Spirit move, we're ready for You.
I was hit with the influenza bug that is running rampant in our community right now, and was on the couch for a good portion of last week. It was the beginning of my semester, I had so many expectations of how I was planning to spend my week, and was quickly reminded just how bad I am at being sick. Last Wednesday, I laid on the couch all day long, and realized I hadn't done that in years. I'm a mover, a doer, and not a very good rester.
I was planning to attend BASIC last Thursday night, a college ministry through our local churches on UNI's campus, to share about IF:Gathering, but started to question whether I should, or really desired to, after the week I had had. I still wasn't feeling quite up to par, and I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to getting up on a stage in front of hundreds of college kids in an unfamiliar place. I was anxious, unconfident, and sick. Not the best combination for my spirit, and I'm pretty good at talking myself out of things when fear of the unknown gets in the way. But I went, and as always, God met me at the door and He took care of the rest.
I was loved on, prayed over, and fully accepted just as I am that night. I stumbled through my announcement about IF, and although I was planning to sit with some sweet girls from life group, I chose a seat in the very back row of the auditorium, all to myself, instead. I was blessed to see one of the most beautiful services, a mix of story, scripture, and song from Drew Schmidt and the incredibly talented BASIC band. My vantage point in the back of the room provided me the space I needed to just be alone in that place, yet filled in a room full of college kids, their hands high in the air, praising a loving God who meets us all right where we are.
During the service, the speaker reminded me of something I needed to hear. He said, "God doesn't measure us by our success. Success is simply saying yes when we are called." I smiled when he said this as I thought of myself in that back row, in the most unlikely of places on a Thursday night. I thought about the worldly stuff I was preoccupied with - how anxious I had felt about giving my announcement earlier that night, tossing and turning over each word I planned to say and how it would be received by my audience. I thought about my desire to prove my worth by how many people signed up, or how good I looked and sounded at the front of that stage. I want to impress, I want to prove, I want to be affirmed. But God doesn't care about any of those things. He simply wants us to be obedient to a life with Him, and go where He calls us to be. Whether it be a college campus, an intentional conversation with my husband, or that back row of BASIC, I seem to meet God the most in the places that aren't always easy or comfortable. But He always meets me there, and He always shows me something about His love through the process.
Two years ago, I know with all my heart that God called me to attend IF:Gathering at Nazareth Church in Cedar Falls. I know this because God lit a spark up in me that hasn't really burned out since. It's trickled into so many areas of my life - my friendships, my marriage, my kids, my place of work, and a burning desire to know God through His word. And as I step away from it all, two years later, and see just how God has worked in my life, it is just too much for human hands. I know this was not the case for every woman who attended that same IF:Gathering, so I know that God simply used it, among other things, to get me out of my stuck, autopilot ways, and spur me on to a new way to live. That's how He works. Through individual people and places and opportunities He has uniquely crafted and created to serve the hearts of all His people, to bring His full story to fruition. IF was a small part of my story and now He's equipping me to be a small part of someone's else's story. That's discipleship, and it's how Jesus wants to change the world.
All week, God has felt close and I love that. I bounce back and forth from wanting to cry or sing loud at all times, and the smallest of details carry new importance and meaning. A quick, seemingly unimportant interaction with a passerby. Those hands lifted high into the sky. Sweet college girls chasing my kids around the house on an otherwise ordinary Monday night. A simple conversation about faith with my babes on the way to school. God is in us and wants to move through us. And all we have to do is turn down the volume of this world enough to let Him flood His goodness in.
God lit a spark in me at the IF:Gathering 2016, and it's only fitting that two years later, we will gather together for IF:Gathering 2018 to study Paul's letter to Timothy, calling him to fan that flame and live with a spirit of power and love and discipline. I can't wait to have a whole weekend to soak in this truth and have the space to lean in to where God might be asking me to say yes. And I pray maybe it's a yes for you, too! Visit here to learn more about IF and how you can sign up, or sign up here to attend our local live stream event here. You have until Feb. 1 to sign up. I also wanted to include this super short video that gives an awesome picture of the mission behind IF and what you can expect to get at the two day event!
And finally! One of the best ways I can turn down the volume of the world around me and turn up the volume of God's spirit in me is through music! I put together a playlist of all my favorite worship songs right now and have had it on repeat all week. God is going to move this year, at IF:Gathering, in churches and living rooms and coffee shops and in the most unexpected of places, through ordinary, everyday people like you and me. All He wants is our yes.
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