Joy of the Lord (at Immanuel?!)

I sat in church yesterday in complete awe. I saw something at Immanuel that I haven't seen for years: JOY! There was a sense of excitement and anticipation. Yesterday, we had the pastor of the church in Mexico that we sponsor, visit us. David and Alejandra Sandovol have been a part of our church community for six years...but from a distance. Yesterday our worlds collided in Canada as they spoke testomonies of God's goodness to them.

Our Church first met David and Alejandra six years ago in the Cumbres of Mexico. A group of adults from our church went to Mexico on a missions trip and one lady from our church spoke to Alejandra about Jesus. Alejandra accept Jesus and after a little time and only through God's grace, so did her husband. Our church has kept in contact with David and Alejandra through letters and our annual missions trip. Recently, our church made the wise decision to allow a Korean church use our building on Sundays. The money that we made from that church was sent immediately down to David and Alejandra to support Mission Jerusalem, the church that David is now a pastor of.

I think when our church first sent adults down on missions trip, our purpose was to help Mexicans in need and try to talk to them about Jesus. I don't think our purpose was to form long lasting relationships with a Mexican couple, but rather to do our good deed and leave feeling better about ourselves for having served God. But that was not God's intention. God wanted us to form a relationship with a church in Mexico, and to support their ministry there.

All week our church has been anticipating the arrival of David and Alejandra Sandovol. Finally, yesterday morning they were in our church. The anticipation was well worth it, as David spoke for almost an hour about the grace of God in Mexico. He shared his testimony of faith and encouraged us to be on a journey with God.

Yesterday, for the first time in years, our church LAUGHED. We shared 'good times,' together. There wasn't a program for the lunch, but rather conversation, laughter and humourous stories to be shared. It was refreshing to see laughter. Our church has had so many painful years that sometimes we forget to laugh.

But i think one of my favorite moments from yesterday, was seeing both Rino and Toni bounce around (dance, perhaps would be the word i'm looking for) while singing Alabare! It wasn't goofing off, but it was authentic worship to the God of Joy! I nearly welled up with tears as i witnessed God's joy at our church. I can truely say, "The JOY of the Lord is our strength!!!"