It's SHOUTIN' Time!

This weekend, God has been so good to me...the encouragement He brought me is just astounding...like He HEAPED it on! Here is how it all started:

At the end of the day on Friday, I came home from work frustrated and down in spirit. As I believe all Christians are called to be missionaries in all aspects of life, I view my work as one of my mission fields. Lately it seems that people are making decisions to reject Christ and all He has to offer them; therefore, I have been sensing some rejection and criticism (not work related, but people related).  I know that it is not an outright rejection of me, but of Christ in me, 
but it still hurts none-the-less and to tell the truth, I have been depressed and really struggling with it lately.


Paul spoke about this very issue to the Corinthian church. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ." 

I don't know about you, but it is sometimes hard for me to remember that so many people throughout the ages have struggled and hurt when dealing with this same issue. Just thinking, but how many people throughout the years have taken comfort in these passages that Paul wrote almost 2,000 years ago?  Millions?

Anyway, God knew I was struggling, so this is what He did! Saturday night, our church plant (Lifeblood) and a couple of the businesses we meet in (Emerald Coast Glass Protection and Pro-Tint) came together to serve hot chocolate and coffee to the community as people waited for the Christmas Parade. We figured we would hand out about 25-30 coffees/hot chocolates. Boy were we wrong! We passed out over 100 coffees and hot chocolates to people and everyone one was surprised that there was no "catch" or "hidden agenda" or anything...that we were doing this just because we wanted to serve. It was really cool and I can't wait until next year to do it again! (Note: bring more hot chocolate next year)

That would have been awesome in itself, but God didn't stop there. :) Sunday morning, we had an awesome time of worship at Church and I have not felt God's spirit there like that in a long while. Our pastor preached an awesome message, and our church came forward with commitments to pray, give, or go to help us with Lifeblood. Then, we had sweet time of prayer as the church prayed for us and commissioned Dave and I to go forth and make disciples. That would have been enough there...but God STILL DIDN"T STOP!

After that, two of our Youth that we have been working with came forward to make their professions of faith public.  And to top it off, we got to talk to our son's girlfriend and pray with her to receive Christ! What an awesome God we serve! It's SHOUTIN' time! :)