Selah and Angie Smith

Tonight I had an incredible opportunity to see Selah and Angie Smith LIVE! I've listened to Selah for years and love there music, but have never seen them live. And you should know by now how much I love Angie Smith. I had made plans to be in Bentonville, AR this weekend. Mandisa and Anita Renfroe will be there tomorrow night. I bought a ticket and everything. Then some plans changed. So I gave my ticket to someone who could go, and made plans to go to Montgomery, AL. I was not disappointed. I started out sitting in the bottom. But started to feel closed in with more and more people coming in. I went up to the balcony to sit. I asked a lady (LeeAnn) if I could sit beside her and another lady. She said sure. She began talking to me. She was with her sister (Paige) and we were just chatting it up before I knew it. I loved Paige's jewelry! And they know who Chonda is! Talk about common ground. There's a subject I can talk about.... Selah came out and started the night off. Wow. Their cds don't do justice for a live performance. Todd included the audience in trying to teach us an African version of one of their songs. Very funny. I couldn't understand what he was saying in order to repeat it back to him. Angie came up and made us laugh and cry. All at the same time. If you follow her story, there's something about hearing her SAY the words out loud. She is an incredible speaker.

She talked about Peter walking on water. While he was in the mist of drowning, he could reach out to the fishermen in the boat (friends/family that we know and trust) or reach out to Jesus (who says He is the Son of God). What do I choose each day? Do I choose to side with what I can know and trust or do I reach out to the Son of God?
She also talked about the disciples being in the boat with Jesus when the storm came. It's accounted three times in the Bible. In Mark (4:35-41) and Luke (8:22-25) when the disciples called Jesus, they said "Teacher". Jesus gets up, calms the storm, then ask them "Where is your faith?" But in Matthew (8:23-27), they call Him "Lord". Jesus gets up, asks them "Where is your faith?", and THEN calms the storm. This difference is that Jesus is asking in the middle of a raging storm "Where is your faith?" instead of calming the storm first.
An important message that she wanted to get across was that we each have a choice. Everyday we can chose God or others. So many times I want God to calm my storm before asking me to step out in faith in the middle of my storm. Am I calling out "Teacher" or "Lord".
Angie said if we didn't take anything else from her talk to take this- to let it be known that she is a woman who reached out and called on God when the waves seemed to overtake her.

Can I say that about myself? Honestly, no I can't.
This left some powerful questions burning inside me. Just in time for the intermission!
I got on Twitter and was looking at a few things. I noticed that someone I follow had tweeted about Angie doing a great job. I looked over to my new friend Paige and asked her what her last name was. She said Buckner. I think I stopped breathing for a second. Then I turned red and I think screamed. I had been talking and chatting like old friends with PAIGE BUCKNER from Paige's Page. I love her blog! I MIGHT have acted a little starstruck. Ok, I did. I had tweeted her earlier in the week when she mentioned going to the concert. I never got a reply, so I kinda forgot about it. Until the moment I realized I was sitting two seats from her. LeeAnn laughed and even traded seats with Paige. What a small world. Ha.
Simply thought my night couldn't get any better. Then Selah comes back on stage. Amy Perry simply made my night. That woman is so funny, yet so real. I loved hearing her stories of pregnancy and the emotional roller coaster she's on now. But then she talked some about the journey she's been on for the past year. She lost 85 pounds before getting pregnant. I've heard others talk about this journey. I've read books about how to make it a Godly journey. How to diet. How to pray it over to God. How to say no. But for some reason tonight, the words Amy were saying were touching a piece in my heart that I didn't know needing touching. So I let the tears flow. And my sweet new friend, Paige touches my shoulder. A sign from God. No, I'm not alone. Amy talked about laying down her diet. Not know what she was supposed to weigh, what size she was supposed to be. She just knew that it wasn't what she was. So, she began her journey of laying it down. EVERYDAY.
Conviction began to swarm all around me. Have I layed it down? Have I even asked God what my weight/size is supposed to be? What does HE want to do with my life? Not really. I've been too consumed with calorie intake/calories burned. Feeling guilty when I cheat. Feeling shameful because I failed. Feeling not worthy enough to continue. Amy talked about being in ministry on stage telling others God loves them, yet she didn't love who was in the mirror. So many times, I choose not to look in the mirror because of the hate I feel toward myself. If I can't love me, then who will. Well, tonight when Paige touched my shoulder, I felt the Holy Spirit gently whisper to me. My Father loves me with an EVERLASTING love. So I'm learning new lessons on an old subject. And grateful that I still can.

Finally, some pictures from tonight:

Sun peeking through stain glass 

Allan, Amy, and Todd 

 

  

 

 

 

"Volunteers"

Angie Smith 

 

Paige and I  

LeeAnn, Paige, Todd, (one of his daughters), Amy, Allan 

Me with the group 

Angie and I

This song is on the new cd by Selah. Hope of the Broken World. I play this song over and over and over. And hearing Amy sing it live tonight (through my tears) was AMAZING!