Father, I Want to Be Close to You!

So we start our 4th church, as Mike said, in Ringgold. We are all so thankful for what the Lord did in Richmond Hill. The relationships we formed were incredible!! The kids are so hungry for the Lord!!! One of the girls just texted me yesterday and told me that we had no idea what kind of impact we were making and she was closer to the Lord than she has ever been!! I am just amazed by the Lord and the way He is choosing to use us! My favorite part about Richmond Hill was when we took communion with the kids and then blindfolded them. We played some "soaking" music to allow them to just rest in the Lord's presence. We told them that if they needed prayer, to give a thumbs up. We got to pray for a bunch of the kids, and then I had the opportunity to dance up and down the asiles as I prayed over them and proclaimed truth over that place and those kids. We then moved into a time of praise and worship. Mike and I lead worship the whole time we were there. Mike had never done that before where he could hear himself through a monitor. For me, it was the first time, I was really bold in singing and giving it all without being worried of being perfect. I was amazed by the things coming out of my mouth...the holy spirit was definitely singing through me!

As the kids were blindfolded, it really allowed them to let go and worship the Lord in incredible ways. They worshipped with their whole heart and it was absolutely beautiful!! There was one time that I looked at the youth and just started crying because I could tell that thier hearts were so engaged and that the Lord was capturing their hearts.

The next day we took a day trip to St. Simons where we had a great day of fellowship. Before we left, we got to worship on the beach! It was absolutely incredible!! One of the girls and I started dancing and spinning around. It took a great deal of boldness to do that in such a public place, but it was so cool when I looked up and saw a bunch of people watching us worship and wondering what we were doing, and apparently they had been there for a while. Apparently they came up right after Mike prayed that we would touch the people on the beach and it did without some of us even realizing!

Well it's time to go prep and pray for River of Life! I love you all so much and hope that the Lord is blessing your summer!! Thank you SO much for your prayers!!!

Abide in His Love,
Payton :0)