I hate the uncomfortable. Can’t stand it. The cold? Can’t handle it. Meeting new people? Dread every second of it. Cold showers? I’ll complain for the rest of the month.
My whole mindset is focused on what will be the easiest and most comfortable way to live. But God somehow always throws this plan of mine out the window.
This past weekend David’s Tent came to my city. Basically, this just means that the organization comes and sets up a big tent in a part of our city, and have different bands and worship leaders from around the city come and worship for 50 hours straight. My family and I decided to go on Saturday for about an hour to listen. Ok, let’s be honest for a second. When I think about worship, my first thought doesn’t go to a tent outside in November with a bunch of people I don’t know. At the very least I expect someplace with a heater. But oh, how God loves to do the exact opposite of what I want. For the first 30 minutes we were there it was all Spanish. Only Spanish worship music, and I was ready to go. I couldn’t understand a word they were singing and I felt left out and all around uncomfortable.
The Spanish music didn’t last the whole time, but even if I could understand all the words of the song there were many other factors. I was cold, hungry, and I wasn’t sure how to worship in front of all these strangers. Do I raise my hands? Are we standing? Can I clap my hands?
By the end of the night we ended up standing and worshiping for 2 and a half hours, when we only meant to stay for about an hour. Although I was pretty sure I’d lost a few toes to hypothermia, I had seen and felt God move over each and every person in that cold cold tent. Even if it was in Spanish, I witnessed that worship music touch the people all around the tent. Even if I didn’t know the people around me, there were moments where I couldn’t keep from holding my hands up if I tried. Despite the fact that I was freezing cold, I couldn’t bring myself to ask my mom if we could go. God came, and the Holy Spirit worked through the uncomfortable and touched people even if it wasn’t to our expectations or up to our standards of comfort.
In the midst of the Spanish worship, my mom looked over to me and said “this is how worship will be while you’re on the race.” And I didn’t realize how true it was. It wasn’t what I was used to, and not like any of my expectations. And most definitely not up to my standards of comfort. But that is exactly how the Race will be. Not comfortable, and most definitely not easy. But God will still move in more ways than I can count. Even if I am cold, and even if I can’t understand everything spoken.
All the love,
Delaney
