This Summer...

This summer I learned, and experienced first hand, that God CAN use even our mistakes and mess-ups for His glory... and He WILL!
Its week 4 and we know the plan, right? right. Or at least we think we do. Every night before worship, as kids are finding their seats, we play a 3-minute staff testimony video. On this particular night, at about 1:15 into the video, someone accidentally hits the space bar on our computer... which Pro Presenter interprets as, "Go to the next thing!" So the video stops, and like anyone would, we start it again. After all, it'd be more awkward to only hear the first minute of Nic's story than it would to hear it twice, right? right.
At this point, I'm hiding behind the back row of seats in the fetal position, screaming on the inside because I can't believe this just happened!

After a few seconds, I compose myself and we keep going like nothing happened. Worship went smoothly, and we went about our day.

The next evening, an adult sponsors finds me and asks where she can find Nic so her daughter could get a picture with him. I told her where I thought he'd be, and she said, "before we go, I wanted to thank you for all you guys do." She proceeds to tell me that her daughter had become a follower of Christ the night before, during church group time.

Wait, it gets better.

When mom asked her daughter what made her start thinking about that, she shared that it was Nic's testimony before worship. Yes, the very one that replayed the night before... by mistake! After hearing his story, she started to take a look at her own life, and realized her need for a Savior.
This summer I learned, thru this and many other mistakes, that God will use ANYTHING, even the stuff we beat ourselves up about, to bring kids to know Him... which is far more important than our own peace of mind in production.
Keep telling YOUR story, even if you get half-way through and start over from the beginning! Check out the video, courtesy of Ashley Abell: