an awesome end to a not so awesome day!

Yesterday was a hard day for me. We we watched 5 extra kids ( 3 of them under 5) and it was busy and chaotic. plus I woke up with a bad headache so the noise didn't help much. By the afternoon I was very overwhelmed and tired ( partly because i was feeling so bad) I just needed a break from everything so I went to my mom's room and watched some Cranford and Dr. Quinn and snuggled with the 7 month old baby girl we watch ( which always makes me feel better :) ♥♥ OK here comes the exciting part! later in the day my mom got a message from a friend who was going to go to a concert with her daughter and some of our others friends ( like a mom and daughter night, but I didn't know that some of my other friends would be there, I knew a mom/daughter who was taking me was going but thats all I knew) but she decided not to go last minute and she was wondering if I wanted to use the ticket and go. So after I heard tobyMac was performing I was in! ;) Little did I know that it would be the best concert I've been to and the songs the artists played were songs I needed to hear and remind how awesome God is! so a friend and her daughter came and picked me up and we went to a restaurant to meet with the other moms and daughters. I had a great time right from the start...the food was great and I was getting pumped for the concert! (ok I'll tell you what concert it was! ;) I went to the Make a Difference Tour featuring Max Lucado, tobyMac, Third Day, and Michael W. Smith ( and Jason Gray opened with 2 songs and then joined in on the last song of the night). It was an awesome line up!!

(NOTE: None of the pictures in this post are mine. I found them on the Make a Difference website)

We had great seats and all of us sat together which was really fun. I was SO pumped to see tobyMac in real life!! I couldn't believe it when I saw him on stage!!



I told my friend next to me " its him its really him!" ;) I've been a fan of his since I was like 8 or 9, I remember when my dad gave me his CD " Momentum" and I listened to it over and over. tobyMac and Diverse City performed: Tonight, Boomin', Get Back Up ( which sounds awesome live!), Jesus Freak, Gone, J Train,and No Ordinary Love, Irene and Funky Jesus Music. my 2nd favorite song performed live!)



Lemme say tobyMac and Diverse City have some awesome dance moves! My other friend who was sitting on the other side of me and I sang ( and did a little dancing ;), screamed and clapped our hearts ( and hands) out ;P what can we say?? we're toby-freaks!!! ;) ;) ;) Right before the concert started I discovered that the memory card wasn't in the camera so I couldn't take any pictures... big bummer, but I didn't let it ruin the whole night. ( i have friends who had cameras and got good pictures ;) After a few songs into the concert I felt a sense that this whole concert was a big worship service so with hands held high I just gave all my worries and hard moments of the day to Christ and let him fill me with the joyous, wonderful hope that is found only in HIM.

Max Lucado talked about how He is holding us up and we, in turn, hold up and help others, like the 22 million kids that are starving and dying right now because they don't have clean water or near enough food.



We prayed twice for those children. It was so powerful. Before Third Day played, Mac Powell and Michael W. Smith sang a song or 2 together.

Next came Third Day. My whole family has been big fans of theirs ever since I can remember. I grew up listening to Third Day, tobyMac, and Cece Winans. We saw TD before in concert and we were disappointed with the performance but they did a awesome job last night! They played Lift Up Your Face, Gone, Lord of All Creation ( You are Holy), I Gotta a Feelin' and few others.I loved the songs that they played that are from their new album Move. Mac Powell has a good sense of humor and made us laugh :)

Then there was a 20 minute intermission which during I bought my first ever tobyMac t-shirt! :D I just couldn't resist.. ;) I will post a pic of it later. Also during intermission 250 children were sponsored!! just during intermission! praise the Lord :)


So after intermission Michael W. Smith came out.



He started out with 2 pretty rock type songs. My friend and I were really surprised and were like " isn't this a little heavy for Michael W. Smith?! needless to say I didn't really care for them but he then performed Wonder, Mighty to Save, Place in this World, and Here I am to Worship and some others songs that I can't remember.


Last but definitely not least all the artists came out and performed parts of City on our Knees ( which I had been waiting for all night!!) and Holy Holy ( Are You God Almighty). It was really neat to hear all the singers sing together even Jason Gray came up on stage and sang some.

We prayed for the kids again and cheered, screamed and clapped for the incredible performances and then it was over.

In the car on the way home it was around 11:00 PM, my friends mom put in tobyMac's CD "Tonight" and my 2 friends and I were dancing in the back seat all the way home, it was SO fun! and we are pretty good if I do say so myself ;)
When I got home I talked to mom and dad for a while then I went to bed. I was exhausted.

All I have to say is that the performance was amazing!!! The whole night was about coming together has a family and praising and worshipping our beyond awesome God whom we serve and how by the hope we find in Christ we can live our life to the fullest! I'm SO thankful that I was able to go, it was a totally awesome night to a crabby day!

I'm so blessed to have a wonderful family, fantastic friends, be able to be a fan of amazing music artist and serve an Indescribable God!



well I think this is the longest post I've ever written! thanks for reading :)

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Love in Christ,
Samarah