Holy Bricks - by Carol Botbyl

When God hits you with a holy brick, what do you do?

After years of continuing to do God's will at our previous church and praying that God would give us a clear mission for the future, God hit us with a holy brick.  His message was clear to both of us. 

Go to Element, and do my work.

Of course, there was a “but” on our part. 

There always is. 

“But it’s so far, what can we do over in Riverview when we live so far away?  We wanted to go to a mission field somewhere outside the country.  How would this be our mission field?  You gave us a heart for youth, where are they”?

What we discovered was that for now, all he wanted was our prayers and presence in the church.  “Be still and know that I am God”, took on a new and very profound meaning after working in every capacity we could at our former church.  

This past year, we’ve felt God calling us to pray more palpably than we’ve ever felt it in the 40 years we’ve been serving Him at other churches. 

“When my people who are called by name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Little did we know that years after we came to Element, God would want us to ramp up our prayers for this little church with the big heart. Satan had placed a target on its back, but God was calling us to fight these attacks.

Element has come under some fierce fire as of late, but it has also been instrumental in healing broken hearts and sending out some of the best mission-minded, God centered young people in the world. “Not by might nor by power but by my spirit” God said to Zerubbabel.  We have nether the might nor the power, but we have the Spirit of God if we are willing to do his will. 

God has an incredible way of cutting through all the human emotional muck and getting us back on track if, as I quoted before from 2 Chronicles7:14, “we humble ourselves and pray and seek his face”.

We are humbled by the fact that God has placed Dan in the position of Elder at Element, and that he’s been able to witness a group of young men with a passion for Christ sift through the deceit and misdirection Satan has tried to place in our path. With love and concern and with the firm direction and guidance from God’s word, these leaders have been able to bring the little church with a big heart back to its roots.

And so we now see our mission has been realized and renewed. God has asked us to pray for everyone at Element, and never stop seeking to do the will of God.  We now know His will comes in many different forms and that we have been blessed by a God who has a very large storehouse of “holy bricks”.