In a nutshell, today was a total God day. His presence was unmistakable in everything we did throughout the day.
Yesterday during prayer I basically made a vow to God that I would not give up during workouts anymore. My mom told me once that the most effective diet she ever tried was one where she had to make a vow to God to stick with the plan. NO ONE wants to break a vow made to God! You might as well just pray to be struck by lightning, right? So I figured that would be a great motivator...and I was so right. Today, each time I felt like I couldn't lift any more weight, run even one more step or do one more lunge or bear crawl, I just thought to myself, "I literally can't give up. I made a vow to God that I would not give up, so I just can't." And I got through it! I felt so empowered! God gives us total access to all he has for us, yet we continue to choose not to take what He has to offer! When He offers us wisdom, we settle for what we already know. When He offers us strength, we give up when we could still push harder. When He offers love and companionship, we choose to give into false feelings of loneliness and depression. WHAT IS WRONG WITH US? Why can't we just accept what He has already offered to us?? I'm learning to trust Him and rely on him for everything I need more and more each day.
Then during morning prayer I had such a strong feeling that there was just this ridiculously thick, immoveable cement wall between God and I, blocking me from really hearing from Him. When I was praying, I felt like I was talking to a wall. When I prayed for answers, I heard nothing. I got so discouraged and prayer ended on a sad, frustrated note for me. When Pastor Alex came into the room for class, I expected to sit back and listen to a godly man for an hour and that would be it. I was wrong. Our lesson today was on reading the Bible. Pastor Alex talked about all that God has to offer us through the Word, how to read and study the Bible, and he hammered into our heads over and over the fact that if we do not get into the Word every single day, we are voluntarily separating ourselves from God. I realized that that is exactly what I have been doing. All this time I've been praying for God to really speak to me or to show me what he wants me to do in certain situations, but I'm not doing my part by reading the Bible. God speaks to us most clearly through His Word, so how do we expect to hear Him if we are not constantly reading the Bible? I feel so stupid now! But it's a good thing. :) I can't wait to read the Word more and more until I really start to hear God clearly. It'll be a process, but an amazing, life-altering one.
After a Q&A with Pastor Randy and his wife, Amy, and our lunch break, we met back in the youth auditorium for our next instructions. Class time today was cancelled so that we could work on the dramas we will be performing on outreaches and mission trips. I was a little nervous because the two skits made for the kids required LOTS of exaggerated silliness and the serious one required lots of step memorization and acting talent. We practiced the first two, which are mostly just funny skits for drawing crowds in and entertaining kids, and it was SO FUN! The first was called "If I Were Not Upon a Stage," and was a silly, fast-paced, hilarious teamwork skit. Each person had their own combo speaking/moving part, where the first person would go, then the second and first, then the third, second, and first, and so on. It is seriously the most fun thing EVER. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaATfmhwsv4) The second skit we did was a non-speaking skit called "Catch All," which starts with a line of about seven people with their backs to the crowd. The first person, or Catch All, acts out a normal routine, like yawning or pretending to wash their face, and soon the second person in line faces the crowd and acts out a super-silly "symptom" such as squawking like a chicken or sneezing uncontrollably. Once the second person bumps into the Catch All, that person is "cured' and the Catch All now acts out that symptom. The other people in line one by one act out their symptom, then give it to the Catch All, resulting in a hilarious string of symptoms that the Catch All must act out all at once. (There's not really any good videos of this one online, but it's probably easier to imagine.)
The third skit is silent, very serious and moving. Many people are familiar with the Lifehouse "Everything" skit. I've seen it done more than 15 times and when the right people do it, it is seriously more moving every time. The concept is this: a girl is living the "normal" Christian life, and has a good relationship with God. She is happy with this, but a boyfriend/lover comes in and sweeps her out of God's arms and into his own. (This skit is kind of dance-y, so there are several short dance sequences.) Next, she is grabbing greedily at money, which another character waves around her, just out of reach. Next, she is pressured into drinking by a friend, then pressured into throwing up from a pretty, popular girl. Then she is introduced to cutting herself and ultimately holds a gun to her head, ready to commit suicide. At the last possible moment, she throws the gun to the floor and jumps back toward God, who is now separated from her by all the other characters. She lunges towards Him over and over, being punched and knocked down by the evil characters, but doesn't give up until she ends up back in His arms again. I CRY EVERY TIME!!!
And the best part is: I get to be the main girl. Cadre assigned everyone their parts and they chose me to be the girl! I am excited beyond all belief to be a part of this skit, but so nervous because I've never done anything like this before. It is so awesome that each of us gets to play a part in a skit that will undoubtedly change lives all over the world. Because the concepts are acted out silently, there is no language barrier when we perform it for people who speak foreign languages. This skit contains something for every kind of person at every stage of life. WE ARE GONNA CHANGE LIVES!! I can't wait to start practicing this skit and perform it ASAP.
So yeah, that's basically my day. Totally crazy and hectic, but completely wonderful.
God is SO GOOD. :)
(I'll see if I can post videos of the "Upon a Stage" skit and the "Everything" skit so you guys can see them!)
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