask?" I told him briefly about what God has been speaking to me about it, & he said he would put me in touch with this girl & if I end up staying in Kenosha at Living Light maybe I could help raise awareness within the church about the issue. That is an AMAZING start! Literally an hour later he had already emailed me her phone number, so I definitely plan to follow up on it. Pray for direction for me in this area, I'm really excited about the possibilities this could open up.

Also! I went up to Gary at lunch today & teased him that if we don't get a drummer at Pleasant Prairie soon *hinthint!* I might have to move to the Racine church. Kal was sitting next to him & literally JUMPED out of his seat, gave me a hug & said, "THANK you! I was JUST about to tell him to have you play!!" So I am now officially on the worship team for the Pleasant Prairie congregation! I'm pretty excited. I love drumming.

Worship team practice was awesome today too, even though I'm about three weeks out of shape drum-wise. But I had a great time, & we rearranged one of my favorite songs. Hopefully I will get a recording of it & post it here soon. AND! There is a new crash cymbal on the upstairs kit, it's really heavy & sounds totally awesome. So that was fun to mess around with.

And now I am going to go do some homework & Bible reading before my roommate gets home.