It's Good to Be Home

Ahhhhh.....  That's my sigh of relief, my shoulders relaxing, and my world settling itself back on its axis.  Whew!

I've had so many thoughts spinning through my head lately, I have about four different blog posts going in my head, there are so many things that have happened, so many things that are getting ready to happen.  I feel as though my life has turned into a whirlwind!  I need to slow down.  I need to remember to stop to appreciate what is important.

We just back from vacation last week.  It was a rather impromptu trip home, cutting our trip short by a few days, but I will explain that some other time.  We arrived home around 4 am last Sunday, and I had to sit most of the trip sideways in the front seat so I could hold Avery's hands to reassure him.  This past week has been spent settling in, decompressing and detoxing, getting ready for school (I'm sorry, did I cheer too loud there?), and trying to get back in the swing of things.  Oh, and adjusting to life with a puppy....  But again, that post is another day!

We finally got back to church today, after having been gone for over a month.  We missed VBS, and we've missed way too many Sundays.  Today was that breath of clean air--that immersion--that I've needed and that I've been craving.  This is the reason for my sigh of relief, relaxed shoulders and righted world.

You see, today wasn't just any old Sunday.  It started out that way, but WOW--God just never ceases to amaze me.  I don't even really know how to describe just how incredibly amazing it was to someone who has never experienced it, but I want you to know, if you haven't, my prayer for you is that you will.

Today was a day of healing.  It started out with amazing praise and worship.  We have an wonderful praise band, and today I just bathed in the messages of the songs we sang.  I needed this desperately today.  After praise and worship, it was announced that a family in our church recently received a very scary diagnosis and is in need of prayer.  This is one of the things I love about our church--when someone needs prayer, we come together as a family, we surround them in love, and just cover them in prayer.  This is how it should be in a church, with a family of Believers.  We came together, linking arms and shoulders, holding hands and crying out on behalf of this family as part of their family, all of us crunched up together towards the altar and we prayed.  And we prayed.  And we prayed some more.  When we finished praying for this family, we prayed for others in our church family also in need of healing.  And we prayed again, and again, and again.

I know our God can heal.  I've seen it.  I've lived it.  God is our Protector, our Healer, our Ultimate Physician.  When worldly doctors throw up their hands and tell us to get our affairs in order, God smiles and says, "Oh, but wait..."  He amazes me, and my prayer for myself is that I never cease to be in awe of Him and His miracles.

I do not know the story our Father has written for this family, but I do know that God MOVED among our church family today.  I also know that God keeps His promises to us.  God promises that whenever 2 or more are gathered in His name, there He is in our midst, and today, He certainly was.  The spirit of the Lord is powerful, and with God, all things are possible.

*sigh*  Ahhhh.....  It's good to be home.


James 5: 13-16 :   Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.