Mrs. P :)

Well lets see where to start………..

Today was one of the best summers I’ve had in a long time.  Aside from all the stress @ work I had really enjoyed myself.  I planned for my wedding basically the entire time, but I had an amazing support system and a maid of honorzilla (aka Carissa) it was so nice to have my friends around this summer and becoming close to those friends I had lost contact with for a while.  I was especially excited for camp meetings, that’s what I had looked forward to all summer, just another “boost” in my walk with the Lord.  I got to help with daycamp….1 day….but I still helped, it was nice to be up there again and being involved in volleyball, being with the younger girls and trying to encourage them.  Oh how I miss camp and the good ol’ days of the “real” day camp and nature hikes with Bro. Richards and eating well who knows what Anyway,  camp meetings had finally come and of course dont you know I get a kidneystone and 2 cycst…what a drag!  Of course I got the usally stay home and rest…NO WAY, I was ready to go worship!!  The first couple of meetings I let it hold me back, I would sit in my chair and worship there, try to go upfront but just didn’t feel well enough to stand up there the whole time…this really got me bummed, I had alot of other things on my mind the first couple of days and I knew it was the devil trying to take away the peace the Lord had given me and the glory I wanted to praise HIM with. I walked back crying and angry that this was happening.  I ran into a sister with similar situation and she just kept saying you know it’s the devil and that she was in the same position a few of those nights.  Then I thought about last year when Bro. Rocine said  whatever is holding you back give it to the Lord…that  night I tried and tried and just couldn’t shake it I spent the whole next day praying that the Lord would just lift this burden off of me that night I went to camp meetings refreshed and so excited because it was gone, it wasn’t even a thought anymore and now my focus was on the Almight God, oh how I looked forward to this.  That night was a night of healing, there were two lines that we went through I decided to go through it, I had always said oh my issues aren’t big enough there’s people with cancer and sickness why bother, but I did it, because I believe that God can do anything even if it’s the smallest matter….what an amazing blessing it was, wow! that’s all I kept saying. Bro. Rocing kept saying do you believe, do you believe He can heal you Michelle…I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t even speak, I sat on the picnic table and cried, cried, cried for a solid 10 min as I watched others pass through.  I can’t count the number of times the Lord has blessed me and touched my life and my family. It’s amazing that no matter how many times I fall the Lord will ALWAYS pick me up out of the mud, brush me off and hold me in His hand.  Part 2 to come

Sunday Morning Church….one of the best worships we’ve had since camp meetings.  I went to church hoping that the spirit would fall and I as I sat back at my seat I could just see the spirit moving.  The song All Things Are Possible came on and normally I get tired of that song quickly, but it seemed to have a new meaning to me, after Calebs surgery I knew that all things were possible. Who would have thought that the boy they didn’t think would make it when he was born would have gone through 1 open heart and one more surgery and be as healthy and happy as he is.  I went upfront and prayed with some of the girls, I stopped worshiping and just looked around, I saw Bro John Perry praying with some of the younger brethren and I was so incredibly encouraged, who can go through the loss of a loved one and still be happy without such support and love and outreaching of the brethren.  Then Sis Donna went up, she’s been out of church for about 4 mths and I would call her and everytime she’d say hopefully tonight I can make it, and she couldn’t. But Sunday morning there she was, her family, friends FLOCKED to her, laying hands on her, crying out and then the spirit just hit me like a ton of bricks and I started crying, hard.  I guess the reality of what we have and who we have never really sunk in, until I took a look around to see what we have, what I have and what I have been given. My friends were asking what was wrong, nothing was wrong, I was so happy and blessed. I have had people by my side through everything me and my family has been through and I took it for granted. My nephew is alive and happy, my brother passed away yes, but we were blessed with two little boys in our family, we have the brethren constantly asking how we are, brethren that we’re not ever close to, asking.  I have lost friendships but I have gained 10 times what I could have ever asked for, my heart was broken but I fould the person I am spending forever with.  I regret the doubt and questioning of the church I belong to , and Sunday morning the Lord showed me what I have and why I am here.  So many people have something negative to say about our church, even those who have been there and left, how?? How can you deny the friendships and love that pours out of people there, we may not always agree but open your eyes to what you have been given.  I’ve found that it doesn’t matter what church you go to, what friends you have because in the end all that’s going to matter is where we stand. Which is going to be infront of God. And if we’re all Christians that’s where we’ll all be. It won’t matter if we werent friends, or if we didnt like one church or the other because in heaven we aren’t going to see that, we aren’t going to find someone who used to go to one church or the other or who we used to be friends with and say hey you were wrong to be there or do that, no we’ll end up together, worshipping the same Creator… So I guess I’ve just stopped caring about what peoples opinions are about me and my church and my friends and I’ve finally opened my eyes to realize what I have and what I’ve been given.