"Grace and Peace, oh how can this be
For lawbreakers and thieves
For the worthless, the least
You have said, that our judgement is death
For all eternity without hope, without rest
Oh, what an amazing mystery
What an amazing mystery
That your grace has come to me"
That your grace has come to me"
I cannot even begin to describe how grateful I felt this past weekend. I had an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G opportunity to go to Louisville, Kentucky for the Sovereign Grace Worship God Conference.
This conference went from Wednesday night to Saturday morning. To be honest I really didn't know what to expect. Our Worship Pastor asked us to go if we come up with the means and I am always excited for the opportunity to get away from life for a bit and grow in my relationship with Christ. So I jumped on it! So we signed up for four different seminars and I was quite excited to see what they brought but open to whatever was going to happen that weekend. Did I go with expectations? Absolutely! The main thing I wanted to get out of it was a new sense and meaning to worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ. Did that happen? Absolutely! You walk into a sanctuary filled with 1,000 people who love to worship Christ through music, instruments and songs and it ends up being a sweet sweet taste of Heaven. Even better...whatever we even kind of experience here on earth is going to 1,000 times better in Heaven...I can ONLY imagine the worship when I see Jesus face to face!
"Called to be Faithful" was the theme for the week!
A weekend filled with the meaning of Grace! A weekend filled with the complete focus on Christ!
Here are a few things I learned:
Here are a few things I learned:
- Learning how much I put my focus on what I am doing in service to Christ and how much I do or do not pursue God when I really need to be intentionally aware of MY FATHER'S PURSUIT OF ME!
- MY FATHER IS SEEKING WORSHIPERS - those who worship in Spirit and in Truth!
- I need to focus on what God gave me. If I concentrate on what I've received, CHRIST IS MAGNIFIED and GRACE IS MAGNIFIED!
- Concentrating on what I have received and I will worship wholeheartedly in Spirit and in Truth!
- Making sure I am checking my heart, making sure I am not in any way, shape, or form ashamed of the Gospel and preparing my heart to PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL!
- Learning that God sees my heart and my faithful service and HE IS PLEASED BY IT!
- Remembering that as we sing praises to Christ, He is already singing praises over us!
- Remember that God did gift me with much and I value those gifts because THEY ARE HIS!
- Do I carry a sense of ASTONISHED GRATEFULNESS?
- When your heart tells you you are worthless CANNOT THE WORD OF GOD OVERCOME YOUR HEART?!?
- You do not need to wrestle well with suffering for God to love you. God is pleased with you because of how JESUS RESPONDED TO SUFFERING!
Grace and peace, oh how can this be?
The matchless King of all
Paid the blood price for me
Slaughtered Lamb, what atonement You bring!
The vilest sinner's heart can be cleansed, can be free
Oh, what an amazing mystery
What an amazing mystery
That your grace has come to me
Here are the things I am incredibly grateful for this past week! Memories that I am thankful to God for!
- Watching 1,000 believers lift their hands in worship!
- We sat at a place called Mark's Feed Store. A southern BBQ and it was loud and we were in the middle. Asking Jim, the loudest person there, to pray and he hums a tune and starts to sing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen!" And it was incredible to watch and listen as the restaurant silenced. Given the opportunity and God is glorified!
- Waking up to smiling, joy-filled faced every morning at breakfast (and starbucks coffee)
- Having a sweet conversation with a friend about our passion that we share
- Being encouraged by a friend, a beautiful woman of God
- Listening to 1,000 believers sing their prayers out to God
- Watching men and women from a different generation laugh with us, share their stories with us, share their wisdom and worship
- Watching everyone get fired up for God
- Sharing our joys, encouragements and convictions
- Learning how to pray through scripture and actually doing it
- Laughing uncontrollably in the car ride home...to the point that my face hurt
- Sharing many laughs and tears
- cherished time with those I love
- shared laughs with some incredibly beautiful Godly women, Bertha, Lori, Kristy, Cali and Shelby!
Grace and peace, oh how can this be?
Let songs of gratefulness
Ever rise, NEVER CEASE
Loved by God and called as a saint
My heart is satisfied in the riches of Christ
Oh, what an amazing mystery
What an amazing mystery
That your grace has come to me
OH, WHAT AN AMAZING LOVE I SEE
WHAT AN AMAZING LOVE I SEE
THAT YOUR GRACE HAS COME TO ME!
Stac, I LOVE this new blog of yours!! I'm excited to keep following you all on all of life's journeys! :) And what a blessing that you had such a refreshing, growing, encouraging time this weekend! Thank you for sharing because many of those things are encouraging to me as well!! Love you!
ReplyDeleteFriend - I HIGHLY recommend going to that conference if you guys can swing it in two years. It is so worth it and there were so many seminars that weren't related to worship. It was such a spiritually building time. I am bringing Brian next time! Love you and miss you!
DeleteI love this! I'm so glad you had the opportunity to go on this trip and that it was so great! Maybe I will be able to join in the fun next year!? What a blessing! Love the new blog too!
ReplyDeleteSister Friend - The conference is every two years. I am bringing Brian next time because it was such an encouragement to me I want him to be there to experience the same thing! It was amazing and we missed you. You were brought up a couple times in our conversations wishing you were there!
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