We just finished Vacation Bible School.
It's an outreach for the children in our community that our church has held every summer since... Well, actually, I don't know when we started. I'd say that there is a very strong possibility VBS has been going on here since it became widespread throughout church congregations in 1923.
I attended when I was a child and was a teen helper for the preschool class after that. I haven't helped every year since, but I can sure account for a lot of them! I helped in the kitchen a couple of years. Then, taught my first class when our son was four. I continued helping with the preschool class through the late 90s before moving up to first grade.
But, for the past 10 years or so, I have had the privilege of teaching music. I love it so much!
It got even better when my sister moved back to the state and began helping me. We have a total of about an our hour and a half with each class all together. And on Friday night, we invite family and friends to come and celebrate with us. The kids look forward to performing the songs they have worked on all week.
We have great fun.
God rocks!
Music has always been my favorite way to worship God and I've learned a lot about His Word through music too. I love being able to share that connection with people. But,
every year there's that one song that speaks specifically to my heart.
In it, I find a connection with something I am dealing with in my life and the fact that God knows what's up and He's got it covered.
A lesson just for me, right there in the midst of things.
*Sharing your look of amazement.* I know, right?
God is awesome like that!
This year, VBS hadn't even begun yet! Part of my job is to prepare the lyrics to be projected for the children to view. A few years ago, we upgraded to a projector and I can now create them with power point. Wheeeeeeee! The slides always go together quickly. The animation and timing each slide to advance with the music takes me a while longer, but it's something I enjoy doing. I usually work on them at night after the girls have gone to bed. I will interject here that I can get a little obsessed with a project. Case in point, my husband gets up around 3:30 (that's AM... 😫 Poor guy.) to get ready to leave for his route and has caught me still working on something more than once! I know I'm in danger of being busted when I hear the coffee pot kick on. Truth be told, sometimes I have even succumbed to the temptation to slug a cup or two and press on all night. That's usually when I am blogging actually and it's only been a few times. Honest! One afternoon, the girls were playing so nicely that I took advantage of the sudden free time to sit down in the playroom with them at the PC and start working on animation and timing. Things began to fall apart in the land of imagination about the time I had things roughly in place. As mentioned above, I get a little obsessed at times and couldn't wait to see the finished product. I dangled our very favorite movie in front of them - Big Hero 6 - and knew I would have 102 precious minutes to get this song in the can! I popped in the DVD and went right back to work. Both girls were at my elbow in what seemed like minutes. I promised I was nearly finished and asked them to please find something to do for just a few minutes more. They complied and I went back to the task at hand. I was having a bit of trouble getting the last few slides lined up perfectly and to be honest was getting a bit frustrated with that fact. I was so close! A "grrrrrrrrrrr" escaped my lips about the same time Cynthia reappeared at my elbow. She whined, "How much longer? You said it would be just a little while a long time ago!" I realized then just how much of our day (now turned evening!) I had spent working. 😮 I acknowledged that she was right and asked her to be patient just a few minutes longer. I would just try one more little adjustment and maybe that would do it. She immediately bowed her little head and said, "Oh, please, God, help Charelle do it! Amen." I added a second here and there, then deleted a second here and there. Then announced we were ready to see if it worked. She scrambled up on my lap and I clicked play.
When this slide popped up mid-song, she nearly jumped off my lap in excitement as she exclaimed, "I know who's hands those are! They are God's hands! You are right! He really is bigger than anything!"
I explained that was not a real picture of God's hands, but one someone had made because they knew God was big enough to hold the whole world in His hands.
By the time that little conversation finished, we were nearing the end of the song and... Success!
"Done deal!" I said feeling quite pleased with myself.
"It is? He heard me! God helped you!" Cynthia exclaimed.
I immediately deflated a bit remembering her half heard prayer.
"Why, yes He did!" I agreed and thanked my sweet girl for praying for help and for reminding me that's what I'm supposed to do when I start to fret.
It was then that I felt like God whispered to my spirit.
"Silly girl."
And I felt a tiny bit sheepish for getting out of sorts.
The song I had been working on was "Cast My Cares" by Finding Favour.
Silly me was right! I'd been excited to create something to honor God, but hadn't once thought to ask God to help me get it together! About the time this revelation was hitting me, Cynthia asked, "Did we cast our care?" I affirmed that we had indeed—thanks to her.
Next, I apologized to God straight away for not staying focused enough on the message right in front of me to actually follow through with what the lesson we sought to teach in using the song.
Cast all our cares. Give them to God. Trust Him to take care of us.
I could have trusted Him to help with something as minute as timing a slide show.
Had I done so, I imagine I would have finished long before!
Are the burdens you carry getting to heavy to bear?
I know someone who gave His life so you would not have to be overcome with the weight of the world.
He will give you the strength to persevere through the trials and troubles no matter what they are!
When you give your life to Jesus, you can live with the confidence of knowing everything is going to turn out all right.
Can we pray?
Father God,
You are mighty enough to hold the weight of the world in Your hands and more, but still You care so much for each and every one of us.
Your unending love gives us hope. And with hope in our hearts, we can endure anything.
You are in control of it all. We need not worry or be afraid because there is not one thing too big or too small for You to handle. When we feel stress, anxiety, pain, fear... the list of all things negative in our lives... we can give it to You and You will take care of it.
I'm asking for You to make that known without a doubt to the one who is reading this.
If they have not yet found a relationship with You through accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I pray today will be the day. And that from this point on, they grow to love and trust You more each day.
If they are already saved, I pray You reinforce in them the importance of being able to cast all their cares on You. When we are able to do that, what a witness we are to this lost and dying world.
Thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your Son. Your great love for us was surely proved that day. It's in the name of Jesus that I pray. He mirrored Your love when He willingly died for us.
It's through Him that we are reconciled to You.
Amen
Thanks for stopping by. 😏
See you next time!
Love,
C
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Big Hero 6 Image property of Disney. No rights here!