Sweet Holy Spirit

Yesterday was a great day. I turned 32...not so great...but received a lot of love because of it!
Also, we had church. Now, if you have never visited an Apostolic Pentecostal church, you may not understand what I am going to write next. So, just know, that my life revolves around God...so there will be the occasional blog about church or my beliefs.

Lately, I have been really trying to pray more. I want so badly to be close to God. I read a book a few months ago, a novel, called Havah. This is an extraordinary book about Creation. The whole book is written from Eve's perspective. As I read the book, I felt this tugging at my spirit...an urgency to get closer to God.
I never really thought about it before, but Adam and Eve had the closest relationship with God that has ever been. They actually KNEW Him. They spent time with Him. The Bible said that they would walk in the Garden in the cool of the day, communing with God.
In this book, the way this communion was described was incredible. Adam and Eve did not need to speak any words. They were without sin, at this point, and their minds communicated with God on a level that you and I cannot understand. (Now, I do realize this is fiction, but I do believe that God speaks to us, and if we are still, we can hear His voice. Not unlike what this book describes.)
As I read, I started to cry. I rarely cry while reading books or even while watching movies, but this book stirred my heart. I had to put the book down, and take some time to pray. I asked God to draw me closer to Him, and I asked Him to help me be still, and listen.
Through the spring and summer, I have been praying, each day, that God would continue to draw me closer and that He would continue to work in our city.
Yesterday, at our 10:30 a.m. service, He did just that.
His presence was so strong during worship service and prayer, and there was a feeling of expectancy in the sanctuary. Pastor Smothers got up and preached about "Doing Good". He talked about being a city set on a hill, being the salt of the earth, being a light that shines the Gospel. It was a beautiful sermon, one that really inspired those who heard it.
At the end of the sermon, he called everyone up to the altar. I went on the platform to sing, and the song I chose to sing was "Sweet Holy Spirit".
I cannot describe the sweet presence of God that swept into our sanctuary. The altar was filled, and I heard my brothers and sisters in the Lord singing that beautiful song.
I got so caught up in the song, that I forgot where I was and what I was doing...and the more we sang, the stronger God's presence became.
As we ended the song, I began to cry and pray...I felt such a spirit of unity and peace come over our congregation.
Even now, as I sit here writing this, I can feel God's presence. His gentle and sweet Spirit is here. I pray, that if you have never experienced this, that you would ask Him to reveal Himself to you.
I have never experienced anything better than this.
May your day be full of peace, and may you find THIS peace that I have found.

Brothers

I am amazed at how much Tyler loves his big brother! And Zach is very good with Tyler...he loves to hug him and cuddle with him.
I guess it helps that Tyler is such a laid-back baby. He rarely cries, and he puts up with Zach's older-brother roughness. Can you tell I love my nephews?

More Cousin-Time

Here are a few more pictures of all the cousins. It was quite difficult to get them all to look at the camera at the same time, so you can see that both pictures are quite nice, but none of them have all four kids looking at me! Haha...oh well...still sweet, right?

Cousins

Summertime is Cousin-time. We love spending time with our cousins! Here are a few pics from the past few days. Kelsey and Zach were having a lot of fun on Grampy's hammock.

Enjoy!