Praying Outside the Box

Last Saturday I was blessed to attend a Mini Worship Retreat organized by our Operation Christmas Child team Prayer Coordinator. Linda did such an amazing job of preparing for this special event. Shelly (on keyboard) and Levi (on guitar) provided Spirit-led musical worship and Zonya was there to minister with flags and interpretive dance.

Truthfully, I've never exactly been a fan of interpretive dance in the church but when this beautiful African-American woman in the flowing, beaded dress began to minister I was captivated by the way her combination of movement and sign language added another dimension to the worship time.

The highlight for me came when during the last song--which talked about going deeper with Christ--Zonya came into the pew right in front of me and was reaching out toward me with her arms. I struggle so much with comprehending God's love for me and as Zonya reached toward me I had an image of God reaching out to me as well. Often since that morning I've thought of this image and used it to help me picture God's love. It ministered to my soul in such a deep way.

After the worship time Linda presented a marvelous teaching about using the tabernacle as a model for prayer. Her visual reconstruction of the tabernacle and her folders filled with typed up notes from her teaching were such valuable resources. Zonya, Shelly and Levi stayed for the teaching and it was a joy to get to know them better.

Then we shared together a scrumptious meal Linda had prepared for us and she even gave each of us a gift to take home to remember the occasion.

I was sad that only three from our team were there (and that was including Linda) but Linda seemed to have peace with that and the time we spent in fellowship together was so rich.

As I thought of how wonderful the morning was and how few were able to come it made me think of how God must feel. He prepares for each of us every day this wonderful banquet of blessings but so few of us show up to fellowship with Him.

I don't want to miss those banquets with Him.