This title is a little misleading because you are probably thinking
of some pretty bad things that we may or may not have
gotten into, but truth be told we are
3 christian-married ladies with wonderful husbands, children
that we dearly love and it was just time for a little break!
A few months ago my friend, Kendi sent me one of
Steven Furtick's sermons and I didn't watch right away, because it
was like 58 minutes and lets be honest who has time to watch
a 58 minute video that your friend sends you.
I finally got around to watching it and was completely blown away.
This dude can bring the WORD!
I quickly began listening to older sermons from youtube while
I was on my daily walk or just around the house.
God has used this man to up build His kingdom in a mighty way!
People share his FB posts or sermons all the time and I just never took
the time to listen, but I am so glad I did.
Kendi informed me that he has many churches across the country, but
he preaches mostly in Charlotte, N.C.
That's when I said, "LET'S GO!"
We planned a girl's weekend get-away.
Charlotte is about 4 hours from the sticks where we live!
Our first stop about 2 hours in was none other than STARBUCKS!
Once we arrived we enjoyed Mellow Mushroom and
some retail therapy.
Next stop was to find Elevation church.
It was just minutes from our hotel.
We may have rode around the parking lot a few times taking
it all in.
We checked into our hotel and then thanks to that pizza we
decided it would be best to burn some calories.
Kendi and I are doing some work out partnering...yeah,
Don't Ask!
We showered, went across the street to the Mexican restaurant for more food and of course went to a Target!
This is what I mean by church girls gone wild!!
Lots of food and shopping!
As we were pulling into the parking lot we all smelled something
pretty nasty and we began looking at each other and blaming one another also
for passing along nature's bodily function- well Kendi immediately said it was the trees in the parking lot. Yep, the Bradford Pear trees???...Sara and I just laughed that she would consider these beautiful trees
the cause of this vulgar smell.
Well, the next day Sara saw a FB post of the above pic and we lost it!
I guess those trees really do stink! or we'll never actually know what
that smell was?!?!
Sara and I shared a bed, while Kendi had a bed all to herself.
She probably needed it with all that snoring!
I'm just stating the facts!
On Saturday, we took our sweet precious time getting ready and
headed to the mall for more food and shopping!
Later, we changed and headed out for more food at the
Cheesecake Factory!
We waited a sweet forever and it was well worth it!
It was so good!
Sunday morning arrived and I enjoyed my coffee
right by myself while Sara & Kendi slept a few more minutes!
We got ready and could hardly wait to get to church!
We were attending the 9:30 service so we arrived around 8:20 to
get in line.
People were so friendly.
A guy came up to ask if we were first timers and
then we were immediately treated like royalty.
Davon was quick to welcome us and what a coincidence that
we are from the same stomping grounds. Davon and I graduated
from the same high school and he also graduated with
Sara's husband.
First time visitors receive VIP treatment.
We walked into Elevation and they sat us on the front row!
Can you spot us???
Church started with Elevation Worship and it was amazing!
They had a special musical tribute to Dr. Billy Graham that moved
us to tears.
Pastor Steven came out and preached the Word of God!
His message talked about how Jesus was a Savage!
Pastor Steven used scripture from Mark 1:1-15 and focused mostly on
verse 10 in which Jesus comes up out of the water from being baptized
and he then sees a dove which represents the Holy Spirit coming down from
the heavens. He explained how Jesus did not see the dove BEFORE his
obedience, but AFTER. Many times we want validation before we obey
God's command, but it's only when we are obedient first that we will
receive peace and validation!
Pastor Steven asked,
"Will you believe in the wilderness what God spoke in the waters?"
We must believe in HIS promises no matter where we are today.
Many of us are in the wilderness struggling through life's issues, but
God is there waiting for you to be obedient!
This is only a small portion of his message- I highly
suggest you go watch it for your self!
The first service was so good we stayed for the 2nd.
It was an amazing weekend spent with 2 of my dear friends!
We are already excited about our next trip to Elevation!
For more information about:
Elevation- Click HERE.
Pastor Steven Furtick-Click HERE.
Thanks for stopping by!
XOXO,
APRIL