God is Real

If you read Emily’s post you know that we were in Florida this past week doing some prison ministry. This was the third or fourth year we’ve gone to Florida to sing in the prisons. I’m going to be honest, before this week, sure I was a christian, I knew God was there, but I thought he was distant, that he didn’t really watch what I did, he didn’t care about my everyday life. I found sayings like, “Well Jesus fixed it,” or “It was a God thing,” cheesy. I didn’t understand how anyone could actually feel like that. Before this year, I had liked the prison crusade because of the singing, and the travel, I hadn’t really noticed what God was doing. On Wednesday afternoon, as we arrived at the hotel, I was looking forward to this crusade for those same reasons, I didn’t really think about what God could do. Wednesday night, we went to the church for a rally, to get us all hyped about the crusade. A man came forward to preach, but before he started, he played the song, Lord I Need You, over the speakers. I felt something in my heart, maybe it was God telling me to admit that I really did need him. The man spoke about three things that night, Recognizing we have an enemy, and who that enemy is, recognizing who we are, and recognizing who God is. Throughout the service, I found myself, not bored, like I normally was in church, but really listening. At the end of the service, he played the song again, and did an altar call. I was crying. I really did need God, I couldn’t do life on my own. I realized that. After that, we sang a few songs. I don’t really remember what songs we sang, only that I did something I had never done before, I raised my hands and really worshiped God. I had always been afraid to do that, I was afraid of what my friends would think. I felt like I was too young for that type of thing. While we went into prisons, I saw, among the inmates and volunteers, people who were on fire for Jesus, and I found some of that same fire in me. I want to do whatever God calls me to without fear. With God inside me, I have the power to do whatever he calls me too.