the new project...

wow...ok, so God has been in the process of putting this next huge project together for a few months now. It started when God started putting it on a couple different people's hearts to bring up putting a show together with the team and taking it somewhere, using it on a mission trip.
and then God sitting me down one day and just bringing me to this place of peace and just sheer drive to do it and make the idea happen. so in talking with sarah and mark thurston (youth pastor) it is becoming a reality!!!
we are SOOOO excited to really get going on this...its been "potentially in the making" for like EVER now and we can finally just go forward full force with it.
and we were FINALLY able to tell the team about our plans...we have had to keep it on the DL for awhile...just because there was so much up in the air...but we are finally getting started.
Sarah and I sat down a couple times and started laying out the story God was putting on our hearts.
and what has come out is a picture of God's love for us.
and just like in the previous post - how we can affect God's heart, and how much He loves us...even when we hurt Him over and over again.
and it is turning into a really beautiful story.
one passage that i LOVE and that really puts things in perspective is Hosea 11:1-8

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more they were called, the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up by their arms,
but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels.
My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High,
he shall not raise them up at all.
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.

God only wants to love us, He wants us to come to Him and just rest in Him, but we just keep running, keep wandering...and it just breaks His heart that we are hurting when He is right there and could fix it all if we would just let Him.
And one of the coolest parts about this project (to be named later on...:)) is that we will be taking it to Mexico in June as part of one of the youth missions trips!
SO fun. and since we will be in a spanish speaking place, the show will be mostly dance and drama to music.
SUCH a powerful way to get a message across. and God is just moving in it and putting it all together. sarah and i have met with a few people, getting help and figuring out all that we need to do and the truth of it all is that it is purely a God thing that we have not been called crazy or been shut down or laughed at. This is a huge thing we are taking on! but God knows what He's doing.
haha...but last week while we were having a worship time in our sunday school class, i just really felt God filling me with peace and this like crazy reassurance that the bigger it gets, the more impossible it gets - the more we will see Him work, the more we will have to depend on Him. and that is EXACTLY what He wants. to take over this project and do HIS thing.
I am SO excited to see the team He assembles and the show He puts together and where it all goes.
another fun aspect of this whole thing is that we are shooting to have ALL original music for the show...:)
so that we dont have to worry about copyrights or anything.
SO thats another fun thing, but luckily God has blessed us with people He has gifted with musical talent and abilities and its so fun that we get to see Him use His gifts for His glory.
this is such a crazy opportunity but SO fun.
tonight we told the team all about this, and just challenged them to read through Hosea and really just pray that God reveals to them the same vision for this as He has shown us.
i love that God not only puts the desires in our hearts...but then He calls us to use them...then gives us the gifts and resources we need...then gives us the opportunity to use them...then fills us with joy when we allow Him to work! its such a blessing.
so please keep us in your prayers! as you can see we have a lot ahead of us but it will be so amazing to see it all happen!