Made To Worship

This was a note that my wife Vicki wrote about our Summer Worship Series that we did just last Sunday night. Her thoughts were so good- I wanted to share them with you. Enjoy the guest blog!!

"Something incredible happened last night at my church. (Rochester church of Christ) People came to gather for the purpose of worshiping God. Okay, some people came for the potluck beforehand, but I believe the majority of the 250+ people that walked through the doors came to church to worship. I don't say this to be coy or playful, but to give thanks to God for allowing people to be open to what we were made for!

I can't even begin to explain the buzz of energy in that "sanctuary" before even a word was spoken from the stage. We knew it was coming...we knew we would be singing our hearts out to God and we were actually EXPECTING Him to show up! Why don't we always come to the church building expecting this?!? When we come expecting to meet our Lord, He never fails us!

I watched people I have never seen comfortable enough to raise their hands in worship before, surrendering their lack of comfort to Him. I saw God in the faces of my fellow brothers and sisters as they cried to God and allowed Him to meet whatever needs they were laying at His feet during our outpourings of love to Him. As you may or may not know, I am a very expressive worshiper. I LOVE to sing to my God...it is the way I best experience my relationship with Him. I often shed tears as I sing the beautifully written words describing our God and his love for us. However, last night... last night I couldn't stop the tears from running for 2 songs straight. I was ready for Him, I was waiting for Him, I was experiencing Him...but it was when I saw Him coming down and reaching into peoples lives right before me that I was blessed by Him and could not express my joy in any other way than to cry my way through 2 songs from the stage.

I am so blessed to be at a church where people actually come to worship. My sister-in-law, in from out of town, told me on Sunday as she cried watching our "family communion" take place that she was catching a glimpse of what Heaven would be like. I knew exactly what she meant. I too have cried watching people from all walks of life genuinely embracing each other as they follow Christ's command to love one another during our unconventional 3rd service communion time (which so many people unknowingly have frowned upon). Now I realize, unfortunately, it is not always this way. In fact, I count two other times at my particular church where I've experienced worship to this degree in the last couple of years. But God, in His timing, reveals to us just one more glimpse of what we were made to do - to worship Him. And it is at times like these that I cannot wait to be experiencing the worship in Heaven. I cannot begin to fathom the emotions that will tear through and overtake me.

It is at times like these that I surrender the most to my precious Savior and thank Him for allowing us to have the honor of being in His presence even if it is just for the hour. It is at times like these that I am overwhelmingly blessed to have a husband that leads me into the throne room of the Most High where I am indulged into a better relationship with not only my Lord, but my love as well. It is at times like these that I can do little else than to sit back, shed some tears, thank God, and just be...

be myself, completely vulnerable, completely devastated, completely given over to HIM.

May God give you experiences where you realize your potential for worship to Him. May He give you the desire, the need and the knowledge that we are most complete when we are practicing our worship of Him. And, then, with this knowledge you will not hold back, but you will, in every circumstance, become more and more - made to worship."

-Vicki Lindsey