True Worship

This weekend, my son, my daughter, and I all had a Saturday evening off together (a rare occurrence!).  Our church offers services on Saturday nights, so we decided to attend.  For my son, it had been two years since he'd been in church in person.  We watch church online every weekend, but attending in person is different.

He was nervous.  I didn't help when I jokingly told him I'd signed him up to go onstage and give his testimony in front of the entire congregation.  He smiled at me with his blue eyes twinkling and said, "you first".

But, he didn't need to be nervous.  We found our seats and the worship band began.  I wasn't paying very much attention to him, honestly, as I was singing along to the music.  I heard him sniffle next to me halfway through the second song and turned to see if he was okay.  His face was wet with tears.  I reached over and squeezed his hand.

After church was over, the three of us were walking to the car.

"Well, that made me cry," he said.  "But it was awesome."

"What made you cry?" I asked.

"It wasn't because I was sad.  It was just thinking about how great God is and everything he's done for me."

I nodded.  A two-time cancer survivor has a different perspective than many of us.  

"You know, that's called true worship.  Tears are a very natural response to the nearness of God."

"I want to go back." He said.  "Every week.  Online church isn't the same."

I agreed with him.  We are built for fellowship in our worship.  As we got into the car, I remembered an agreement I made with God a long time ago.  When we were flying home from Russia, I was praying that the Lord would make it possible for us to adopt our kids.  We'd met them once, and we'd return for a court date nearly a year later.  The process was going to be long and difficult, and it could easily end in heartbreak.

"I will raise them to know you," I whispered to God on the plane.  

I've definitely not done everything perfectly as a parent, but I've never forgotten that promise I made to God.  Miracles took place to allow us to bring our children home from Russia all of those years ago.  Now, watching both of my kids worship in church as young adults is something I couldn't have imagined on that plane ride.

But, God did.  He knew.  

I am so grateful that I've gotten to play a small part in my kids knowing how much the creator of the universe loves them.  My son's tears in church this Sunday were a reminder of the faithfulness of God to a young woman asking to be a mother so many years ago.

Great is His faithfulness.