Unexpected Meeting

When I was in middle school and high school and still attended youth group and went to church camp I had a preconceived notion on what a "God meeting" was. Anytime when the lights were dim and my youth pastor would be playing something acoustic I would lose it. With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I felt God's presence more than ever. Like I was physically in the same room as Him or something. I would go to the alter and in the midst of the music and the thick atmosphere I would proclaim my love for my heavenly Father. Afterwards, when walking to the Snack Shack while at Camp Sharon, kids would be talking about random nothingness and I would almost instantly snap out of that "state of worship." I remember several occasions being disappointed and wondering why I couldn't feel that way just in my everyday life. It reminds me of the lyrics to a Steven Curtis Chapman song, Moment Made for Worshipping:

"6:30 Monday morning,

I'm here hiding in my bed.

A song plays on my alarm clock,

as I cover up my head.

Somewhere in the distance

I remember yesterday,

singing Hallelujah,

full of wonder, awe & praise.

But now I'm just wondering

why I don't feel anything

at all?"

I've lived the words to this song over and over again, sadly. I just couldn't understand why God didn't want to meet me where I was. Wow, was I wrong. God's always ready to meet me, I have to be willing.

This week, God has completely caught me off guard, moving boulders around in my heart. Earlier this week I cleaned up my iTunes a bit and made a worship playlist with hundreds of songs. I was listening to it on my way home from school Wednesday. [Let me first set the setting for you. It was sunny outside and I was near the back of a long line of cars going 45 in a 55. Not exactly my "church camp" scene that I described earlier.] The song Your Hands by JJ Heller came on. It's such a simple and quaint song. But when she sang the words "When my world is shaking, Heaven stands.." I just lost it!! I had a huge lump in my throat and I was fighting back tears (only because I was on my way to work; otherwise I would have let it out). I was compelled and overcome with the urge to just praise God and thank Him for all that He is at that moment. It was uncontrollable! Then the polar opposite began playing on my iPod. (Usually this sudden change up would have caused me to snap back into "reality." Nope. Not that day.) Transformers by Lecrae began to play and my heart was overjoyed by the promise in 2 Corinthians 5:17! I couldn't smiling and this time I couldn't stop the tears!

When I parked my car in my driveway I just thanked God for reminding me that I can have that experience with Him anywhere and everywhere! The rest of the lyrics to Steven Curtis Chapman's song describe my unexpected meeting perfectly:

"This is a moment made for worshipping
Cause this is a moment I'm alive
And this is a moment I was made to sing
A song of living sacrifice
For every moment that I live and breathe
This is a moment made for worshipping!"