The Power of His Presence

Last night we went to a worship service led by Rita Springer at our church. It was wonderful to just soak in worship - which has quite a different meaning when you have a 5 and 2 year old with you. We've adapted (me more than Simms) because we know how important it is for them to be in His presence...we cannot truly fathom how His Spirit is ministering to theirs.

I have been listening and worshiping with Rita (mainly via CD's) for over 5 years now. God spoke through her to Simms September 2000 regarding His plan for our family. I was at Back to School night that evening and heard about it through Simms. I still have my journal entry (3 days later) where I am pouring my heart out to God and pressing in through written prayers about our desire to have children and see them fulfill the plans that He has for them. That (the journal entry) was on a Sunday...5 days later I tested positive on a home pregnancy test. Yes, He is GOOD.

Simms and I are passionate about taking time to worship our Lord and Savior. We know how important it is to spend time in His presence. For both our sons, from the very first weeks of their lives, we surrounded them with worship (not worshipping them...we played CD's of worship when they went to sleep). There have been so many times when things are awry and I don't know what to do and I put on a worship CD - during those times, I don't even feel like worshiping but I know that it is at those times that I need to. It is in those moments that I see the power of His presence - the atmosphere changes.

Is this wearing off or spilling over onto Jeter and Barber? By faith I say YES! Barber was dancing last night (jumping up and down) and raising his hands telling me he was "praising Jesus". Yes, he is my 2 year old so he also drank his milk and chewed on his paci trying to get those last darn molars in!!! (yes, he chews on it way back there. Doesn't suck. He never has...but that's a whole different story). Since Jeter listens to Rita every night he wanted to know who she was as well as everyone else on stage. He stood with his Daddy for about 30 minutes and then he was done. It was time for the 5 year old to eat some Kix, drink some water and draw on the notepad in his still new Bible Cover.

I will say that when Rita was visiting last year and we went, I was disappointed. Something was different. It felt more like a concert than a worship service. But this is what I appreciate about her. She is real and vulnerable like the rest of us. She shared how she went through a tough time last year - was very disappointed with God and continually was pointing out to Him the places in her life where she didn't see Him moving. He then asked her "where do you see me?" and told her to focus there. We all go through rough times where it is easy to question God's purpose in it. I am thankful for her testimony that she is walking through this and is holding onto Him in the process. This was a good reminder to me - as I take daily steps to walk the path before me, honoring my King no matter what I am going through (which right now seems to be a lot of annoying illnesses in the family!!!)