Last week, Ryan, Sara, Elijah, Josiah, Lily and I went to the revival at Morningstar Ministries in South Carolina. We left Monday afternoon, and came home early Sunday morning. We split the drive down there into 2 days, so it was not too bad. We arrived at the hotel/conference center about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The revival started at 7:30, so we got unpacked as quick as we could.
Each evening service started with Worship, and I think that was my favorite part. They had a live band (Molly Skaggs was one of the singers), and they were good and LOUD! There is nothing that makes me feel closer to God than singing praise to Him. After Worship, there was a speaker, and then they went into the Ministry time. Rick Joyner spoke the first night we were there, and it was pretty cool to listen to him. I have read some of his books, but I had never seen him in person. Each night during the Ministry time, the band played again, and people prayed for anyone that asked. It was pretty different for me, and I saw some things that were a little weird to me. As in anything, there are always people on the outside fringe of “normal”, but that does not mean that they are not sincere. I have yet to feel the presence of God in the ways that my kids do, but I know that every night I felt something.
On Wednesday night, one of the girls from the kids camp that was there prayed for my back. It was really hurting me from the drive down and the day at the water park. As she prayed, it started to feel better until the pain was gone. My back has not felt that good in quite a while, and it felt great the rest of the trip. Thank you Lord!
We went to a water/theme park on Wednesday and Thursday, and we really enjoyed ourselves. We went to the water park the first day, and it was great. They had a great area for kids, and Lily crawled around in the water. Elijah went down a water slide, and Ryan and I went down a very tall, fast, dark water slide. The next day we went back and rode the rides. We rode the log ride first (standing in line for about an hour). After that we went to the kids area, and the boys had a blast. Elijah and I rode the roller coaster, and he loved it. As soon as we stopped, he said, “I want to ride another roller coaster!” A good friend of Sara’s lives down there, and she kept Lily while we went to the theme park. Thanks Lindsay!
We left Saturday morning planning to stop in Tennesse and spend the night, but Ryan felt like making the entire trip that day. It was a long day, but it sure was good to be home. It gave us all day Sunday to just hang out.
All in all, it was a great trip. The kids were great, we had fun, and it was my first revival!