a great night.

For Valentine's Day, I had a great gift idea for John fall right in my lap. His favorite band is Sanctus Real and they just so happened to be performing in Indianapolis this weekend. We also were able to get a poster autographed and meet the lead singer. They have a song called "Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly)" and the lyrics really hit home. It's hard to sit back and realize that it took something like losing Baby Jordan to really focus on God and reevaluate His will for our lives serving Him in full time ministry. I have included a bit of the lyrics below.

It's time for healing time to move on; It's time to fix what's been broken too long; Time make right what has been wrong; It's time to find my way to where I belong; There's a wave that's crashing over me; All I can do is surrender.

Whatever you're doing inside of me; It feels like chaos somehow there's peace; It's hard to surrender to what I can't see; but I'm giving in to something heavenly.

Time for a milestone; Time to begin again; Reevaluate who I really am; Am I doing everything to follow your will; or just climbing aimlessly over these hills; So show me what it is you want from me; I give everything I surrender...

I really underestimated how much seeing these artists perform their songs live would impact me. It's amazing to hear them explain their songs and why they wrote them and the intent behind the lyrics. It just brings each song to an entirely new level. Matthew West also performed at the concert. John and I have become fans of his recently in the last few months and were excited that he would be one of the other performers. Right after he was finished with his portion of the show, he hopped on a plane and headed back to Nashville to meet his wife in the hospital as she was scheduled to be induced to have their second baby girl. Something kind of cool we learned about him was that he had vocal chord surgery less than two years ago and he had no guarantee of being able to sing after recovery, let alone be able to sing as his career. He, too, had a song that was a great challenge to my life. It is called "The Motions."

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something

'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something.

John and I really just want to keep moving forward and really just live out what God already has planned for us. It was just a huge encouragement for me especially as it still seems like there is SO MUCH that still needs to be done before we can take that next step.

Last, but not least, the first performer of the night was a guy by the name of Jason Gray. John and I had never heard of him, but he also has an amazing story. He actually has a speech handicap and stutters in normal conversation. When he was younger he really felt like God was calling Him to sing. He was like, "Really, God? How about you make it so I can talk first." But, sure enough, Jason has this amazing voice and no stutter once he starts singing. We really liked being a part of the entire event.

All in all, it was a great way to end our Valentine's Day weekend and just come out with a renewed commitment to each other and to our Lord, Jesus Christ. We are ready to serve Him wherever He leads. I pray that it doesn't take another tragedy to wake us up and get us back on the right track.