Jesus and Candy

If you are hoping I have some deep theological connection between the two, then you are looking in the wrong place. I just wanted a clever title and pretty sure I failed to deliver on that one too!

Over the last 2 weeks my church has been hosting a Judgment House, walk through drama tour. They have been doing it for about 12 years now. Every year has a different story, but the result, goal, end game, is always the same to bring people to Jesus, closer to Jesus and be a witness in our community and surrounding areas. We try to convey as best as we humanly can what hell may be like if you choose not to accept Jesus and what Heaven could be like if you do. Obviously, we can not even fathom either place OR do it justice, but we do try and it is still pretty powerful in my humble opinion.

I have been a singing angel in Heaven, for all but two days of the 7 day run time. Watching people enter Heaven right after witnessing Hell and then being received by Jesus is mind blowing. You will watch these "tough" guys just melt when Jesus hugs them, you will see people of all ages and walks of life just break down crying. It is hard to maintain composure up there most nights.

Last night was the last night. We went until 1145p. We had over 1000 walk-ins, with over 500 people accepting Jesus that night! And with over 2100 people accepting Jesus over the entire run. {That we know about. Who knows how many accepted after they left or the seed that was planted is being nurtured and grown!}

To be an angel in Heaven was such an honor and blessing really. It really made me stop and think about Heaven and what it will be like someday and how AWESOME it will be. I remember the first time I ever went to a JH 4 years ago. I was cool the whole time until I hit Heaven. There I saw these sweet little angel baby faces greeting me and I broke down. A friend from HS had just lost her 11m baby daughter to cancer just a few months prior. I couldn't help but picture her sweet face up there sitting on Jesus' lap! And now to be apart of it, well it is humbling.

Last night was long. Very long. Most of us angels sang for 8 hours straight with little break. Our backs hurt, our hips (ok that is just me!) hurt, and our voices growing weary {Praise Jesus for strawberry flavored cough drops. ;)}, and while I can't say that I didn't utter a complaint or two or seven, I can say I was touched. I loved seeing the Holy Spirit sustain us. He {God} kept us all from complete exhaustion and kept the smile on our faces and the aches at bay during every "show" we did. I was amazed at how not tired I was by 1130p! And if you know me, you know my bedtime is promptly at 9p! HA! {not kidding.} I was amazed that for once my voice and others stayed strong after 8 long singing hours. I was amazed at the amount of pain I could tolerate in my hip and back. There were moments I was remembering the extreme back labor I experienced with Lo. I was amazed at how every time one of us we say "get behind me Satan" he had to! And it was worth it. It is worth it to minister in such a meaningful way to those who need Jesus. We didn't know who they were, but we could feel God move.

As far as I have heard, having that many walk-ins in one night was unheard of! There was standing room only in the gym. These people had to wait 2.5-3 hours just to begin the 45min tour! And they all, for the most part, stayed! I am just sayin' I wouldn't wait 45 minutes for my favorite restaurant, especially if I had kids with me, but these people did! To me that is a total God thing.

The prayer now is that those who accepted get plugged in somewhere and continue to grow in their new faith!

Now you are probably wondering where the "candy" part fits in. It doesn't. In order to help with JH I ended up missing my kids going to Trunk or Treat at their Grandma's church. I hated missing MW's first real halloween {well I still have Wed}, and all the fun. But it was a sacrifice I am glad to have made.

I told Chad to take lots and lots of pics, if you know him that is like preachin' to the choir. 245 photos later, I think we are covered. HA! So I will post a few and do a better post on Halloween later. But to me they both were just precious!!

Um, so I was cleaning out MW's messy messy MESSY closet and found this shirt he wore last year! Yeah, it still fits and he looks adorbs! I had to cut the onesie snaps off b/c he is potty trained, but I couldn't believe we got another wear out of it. PS my mom made it for him.

  Can we pause for a moment and ask ourselves where on earth is Lo and who is this pre-teen?! Sheesh! She looks WAY too grown up in this picture.

Leighton dressed up like Izzy from none other than Jake and the Never Land Pirates and MW was a giraffe Grandma Rachel got him on clearance last year!
And in pic #3 the pre-teen attitude face. Can't wait for that to become a regular addition around here. ;)

 Apparently, they made these cute spider cupcakes with Grandma Rachel! They are super cute and looks like they had fun!

They had a great time based on the pics and stories Lo has told me this morning. I didn't really get to talk to Chad yet about it since I got home at 12a last night and was still asleep when he left. Jesus blessed me with some extra sleep this AM. As a SAHM you don't get sick days or call in late days. I was just sure the kids would both be up at 6/630a today. Which technically they were. Lo came barelling into our room at 615a with some flashy, light up puppy blaring in my face. Awesome. Thank you Grandma Rachel for that neat toy. ;) j/k. But she snuggled up next to me until I got up at 815a, because MW was starting to stir again. He never cried, just played in his crib for who knows how long. What a great boy! Lo didn't get up until 9a! People this IS a miracle right there. Just sayin' thank you Jesus!

Well, I hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween. And if you made it to the end then you must be my friend. But I just had to get my thoughts out about JH. It just means so much to me!!