The Lord is Near

This might be a longer post. God has showed me a lot today.

Church this morning was outstanding. I was warmly greeted by tea and coffee and friendly faces. We sang for 45 minutes in worship and asked the Holy Spirit to meet us in worship and through the message. Garreth Lloyd spoke today on a passage in Ephesians. Here is what I took away.
-God calls us to love Him and love people. Simple. Love him love people.
-Faith ACTS. So many times, we feel called to certain things, but we churn and think over it so much that we move on in time. FAITH ACTS. We have faith in Christ. All of our eggs are in one basket. We are COMPLETELY trusting in Christ and the promises he has made to us throughout his Word. We are loved, adopted, redeemed, and then called to GO forth. Are we acting? Or are we just talking and thinking about acting? This is particularly convicting to me as I have been thinking about reaching out to the poor and outcasts for the past few months. How am I taking steps of faith... steps that show that I am CONFIDENT that Christ and his work are the best news that needs to be heard...to share this good news? I'm going to go sit at a coffee shop tomorrow. And pray for God to move in hearts as I sit there and hopefully have conversations. And if NOTHING happens, I will know that I have taken a step of faith, and that God is pleased.

We then had a treasure hunt over the mountains. Completely marvelous.

Then a prayer meeting. 16 of us gathered to meet the Holy Spirit. All ages of people gathered to call on His name. Coming to this meeting, I was burdened with a few things in my life. But God quickly reminded me to look to Him through this verse:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." -Hebrews 12

There are a few things that God is "throwing off" FOR me. So that I can genuinely stand before him and sing, "I'll stand. With arms high and heart abandoned." Let us throw off all that entangles so that we can RUN. Following this meeting, I went on a walk in the woods, and sang and prayed. Found much comfort in the Lord. When I look to Christ, there is comfort and refreshment. When I look around me, I grow discouraged.