God is a God of Second Chances

Yesterday at church we did something fantastic.  Gary, our lead pastor, asked me and two other people to look for someone God might want to speak to that morning.  I, of course, got a little on edge about the whole thing.  I could tell the Lord was like, 'Chill, Jocelyn, I want to speak to all of them.'  But how was I to know which one?  I found a guy during the worship service that I thought was a maybe.  OK, I thought, he can be my back-up guy.  During the break I walked around going, "OK, God, you gotta tell me who it is.  I got nothing."  Then Gary gets up to introduce us and I heard 'Tyler, Tyler, Tyler.'  But I couldn't see him in the congregation.  Where was he?  Was he even in the room?  So because I couldn't see him anywhere, I used back-up guy. 

As soon as I said it I knew that he wasn't the right one and that I had disobeyed what God had told me.  The three of us had our three people come to the front and had them close their eyes.  Then he asked the people who they were drawn to.  The majority was for Ben, my good friend Meg's husband.  Gary ended up choosing Ben to receive words from the people.  It was sooooo cool.  As people received something for him they made a big lineup and had a minute or less to share with him their picture, scripture, word, etc.  It was awesome to see him be encouraged and I did hear from God for him and this time I obeyed!  

Needless to say, I still felt like Tyler was supposed to receive some words and so I made sure he was coming to Soup in the Spirit.  He was!  Yes!  I told Mike about what had happened and asked if we could do what we did at church at our place.  He agreed and so I was able to tell everyone what I had felt and how Tyler was the guy I should have picked.  He had said that he knew he was going to get picked and was a little surprised when he didn't. 

It ended up being really cool because everyone who gave a word to him also wrote it down for him which wouldn't have happened if it had happened at church.  God was able to give me a second chance to be obedient and bless the man he wanted to bless specifically.  God is cool.  I love that church is a safe place to make mistakes and try again.  It's a safe place to risk and for me, it was a safe place to confess the truth and receive a second chance at obeying God.  He's so good!