In the ZONE

I am completely exhausted right now! I had a very full day, but I don’t think it could have been any more fun then it was!!!

Since moving here my family has been going to GraceFamily Church in South Tampa. It’s been a huge encouragement to me during this move, and I’ve felt so welcome! It’s so great to have a place where I can go to grow in my faith and have a ton of fun!!

But, ever since I was little I’ve loved leading worship and spending time with kids that are younger then me. VBS, Summer in the City, and anything that I can do to bless kids around me is something that I just love doing! It’s truly my heart, and it brings me so much joy! And praise the Lord, I’ve found a place where I can do that! And it’s called “The ZONE!”

The ZONE is our children’s (1st-5th) grade Sunday school ministry at GraceFamily. It’s a crazy fun place where kids can come to hang out with other kids in their grade, to play some super cool games, and learn more about God and the Bible! My little brother Joshua has been going ever since we moved here and every week he’s always so excited to go to “his class” as he calls it!

These past few weeks I’ve been volunteering and co-leading worship with some amazingly talented people at the church! And here’s a run down of how my morning goes so that you guys can kinda get a feel of why I love it so much!

It starts when I get up at 7:00 in the morning and then get to the church by 8:15 to run through sound check. (I am so thankful for the leaders that have been teaching me the ropes of everything)
We have a small group time with all the leaders,  then we open the doors a little before we begin service and a flood of some excited, some tired, and some nervous kids start to come in. We have worship, we have ‘offerrang’ (which is a boomerang game that encourages kids to give back to God through offering), and then we have Z-TV which is the video that is made to tell the kids the story that we’re focusing on for that day!
Our series these past few weeks has been called “Smash: God breaks, and Remakes!”. They’ve been teaching the kids about the stories of Job, Noah, and this morning Jacob! After the Z-TV is over we break into small groups of each grade (which is my favorite part) and we break down the story that we were taught!

This morning we talked about Jacob and how God changed his name to Israel. We tied that into our daily life by talking about how sometimes we’re called mean names. But how how God takes away those names and tells us that we are cherished, forgiven, accepted, and a child of God! I love hearing the kids stories from their daily lives. I asked one young boy in particular what people call him and he gave me a long list of nicknames that are associated with his name! It wasn’t really the answer I was looking for but it was really sweet! :)

My favorite part of this morning was during worship! We were singing Reckless Love- by Cory Asbury, and I had my hand raised and my eyes closed as I sang. When I opened my eyes I saw a bunch of little boys and girls in front of me just singing there hearts out for their God! They had their hands raised, their eyes closed, and they looked as though they believed every single word they were singing! It’s  such an amazing sight that I’ll never EVER get tired of!

So, what’s kinda my though through all of this? What is it that I want you guys to take away?

Well, I have two thoughts in particular...

One, we need to learn how to humble ourselves in the same way as these kids in Sunday school. We need to learn how not to worry about everyone around us while we worship, we need to zone everything else out, and sing the lyrics as if God is the only one in the room with us.  That’s really hard sometimes, especially as we get older, but when we set our hearts and minds on the lyrics and the one we’re singing to it changes our entire perspective!

And two, when we go about our day we should be attentive to the fact that there are kids (and people our ages) watching us, learning from us, and copying our every move. Yeah, no pressure there!
I just want to remind you that, yeah we’re far from perfect, but when we live our life for Christ and according to his word people notice that you’re different! And if it’s God’s will they might even ask you why you’re different!

So, I want to encourage you guys!! You have the power to impact so many people all the time, just by going about your every day life in a way that glorifies God!

I’ll talk to you guys soon!
Your friend,
Savannah