It’s FMF time again. My first in a while.  I’m so glad I stayed up, because with this week’s word, “Worship”,  I got to remember one of my favorite moments worshiping under the spectacular sound of Christy Nockels voice at a women’s conference.  I love this community who spends five minutes writing once a week. We don’t spend too much time editing, second-guessing, or negative self-talking.  We just write from our hearts for five minutes.  We write because God has given us words and the power to use them to encourage the Body—and I’m so thankful for this group who has made encouragement both a mission and an art form.  I hope you enjoy my FMF contribution:

All My Delight

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My youngest, TJ and Trinity are eleven months apart. Some may call them Irish Twins: two babies born in the same year.  I call them a crash course in God’s grace. One day nearly five years ago when they were three and two, respectively, I came across an ad in “Today’s Christian Women’s” magazine for a women’s conference not too far from Boston featuring my all time favorite worship leader—Christy Nockels.  And I squealed and promised myself I’d save my pennies to go.  Not just because I needed retreat (for a momma of Irish Twins, a break away from the chaos is a forgone conclusion), but because I.  LOVE. Christy Nockels.  I’ve always said, when we get to Heaven, I’m sure the angels will step aside from the platform and say, “Christy, Christy, oh sweet Christy… will you please lead us in worshiping the King?”

Her voice is just that amazing.

So I gave up daily coffees out, took on some babysitting jobs, and ask for a portion of the trip for my Birthday gift.

Finally, the time came. I kissed the family goodbye, got a cute fringe cut, and boarded a plane for DC.

The first night of the conference the room was filled with my second favorite sound in the world behind Christy’s voice…the chattering and gathering of women.  We laughed, made small talk, ohhed and ahhhed over the weekend’s line up (Jan Ortberg and Jen Hatmaker) and showed off our gift shop goodies.  Adult conversation alone was glorious and life giving, but then the music started.  Oh the music started and every latte I sacrificed and extra hours of work outside the house was worth it because this vibrant group of women began to sing, “There is no one else for me, none but Jesus” and my heart swelled, tears filled my eyes, and I knew it.

Heaven was right there in that room.  We were experiencing the Kingdom of God in a profound way.

Surrounded by hundreds of women I didn’t even knew but dearly loved as my sisters in Christ and fellow Jesus Girls, I knew Jesus was in our midst.

Then Christy asked the band to stop and for us to sing accapella. I didn’t think it could get any better but it did. Barriers were broken as we sang authentically and without the music to hide our perfectly imperfect voices.

We sang unified as one breathtaking Body of Christ . Passionately we proclaimed our love for Jesus:

“All my delight is in you, Lord”

“All of my hope, all of my strength”

  “All my delight is in you, Lord”

 “Forevermore!”

And in the purest of places I knew it.  I knew that’s the heart of worship. When Jesus says , “Come unto me all you who are weary and I will give you rest”.  He’s saying, “There is none but Me that can delight your heart, Baby Girl. You need hope in this chaos of motherhood?  It’s in me.  You need strength to reflect my selfless love? It’s all here.  Don’t worship anything else but me.”

And I was floored.  By the ferocity of our love for Jesus.  By the truth in his words that where two or more are gather there he is.  By the power of corporate worship to touch individual hearts.  And by the reminder that there is no one else for me…none but Jesus.

I pray I’ll never forget that experience and that I’ll delight in him forevermore.

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Wanna join!  It’s so much fun!

How to Join: It’s easy to join in, just:

  1. Check what the prompt is.
  2. Write a post in only five minutes on that topic on your blog (or in the comments below if you don’t have a blog).
  3. Link over here and invite friends to join in.
  4. Select the permalink to your post {so not your blog url www.lisajobaker.com but your post url http://lisajobaker.com/2013/08/five-minute-friday-story}
  5. Using the blue linky tool at the bottom of my Five Minute Friday post enter your link.
  6. It will also walk you through selecting which photo you want to show up in the linky.
  7. Your post will show up in our Five Minute Friday linky.

Yours because we’re His,

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