I have poured my entire life into Vacation Bible School the past two weeks!! I do not even want to know how many hours it would add up to be! My children have been wonderful! They have helped and helped. They have taken care of Krisann. They have been my pack mules! They have served our church behind the scenes because of my involvement! I am so thankful that God gave them sweet hearts!! My husband has had to live with a wife that has one thing and one thing only on her mind! I'm sure he's glad that I have survived as well! I know he is anxious for me to have some down time!
From my perspective, we have had a good week! I have stayed exceptionally busy. I haven't had much time to sit! But I have had very few problems to deal with! I think we've given out only one bandaid and that was today! I had a couple of great leaders who have gone with my crazy ideas, met with me every other week for months now and have worked hard to pull VBS off! We had plenty of workers! (Thank you God!) I saw our youth interact with our children in ways I have never seen! I've seen crazy hair dos! I've seen kids getting piggy back rides from one place to another. I've seen kids pulling adults up that hill that takes your breath away! I've seen preschoolers praising Jesus! I've seen kids singing their hearts out! I've seen God Sightings everywhere!! I have so much bubbling in my heart right now that I think I could type for hours and not even touch the surface of all that has been going on.
My inventions...we have all figured out that my inventions aren't perfect. Even after working for awhile today, we could not get those pandas into the balcony. We tried several times! But we sure did have fun launching those pandas!! My yoo hoo tube...well I think it was almost perfect! It sure was good for getting important messages across. I will forever remember Mrs. Lydia's rendition of God is Wild About You through the yoo hoo tube!! And my 24/7 watch o meter...a lot of work went into that creation! I owe a couple of people really big for all their help with that. I needed programs loaded on phones and ipads! Then I needed them to stay under a box and walk around with no way to see where they were going except by looking down and all the while hold their Ipad/phone camera in a small tiny area! I needed help from Mr. Will to get it all set up! It took a lot of help but together we created what was the kids favorite invention of the week! 24/7 God is always watching over you....He's got great big plans for you.
The offering we took was amazing. I always have planned something special for the kids if they met their offering goal. But this year, God just did not direct me to any one fun thing! God directed me to the Downtown Rescue Mission! We partnered with them to purchase backpacks and school supplies. Our goal for the week was 20 backpacks. At the close of VBS on Thursday, we had brought in enough offering for 9! I totally expected giving to be down this year. Just didn't believe with the economy, that we would have as much given! Oh me of little faith! Need I say that at the close of VBS today...we had enough offering to purchase 42 backpacks of school supplies!! Wow! I have heard many stories of kids emptying their piggy banks, setting up lemonade stands on their own accord, etc! How sweet those stories are and how surprised I am at the amount that was raised! I can't wait to call the downtown rescue mission and tell them that we went way over my expected goal! We might have to partner with the and purchase something else besides backpacks!! What I really can't wait for is for our VBS kids to pack these back packs and go with me to deliver and tour the Downtown Rescue Mission! I hope that field trip we will encounter later in the summer will be a special memory in the lives of our children! God rewards us in many different ways!
Life changing decisions were made! We had eight children who sought more information about knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior! What a blessing it was to get to visit with those eight children today! One little boy said he had two questions...why does God love us so much and why did God send Jesus. So we visited for awhile and he was quick to tell me that I answered one question but I still had not told him why God loves us so much! I told him that I bet he could ask 100 people and he'd get the same answer...Just because! I sure am God loves us just because!! Another little girl asked Jesus into her heart today! She was so excited! She has told everyone!! I have heard her several times tell someone! Man, I wish we all had her excitement about God's great love all the time! I'm pretty certain this world would be different if that were true!
Tears were shed! On Wednesday and Thursday, I felt terrible! On Thursday, my head hurt so bad that everytime I turned around I was crying! But thankfully, it only lasted those two days and God gave me the strength to continue even when I thought I couldn't put one foot in front of the other! More tears were shed on Friday as I visited with one little girl who raised her hand to know more about Jesus. One little girl I visited with started sobbing! In an effort to figure out what was going on in that little head, I asked her why she was sad! Between sobs, she says, I'm sad because I like to come to church and I want my parents to take me to church and they don't! I quickly assured that we didn't have to go to church! I didn't want her to have any condemnation about not going to church. I assured her that God loved her no matter what...whether she went to church or not...God still loved her! But we prayed together and asked that God would work a way out so that she could go to church! Oh, how my heart is grieved for that little girl! I can't get her off my mind!! But for some reason, I have a feeling that God is at work! And my prayer is that by next VBS, this little girl and her family will be actively involved in church!!
At the end of VBS today, I told the children if they did not have a Bible at their house I wanted to make sure they got one today! I gave out three Bibles today! Three homes represented with no Bibles now have a copy of God's word!! I had a little boy come to me and say...my dad wants me to get us a Bible. So I gave the little boy a Bible and awhile later I discover the most amazing thing! The little girl I just mentioned being so upset...it was her dad who requested a Bible. I'm shedding tears even as I write this!! What an amazing thing that God is up to! We have studied all week that God Is Wild About You! I pray that our families can continue to remember that God is Wild About Them!! God Created Us! God Listens To Us! God Watches Over Us! God Loves Us No Matter What! God Gives Us Good Gifts.
My prayer is that all my leaders and teachers that have spent this week giving of their lives, that God would give them sweet rest this weekend and rejuvenate their bodies! I pray for these children that have felt God's tug on their hearts. I pray that our church can continue to minister to these families! I pray that what children have learned at VBS, will make an impact in their lives forever! I am so honored and so thankful to have been able to direct VBS this year. It has not been an easy year! I thought that it was just I haven't been the best leader this year just due to the details of life that I have been dealing with over the past year. But I begin to see, it wasn't just me...details have not come together easily for my other leaders but I have known that God always provides. I reminded our leaders at training, that God would provide one way or another even when we didn't see the way! And He did!! Praise the Lord! I lift my hands in praise of the awesome works that God has done this week!
