Inspiring Monday

amongthelilies25

Okay...write anything that has inspired you this past week..it could be a sermon, a thought, a quote, a verse...anything. (: 

and go! (:

aggiebug

The beautiful smile on our pastor's adopted little girls face.  I was just watching her this weekend and it hit me that she is so blessed to be where she is instead of where she could have been. 

amongthelilies25

oh! i love it!!! that would inspire me too!!!! (: 

iamjoesgurl

We went to a Disciple concert on Saturday and after the concert, Kevin (lead singer) came back out and spent about 10 or 15 minutes clearly explaining what sin is, we all have it, Christ came to save us, died to cover our sins and all we need to do is accept the free gift He has given.  The gospel message was so clear.  I was standing there looking at all of those teenage boys there (it was primarily boys) listening to this guy that they look up to as a rock star share with them the most important part of his life.  It is so rare that a headliner comes back to the stage after a show and it was SO cool.  

amongthelilies25

oh i love that!!! that is sooooo amazing!!!!! (: wow! 

kellya01

The beloved pastor at our church retired (after 23 years, wow!) and his last Sunday was yesterday.  We had a big church-wide dinner with close to 600 in attendance on Saturday night, and a big church-wide service (only 1, we usually have 3 services) and the place was packed.  It was all very moving and everything... but the most tear-jerking moment was when our retiring pastor performed a footwashing ceremony on the incoming pastor.  There wasn't a dry eye in the whole place, and we probably had over 500 people at that service.  The choir sang this song entitled "Till We Meet Again" which is what the pastor and his wife would always say (never goodbye).  I think the entire choir, myself included, were in tears before we sang the first moment.  

The choir and congregation also sang "In Christ Alone" (Stuart Townend and Keith Getty) - when we got to the phrase "Up from the grave, He Rose Again" almost everyone in the congregation had their hands up, singing so loudly I thought the roof was going to blow off the building!  Even if the choir didn't have a "perfect" performance on that song, no one would have noticed because God was definitely in the place and keeping our focus on Him.  We started off the service with a very lively gospel-type rendition of "Church on Fire" - the words from the chorus are:

What the world needs now

Is a church on fire, a church on fire

What the world needs now

Is a church on fire, a church on fire

A church that moves with the Holy Ghost

Is what the world needs most

What the world needs now is a church on fire for God!

Yeah, that song kept playing in my head yesterday and much of today.  

That's what kept me going today.  But music speaks to me in a way like nothing else can, so it works for me.  God knew what I needed, even though we were ALL very sad to see our pastor retire, we were ALL very happy to have a new pastor coming in immediately.  BTW, for the first time in Southern Baptist Convention history (from what I've been told), our new pastor by congregational vote was approved with 99.9% of the votes.  Only 1 dissenting vote out of the entire membership.  We are so blessed to have a church of one mission and one goal, to share the gospel and show people the love of Christ! 

AshNoel8

Very cool, Kelly! 

I am big on music, too, so I'm feeling I Will Follow by Chris Tomlin today. 

azdancer8

DH and I visited my grandmother in the hospital yesterday, and I know how much it frustrates her to be laid up, so I took her a Bible so she would have something to read if she was bored. The way her face lit up was so sweet, and we were talking about which passages we like best. It was a really inspiring start to my week. 

RNShellyF

I just read the account of Gethsemane in Matthew- wow! God's love for us is so overwhelming!

amongthelilies25

kelly; 

wow!!! that is just such moving story!!! (: thanks for sharing. i would have been crying so hard during that foot washing thing too!!!

bourgehm

All of your responses to my 'worry worry worry' post sure inspired me!!

mrandmrsbrist

So, this isn't from Sunday and it has a little bit of a back story, but I think that's okay.

I'm getting ready for a mission trip (we leave in 12 days, ahh!) to another college campus with the student ministry group I'm apart of here. I've really been struggling with my health lately. And while it's not anything new for me, I've been really questioning God's sovregintity and faithfullness through it all. I texted one of the other guys going on the trip last night and he came over so I could just verbally process a few things and ended up staying for 5 hours. One of the things we were talking about is the "Why me? Why now? Why this?" questions I seemed to be having (and have frequently with other situations). And what he said blew my mind. I had to write it down. "I've realized that those kinds of questions are seldom productive and almost never with a good heart." I had to sit there and think about it for a while.

BrideToBeBecauseHeLovesMe

My grandma's face and spirit.

We're all praying she makes it to my wedding - as she SHOULD but has just given up hope.  She has Alzheimer's and is on the decline again, only it seems to be gaining speed rather quickly and not evening out again.  I went up to see her and gave her Chocolate Mounds (she loves them) and three roses and the way her face lights up and her smile, and she's so sweet.  It just keeps me going. 

Ccsvball05

My FI and I drive a van to pick up kids for church. Every Sunday morning I love seeing the faces of those kids so excited to go to church. It makes getting up earlier to pick them up and getting home later due to taking them home so worth it. I love those kids to death, and couldn't imagine my life without them!