...from Whom all blessings flow.

The Doxology has been in my head for the past two days. Not exactly sure why. Maybe because God wants to remind me that in no matter what circumstances I find myself, I am supposed to worship and be thankful for the blessings that He gives.

Interestingly enough, tonight we had a church meeting. It started out as a yummy church potluck (who doesn't love that???) and we enjoyed great company. Then we heard from a team that has been in a four month process of prayer and dialogue over whether or not our current church should take over this plot of land...there are a lot more details that I can't really explain, but all I know is that this small congregation approached our leadership, asked to become a part of our church, and said they have this land that they would like to keep, but it's expensive to keep. Eventually it could be a church plant...basically they want the land to be used for Kingdom use. It was kind of emotional...hearing peoples' questions, comments, stories, etc. We voted, and it came out to be a YES...that we will take over the land. The people from this church's congregation (who has been a part of us since June) - some of them cried and hugged each other. All I could think was, "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!" I was so thankful! And then...my pastor says into the microphone, "Hey, grab the hand of someone near you and we are going to sing the Doxology." Whoa. That was cool. Very, very cool.

This afternoon I started listening to a sermon by Jeff Manion - it is a GOOD one. It is about one of the 7 churches in the book of Revelation - called Philadelphia. It's about persevering through suffering. A few good thoughts so far (I am listening to the rest of it now):

*Suffering = a greenhouse for growth
*Is it possible to be at our best when life is at its worst?
*Jesus says, "My door is open, welcome home."
*What you stand to gain eclipses what was lost.
*Hang in there.
*May you be faithful in this ugly season.

Tomorrow I should hear back from a job I interviewed for a week and a half ago. I REALLY want this job, people. It would just be...really, really awesome to get this one. For real. There were 4 of us interviewed for it, so I guess that means I have a 25% chance of getting it, right, Joel?

Stay tuned...and until then...go listen to the David Crowder Band sing the Doxology. It is awesome. :)