Sunday, September 16

I love Sundays!! For one reason, they are so relaxing . . . I don't plan anything so I can spend the afternoon updating my blog (like now) or reading or drinking coffee or praying or whatever!  Secondly, I love going to church.  I wish that each one of you could come visit Iglesia Bautista Evangelica de Macoris.  It is such a wonderful church.  There is such a sweet spirit of worship every Sunday, both morning and evening.  Many of the songs are the same as what we sing in English, however, because they are in Spanish, I have to trranslate them in my head and it forces me to really think about the words more than I do in English.  Sometimes I don't know the words, but I can get the main idea and then I just dwell on that.  The music is so wonderful too - great singing with very talented musicians playing the guitar, drums, bongos, piano, etc.  I also love to watch the sincere love for and devotion to God on the expressions of the people.  So moving. One particular woman catches my attention.  She is the head of the finances for the school.  She reminds me a little bit of my mom - very serious much of the time, very educated in the area of money and demonstrates a true love for God.  She left a very important position at a very well-paying job to come to work at the school, knowing that finances would be so tight and that she might not get paid the first year of school.  As an American, I am usually amazed by the simple lives and pure love for God of the people who have nothing.  But this woman has just stuck out in my head . . . she had "everything" according to the world and yet she chose simple service for her Lord.  To see her hand raised and hear her sing to Him, challenges me immensely. 

Another thing that has been so neat about church is that I don't know a lot of Spanish but I am able to understand the service by following along in my Spanish/English Bible (thanks, Bro. Lewis)  and listening hard.  For the last 2 weeks, the Sunday morning sermon has been almost exactly what I read or prayed about in my devotions that morning.  Funny how God can work like that no matter where you are.  His Word and His Spirit are not bound by language barriers.  He has really been working on me through the messages and the songs to have a heart that desires Him, to cut out things that are distracting and plans for the future and just focus on Him and what He is doing right now and how great He is.  During the week, I get so busy with school and so distracted even when I do come to Him.  I want to have a heart of worship that listents to Him all the time, even in the busy moments.