Testimony.

My church splits up the prayer meeting by age range. In the few times that I've gone, I've sat in the young adult prayer meeting. It's pretty awesome. However, today I sat and fellowshipped with the seniors in my church for prayer meeting. To hear their perspective, transparency, and fervor for Christ was both heart-warming and refreshing. The encouragement of the older generation is so important and so vital. If we, as the younger generation, can know that there is someone who has run the course and is rooting for us, it really helps to make the journey even more worthwhile. 

Tonight, I heard so many testimonies and prayer requests. However, there was one line in one of the testimonies that stood out to me so much. One member thanked God for her sister's death because she is now beyond the reach of the enemy. Man. I've never ever heard someone articulate death quite that way. 

Even though we miss our loved ones terribly, it is a comforting thought to know that they are beyond the enemy's reach now. The enemy is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Well, bless God he can't devour them. 

However it makes me think a little more. Technically, those of us who are in Christ are beyond the enemy's reach in that he can't devour us unless we don't surrender to Christ and allow Him to take over. When we look at the story of Job, God asked the devil if He had considered Job. The devil just wasn't allowed to devour him. In the end, Job was still out of the enemy's grasp because he made the decision to follow Christ all the way. He famously said, "though he slay me yet will I trust Him!" 

I'm making a conscious effort to work on my emotions. The goal is to make sure that I am not being emotionally led. I always want to be God-led in everything I do. I will admit that if I went through what Job went through, I can't honestly say I wouldn't try to die. Job's wife encouraged him to curse God and die. I'd rather not curse God (at least not intentionally) but I'd probably try to die only because after all Job went through, you'd expect a "kill me now and I don't believe you love me God" attitude. There were some bitter times in this story but at the end of the day, Job knew he would trust God no matter what. 

I am exhausted and I'm really not sure if any of this is truly making sense. Lol! 

Singing some of the old hymns in the senior prayer meeting was really nice. I learned one or two more hymns that I didn't know. I loved how it was a given that no one skipped verses. Everyone sang and knew all 5 stanzas BY HEART. It reminded me of when my parents had family worship with us early early in the morning. One of the things I remember from family worship was the fact that my parents made sure I knew all the words to songs like Lord in the morning. My sisters could hum but I had to know the words. To this day, it doesn't seem very fair but that song has grown on me and I can appreciate the beautiful words and melodies of hymns.