4 Hours of Greatness

4 hours of greatness. 4 hours of God’s presence. 4 hours of worship. 4 hours of pure joy.

Sunday (June 30) was mostly spent at Mahlabaneni Care Point for church and it may have been my most favorite Sunday yet.

From my journal and with a few extra thoughts thrown in:

Sunday was great and encouraging and uplifting. We went to Mahlabaneni for church and it was just so great. I even danced in church! The church was so filled with joy and passion. It’s also Saneles’ church (one of the ministry partners). But so we got there and then Erica could not remember if she turned off her stove so I rode back with her while everyone went to church. When we returned (which was probably at least 45 minutes later) they were still just doing worship. Then they welcomed us up as visitors and mentioned that they do something different. And different was right. As we stood up there music began playing and an uproar of singing came toward us and the whole church started dancing and coming toward us to come and shake our hands and then get us to dance. It was great. I definitely felt welcomed. I imagined what it would be like if this was a tradition back home. (How much more would people enjoy coming to church if this was how the service was. Full of joy. Full of welcoming spirits. There was no doubt that we were welcomed and that we were not visitors but all brothers and sisters in Christ. It was just a body of believers, of family.) The sermon was great. It was about what it means to love God with all your heart, soul and might as it says in Deuteronomy. I took notes on it so if you want to know more I can fill you in but just trust me when I say that it was a great encouragement as well as convicting. And then because it was the end of the month they did an extra contribution. This donation was going to go to getting doors for the church. Last year the church building wasn’t even at the are point so essentially they have been doing these extra contributions to get it build. So Richard (the preacher for the day) posed the goal of over R6000. It was closer to R7000 actually. But so by the end of that very long section of the service, they were only short R50 which is just incredible that the church could bring together that kind of money especially here in Swaziland. Aside from the sermon that might have been the most encouraging site. Being here in Swaziland I have seen so much brokenness, hunger, despair, longing and last year that congregation was amongst all of that. But there is hope! Good will come for those that wait and trust in the Lord!! So good! God is good and God is at work! There is no doubt. Last year this church was in survival mode. But now it is thriving! 4 hours of greatness. 4 hours of God’s presence. 4 hours of worship. 4 hours of pure joy.

“Here, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” ~Deuteronomy 6:4,5