That Time I Met Francis Chan

Finally sitting down to write the post I've been meaning to write for 2 weeks now, hooray! Before I get to the part about meeting Francis Chan, I just have to take a moment to start at the beginning. Aka, I get to gush about my friendship with this one:

God is so intentional with our friendships. They come into our lives at just the perfect times, with so much purpose. I met Heidi through an equally God-ordained friendship, with my at-the-time coworker, Kali. 

It was almost 2 years ago that we all met, and it's crazy to think of the ways we've all changed since then. Heidi and I were mere acquaintances until our friendship really deepened towards the end of last year. 

It was one of those things where every sentence resulted in a "me, too!" Such a sweet blessing to meet someone with such similar struggles, yet similar convictions as well. An understanding that allows for honest confession, that is always met with a push closer to Jesus. 

God has used her friendship in my life in so many ways, it's such a fruitful and blessed thing. And among our many, many things in common, we both became huge Francis Chan fans after hearing him speak at Catalyst. When we found out he was doing a free {yes, free} conference in LA, we just had to jump on that opportunity. 

We stalked googled, and found out he was speaking on Friday night. So what else are two Francis fans to do, but spontaneously road trip it LA for the night to listen to what was sure to be an amazing, impactful message. 

We were not disappointed!

Just walking up, everyone was so incredibly friendly. We felt welcomed as though we knew everyone already, even though we knew no one. Walking up, many of the close seats were already taken. Though neither of us were intentionally seeking it out, we happened to find some open front row seats. 

Seats that a mere ten or fifteen minutes later, were just a handful over from Francis himself! {!!!}

{insert fan girl moment}

Of course we had to say hello, and ask for a picture. He was so kind and humble, even as we gushed over how much we loved his Catalyst message just the month before. 

It was truly a blessing from God, getting to meet the man who has encouraged both of us so much in our walk with the Lord. 

The rest of the evening can only be described as an overwhelming encounter with the Spirit. The opening worship: so good. The message: so good. The closing worship: off. the. hook. 

Francis poured out the truth that "when you are secure in your relationship with God, and about how He feels about you, the little things don't bother you anymore." And with that profound statement, he invited us to pray over one another. He invited those of us feeling secure in the understanding of God's love for us to pray over those who craved that security for themselves. 

The Holy Spirit said "go." And so I did. People flooded that carpet for prayer, for an encounter with the Lord. I was reminded of the numerous times that I myself have begged the Lord for more understanding of His vast love for me, and I laid hands on my brothers and sisters, and asked for just that. 

Guys, I can't put into words what happened in that room. 

All I can say is I want more of it. 

I hope that today, you are feeling secure in God's love for you. Like Francis said, it changes

everything. 

If you're not, and you'd like to, please let me know. I would love to pray for you in that. Shoot me an e-mail if you'd like {sweethomesbblog@gmail.com}, because my dear friends, there is serious power in prayer. 

"And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is."

Ephesians 3:18

Happy Tuesday, loves. <3