We’ve started a new series!
Don’t we all want to live Happily Ever After?
No matter male or female – old or young…
We all want to ride off into the sunset of our dreams.
We all want a legacy to be remembered by.
We all want to find our true love.
We all want to be rich and generous.
We all want to live passionately.
During this series we’ll discover the wisdom to make these dreams come true. We’ll draw from the writings in the Book of Proverbs. And each week we’ll hear from people who have personally learned some of these lessons.
Proverbs begins with this:
“These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king— written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; A manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes & give our young people a grasp on reality. There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn— Fresh wisdom to probe & penetrate the rhymes & reasons of wise men & women.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m in!
5.3.09 – The dream: somewhere over the rainbow
On this night we focussed on the idea that discovering the plans God has for you, means listening carefully and letting him make all the decisions! The verse for the night was Proverbs 3:5-6 (New Living Translation):
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
We opened with a couple songs: Marvelous Light (Hall) & Made to Worship (Tomlin). It was Preschool Sunday at our church that day, so we watched a bit of video about our Preschool.
We invited everyone to take a card and a sharpie and to write down a dream they have about the plans God has for them. A prayer for guidance in whatever area they wonder about. A question about what’s over their rainbow. We then collected those cards and came back to them at the end of the service.
Britta Alton shared some of her story with us as it relates to learning lessons about following God’s lead even when they had no idea what that was going to look like exactly. She and Kevin (our youth minister) moved to Ringgold from Cartersville and God was definitely in charge of the move. She shared her exprience in that process and how it was hard but rewarding, scary but beautiful to see.
Following Britta’s testimony, Andrew & McKenzie did a great skit about giving God the gift of making our decisions. About how hard that is to actually do, and about how most of the time we end up taking that control back from him. You can watch a version of it on Youtube. They did a great job with this!
After that John segued us into our monthly communion. When we’re thinking about how hard it is to follow God’s lead in making decisions about the future, can you just imagine how scared the disciples must have been in those last days with Jesus? Gathered around the table with him that night, do you think they realized how big this movement was going to get? Do you think they knew what was in store for them? When they took the cup and bread from Christ they were blindly saying YES. In faith, in trust, they were giving God the reigns and that’s what we have the opportunity to do, too. We invited people to come up and receive the gift of salvation, the hope of a future in the body and blood of Christ. As they came forward we sang Indescribable (Tomlin) and Blessed Be Your Name (Redman).
When communion was finished, we closed with a very special prayer. Earlier, we entered into Media Shout all the prayers from the cards people had filled out at the beginning of the night. So looking at our screen we prayed each of those prayers together. Some of them were beautiful:
“God, give us the faith to trust you without knowing the answers.”
“God, make us strong and courageous that we may always serve you and do your will.”
“God, open our hearts wide to receive You.”
“God, help us live an undivided life.”
“God, may everything and anything we do be for your glory.”
“God, we pray that our past would be that. And our future would be with your plan and YOUR prosperity.”
“God, show us why we’re where we are now, so we can better understand where we want to be.”
It was a cool night. More to come. Here are our prayer requests this week: (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)
:: Jackie Anderson is home from another stay at a treatment facility and asks for continued prayers for her healing and wellness. There are still of lots of complicated life details to figure out as well. This will be a long, rough road.
:: Sonya Cooper’s Aunt – Mary – is back in Mexico for more treatment and is feeling good. Pray for healing and hope.
:: Louise & Keith Kenney’s daughter in law – Michelle Kenney – has FINISHED her treatment for breast cancer and so far all is good!!! Keep praying for her and her family (husband and two kids)!
:: Pray for Lynn Kelly – she’s doing good, but still struggling with several recovery issues. Her sister-in-law is also battling cancer – her name is Susan.
:: Tony got a job!! Pray that it goes well as he begins to get his feet under him again.
