Aromas

Okay...this might look like just a jumble of letters--as jumbled as my thoughts lately--but they do spell a word. Can you see it? REVIVAL...

Our church has had a summer of revival. In addition to the regular Sunday sermons there have been four special worship nights dedicated to seeking the work of the Holy Spirit in a new way among us. This is a new venture for our church but one that's certainly been an amazing journey.

Nearly two months. I think this is the longest I've gone without writing a blog in many years and maybe the longest ever since I started this blog back in 2009.

Somehow it all seems so uninteresting--so much of the same stuff.  I mean, who wants to keep hearing about all my leadership woes and seeing pictures of cardboard carton after cardboard carton lined up in the storage container. It just gets old.

It's been old to me, too.  Lately there's been a lot of going through the motions without much joy. And there's also been a bunch of wrestling with ingrained sin issues that just feel so heavy.

So tonight I stood in the dimly lit worship center and felt that weight pressing down on me. There was nothing to do but go to one of the designated prayer team members with my tears and my truthful  feelings of anger and weariness.

I'm so grateful for the prayers of that sweet woman who let me sob on her shoulder while she prayed over me. Then, as she prayed, she anointed my forehead with oil. There's something so soothing about that fragrance that permeates everything.

Kneeling later by my seat I was still bathed in that aroma--a sweet smell that makes me not want to wash my face. It still surrounds me as I write this.

Can you even imagine what it smelled like when the woman anointed Jesus's feet with oil? I'm not an essential oil person but I can sure see (or maybe I should say smell) the attraction.

The aroma is just a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit but I need that reminder--that sweet fragrance that surrounds me reminds me that He surrounds me, too.

Maybe I'm just a wimp because despite all the years I've been trying to lead a team and despite all the CONSTANT training I've been given this leadership stuff is still just so hard.  Tonight, though, the burden got a little lighter and the aroma reminds me that I really am surrounded with "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow."

It's the aroma of revival.