it is well with my soul.

Great Redeemer, take our weakness

And show Yourself strong

Show Yourself strong

That's a line from a song we sang at the worship session tonight. I'm currently at a conference with about 600 other Christians, and the worship services have been amazing. First of all, hearing 600 people sing praise to God is pretty awesome. That's about as close to a multitude -- a multitude all intent on one purpose, like in the Bible -- as I can comprehend. To me, it's a small taste of what heaven might be like. A very small taste.

Secondly, the words of the songs have just blessed me this week. The songs are no different than the ones we sing at church or the ones I hear on the radio. But this week as we have sung them, as I've closed my eyes and focused on the words, I've just felt God's grace in each word wash over me. I've allowed the words to have meaning and to touch me, and it feels like my soul is being revived. It has stirred a hunger in me... a hunger for more of Him, for a deeper communion and a deeper love, a hunger to be spiritually alive again.

I don't want to lose that. When I go back home to Tennessee tomorrow, and back to camp, I don't want to fall back into the same old ruts.... the ruts of work, school, and sleep, and having to struggle to find joy in each day. I want to live and I want to love and I want to be alive. I'm afraid of losing what I've grasped onto this week.

But mountain-top experiences have to come to an end, I know that. We meet God on the mountain, but our place to live it out is in the valley. Tomorrow I'm going back to the valley. And praying God helps me stay close to Him.

There have been other really, really good things about this week. There have also been distractions pulling my attention in other ways. I won't go into all that now. But it's been a great week, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity. What God has done for me this week hasn't been what I expected, but then again.... isn't that how God works?