the beauty of worship

Perhaps you meet in a large church
with fancy pews and stained glass windows,
or crammed with your fellow believers in a tiny room
adorned by the dirt floors and mud walls.
Maybe you meet in the secret of the underground
or outside the rubble of your fallen church,
or maybe you worship in the middle of a tent city...

Perhaps you worship on Sunday morning,
or in your car on the way home from work,
maybe it's at the top of your lungs
without caring where you are,
or maybe it's under your breath as you walk down the street.
Maybe it's simply the song of your heart as you go about your day.

Perhaps you worship when you feel joy,
and your heart has a song
or maybe you worship when your heart is heavy
and you long to be close to your Father.
Perhaps you worship when you are sad,
and the act of meeting with God brings you joy.
Maybe it's just the fact that we need that closeness with God no matter what we're feeling.

Whether you worship in song,
or speech,
or actions,
or in love,
what joy is there in knowing that worship is not confined to a church, or a day of the week, or in praise alone! That worship is not restrained to a culture or a language?! It is not overdone or extravagant, but rather the simple act of meeting with God, as you are.

Some of the volunteers at God's Littlest Angels went into the tent cities in Haiti, and this is the incredible story as told by Melissa Friesen: "As Stephanie and I were walking at one point, we were drawn to a lady who was sitting on a piece of cardboard off to the side. We sat down on the ground and began to talk with her. The first thing that she asked us was if we had accepted Jesus. I smiled, and said “yes” and asked her the same. She said that she had also accepted Jesus. She went on to tell us that when her house collapsed, two of her children died. She had four remaining children who were living with her there. I asked her to show us where she was living, so we walked over to her tent, which was a tarp draped around wooden poles stuck into the ground. This is where she now sleeps with her four children. I felt so humbled in that moment, as I stood inside that tiny space with her. She asked us if we would pray for her, and we said we would love to. The three of us knelt down in the dirt and I asked her if it was ok if I prayed in English. She smiled at me and said, “Jesus knows.” It brought tears to my eyes as I lifted up this beautiful lady to the Lord, a lady who had lost her home and her children, and yet still smiled and still had faith in her Lord." (excerpt from Tent City Ministry-Tattle Tales from the Balcony at godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org)