Life as a Yowler

When we planned this trip(you know the night before) we tried to work things so we would be in Redding on Sunday morning. Bethel church has ministered to us in a lot of ways. Brandon listens to podcasts from Bill Johnson very often. I listen to worship music pretty often. I love how worship music changes the environment of my home. It helps shift the focus and perspective. It also magnifies heart issues we have going on. Anyways, we wanted to attend a service, since we would be passing right through Redding. We were so blessed. It was an amazing time of worship and ministry.

When we drove up, I was somewhat surprised. I was expecting it to be more of a mega church feel and look. I liked that it was somewhat small and homey feeling.

There were several Christmas trees lit up and the stage looked beautiful.

Kris Vallotton along with his wife, were honored for their 20 years of service. He gave a very short teaching.

Bill Johnson preached the message. It was a very powerful sermon on bitterness. It really spoke to me. What I appreciated most about the service was the amount of scripture and truth they use. If I’m being honest, at times the prophetic can get a little weird and definitely uncomfortable. I didn’t feel that was the case here at all. The service was very well done. It was very professional. It was very Christ centered. There was a lot of scripture read and the message was very neat filled and convicting. After the message, there was an open opportunity for people to come forward for healing, prayer, or prophetic words. We gave our older two kids the choice of attending the service with us, or going to children’s church. Both of them chose children’s church, even though they didn’t know anyone and along with that were in separate classes. The kids loved it, and the teachers are going to be emailing Brandon a prophetic word for each child. I thought that was really a cool thing.  They are speaking into our children, and raising up a future generation of kids after God’s own heart. It was a great experience and Brandon and I have had very good conversation since the service. We were convicted about some of our heart issues. God really moved in our hearts and is drawing us closer. We know it’s because of God alone that we have our family, our career, our lifestyle of travel, and everything. To Him be all the glory!

Another part of the service I thought was cool, was when they called the mayor of Redding forward. Apparently she is an active member of the church. They prayed for her and blessed her commissioned her work.

After the service we grabbed a quick lunch with a college friend from Rosedale. He has been living in Redding for a number of years now, and attending Bethel. He was very hospitable and spontaneous. He was more than willing to meet up with us last minute. He met us at the service and like I said, joined us for lunch. It was great catching up with him.

After lunch, we drove to Sacramento. We are staying at our nicest hotel yet this trip. It’s huge. Look out hotel room, here come the crazy Yowler kids making themselves at home. They’re taking over.

Joah took over he desk and did some journaling about the trip.

After settling in to the hotel, we decided to eat somewhere nice for dinner. We went to downtown Sacramento for a nice downtown dining experience. We went to P.F. Chang’s, which is one of my favorites. It was all my kids first time eating there. They were very impressed.

Trying to get a decent picture of these four, is quite the challenge.

My lettuce wraps were delicious. They have the best food.

It was a great day. We are headed back to the hotel to get these kids in bed early. We all are still trying to catch up on sleep. The right combination of sleep and food makes for one big happy Yowler family.