life has been full of cool stories lately. of God showing up in ways I could not fathom. of extravagant love. of perfectly timed situations. of driving by myself a lot-but not because i was upset. of unexpected times to rest. of laughs and conversations and ease of friendships.
thursday night was crazy and incredible and good. the holy spirit did crazy things at the night service. we sang holy spirit you are welcomed here come fill this space flood the atmosphere and in the middle of the song clayton came out and gave an invitation before he even preached. he said people needed to confess things, needed to repent of their sins, needed to accept the lord. this camper literally ran straight to me from the bleachers and we ran outside together. she said she had to confess something that she'd been struggling with the past year-porn and masturbation. she was scared and felt alone. i said hey, that was 7 years of my life too you aren't alone. we prayed, she confessed it to god, we prayed more. we held hands and cried and rejoiced in not being alone. in the power of the lord and the ability to be set free from chains that bind us up. in the power of confession. i was blown away by the lord's timing.
i went inside and jessica davis told me she had seen my cardboard testimony that talked about porn and she had a girl for me to talk to. the girl found me after the service and we talked in the bleachers and she confessed it to me and i asked her hard questions. she was 13. we prayed and held hands and cried and she shouted I KNOW I WILL AND AM OVERCOMING THIS. i can't believe it still. i'm so proud of these two girls. the Lord is so good.
today i was reminded of how incredible this town i live in is. i went to pick flowers with gaby for martha's 90th birthday party yesterday. gaby and i picked flowers from the side of the road, then saw leigh ann driving so we followed her to her house. we all got out of our cars at the same time and leigh ann and megan got out and gaby and i got out. we picked flowers and went inside where hayden was doing her laundry. then we went to brittany and ryan's house and hung out with them then got flowers from ruth and brett's. we went to heather and seths and were hanging with heather when seth and brandon came in. they had been at costco together. two grown men just running errands together. leigh ann and megan going to the post office together. gaby and i picking flowers together. this town does life together so well. i think i forget that sometimes. nick and caroline took everyone on crossroads staff to the river today on the echo expeditions bus. homes in this town are open, we run errands together, we never let others ride alone, we make wedding invitations together for hours on a saturday, we eat meals together, we come together to celebrate one another, we pray together, we support each other.
i am so grateful for this week. grateful that even when i am so blind and dumb the lord still desires to remind me of himself. that he loves me too much to let me live in forgetfulness or ignorance to himself.
