I had the privilege of spending the weekend with 10999 of my closest friends in Greensboro. Twenty ladies from our church joined 1000s of others to go "Deeper Still" with Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and Kay Arthur. We had a blast! There was so much praising, worshiping, preaching, encouraging, and love that my heart almost burst with the sheer amount of it. Many women came to know God for the 1st time and many women, like me, had their lives changed in regards to how we see God. So, rejoice, for there are now new sistas in Christ. I was so blessed to see the girl in the next section over stand up and say that she accepted Jesus for the 1st time. She was beautiful with her arms outstretched and her cheeks wet with tears. She was about 17 or 18 and my heart just exploded with joy because I could almost hear the angels in Heaven rejoicing over this one. One by one, women stood to their feet acknowledging Christ as their Savior. I got such chills! I knew I shouldn't have shaved my legs. This was an awesome time!
Kay is a 75 year old woman who doesn't look like it and doesn't preach like it. This woman can get on it for 1 1/2 hours!!! I know some people who can't do that kind of fire for 10 min so she was. She read on and preached on the entire book of Hebrews so I'll keep my comments short. First, she established who Jesus and God is. Then, I heard her say if we believe He is that then why don't we want to hang on every word that comes out of His mouth. God has spoken and we had better pay attention. She believes that God has removed His hand from America due to our immorality. What God has said He will do, He will do! He always keeps His promises!
Priscilla was incredible! She is like me, in the throes of marriage and raising children. Surprisingly, I took the most out of her message. She spoke on the passage on Ephesians 5:20-21. "Now, to Him, who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all you can ever think or ask for according to the power that lies within us, to Him be the glory in the church to all generations forever & ever more." I learned so many things. First, God doesn't just have power, He is power. His supply never runs dry. Since He dwells within me, I have access to that power but I just don't use it or I don't know how! Second, He is able! He can and will answer any prayer. Sometimes, the answer is no, period! How He chooses to answer the prayer speaks to His sovereignty not His capability! I am not God! Let God be God! Oh, speak to my need to control! Third, He wants to do more for us than we allow. He always exceeds our expectations. At this point, I became overwhelmed! With my last pregnancy, He gave more than I ever asked for! He saved AJay and me. AJay was healthy despite the fact that he was 34 weeks and had lived 11 weeks with little amniotic fluid. God took care of medical bills and got people to watch my kids and clean my home and cook! More than I could have ever thought to ask! What a God I serve!
Beth Moore is by far the closest thing to an idol that I have. She has such a gift for teaching the Word of God. She spoke on fellowship. Do I enjoy spending time with God? I am vowing to laugh, eat, talk, & cry with God! I want to experience His fellowship and not just use Bible study as another thing to check off my list for the day. She, also, spoke on God being the bread of life. She told several stories about bread and one in particular spoke to me. Jewish children in WWII couldn't sleep in the hospitals after being rescued. The soldiers tried everything to quiet them down but to no avail. Finally, one got the idea to give them pieces of bread. The little children grabbed the bread and clutched it to their chests and slept soundly because they knew that they had the bread! I loved that illustration! Am I clutching the Bread of Life to me and resting in the knowledge that I have Him? My friend told me on the way home that AJay always having just enough amniotic fluid around his face to breath was like the manna from Heaven. Always enough and never any more or any less. What she said bowled me over! AJay was tasting the bread of life and seeing that He was good!
Man, I am overflowing with God's goodness! Thanks for letting me fellowship with you this weekend! I am now changed!
