Prayer

This morning Tony talked on prayer. It was a really good sermon. His text was Matthew 6:5-15. As he was talking I was encouraged to pick up my own prayer life. What would it look like to pray fervently? To have my own prayer closet where I can cry out to God? With kids, this can sometimes be complex, but I think that after they go to bed, I can choose to spend more time praying instead of watching tv. Hold me accountable on this, will you?

A lot of people responded for prayer this morning. It was wonderful to see God moving in so many ways. Afterwards, my friend Kristin came up and mentioned that during worship she felt a really strong urge to pray for me. So, she did. It started out so simple, but by the end I was a puddle on the floor with tears and snot all over the place. It was one of those times where you know that the Holy Spirit was in charge and we were just submitting. She prayed for me as leader of prayer team and basically God used her to charge me back up and to give fresh vision. It was also so humbling to be reminded that God has big plans for our church. You don't need to know all the details of what happened...and quite honestly...the most important part for me was just willingly submitting my heart to God. It felt SO good. When we were done, I felt an incredible amount of weight lifted off my shoulders and just immeasurable relief.

I kept thinking over and over. This is why we do this. This is why we listen to the Holy Spirit. Because I didn't really know that I needed prayer...but Kristin was listening to the holy spirit and what resulted was an incredibly encouraging, God driven time, that I really DID need. God knows best. I just love that He allows us to partner with Him in the process.

Breaking Free

About two years ago, I was at a women's conference in Carbondale with some other women from church. While we were there, I got a very vivid image of a woman, arms wide open, praising Jesus...with a pile of junk and baggage at her feet. The words I got were "Breaking Free". I really felt strongly that this was for the women of our church. I was so excited. How could we get the women on board? A women's conference? Yes! In my naivete, I felt sure this was the way to go. Well, sometimes I get ahead of God just a little bit. Because that wasn't what happened.

Yet, that vision has stuck with me strongly over the past two years. In the last two years, I've had the opportunity to pray with countless women for this very thing. Breaking off of baggage: sins, lies, abuse, self-image, unforgiveness, etc. I've watched God work and seen women free from the stuff that has plagued them for years, sometimes decades.

Tonight, we were praying for a woman for this very thing. After God had indeed freed her from the things satan had been attacking her with...the picture of her walking in a field, towards Jesus, with piles of her brokeness left behind came to me. I thought "Yes, God. I get it now. You are doing it. THANK YOU!"

Thank you God for loving us so much that you never want us to stay in our brokeness. Your heart is for us to be free. Free to love you. Free to be the woman that you have made us to be. Free. In your freedom, I will live. Thank you seems really inadequate, but...Thank You Jesus. I love you too.

Let your light shine

I think God's trying to get my attention. We sang Mighty to Save at church yesterday. If you're not familiar with it, it talks about God's power to save...how He can move mountains, save us from our sins, give us hope. There is one part in there that I was really moved by yesterday:

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

I thought about that a little bit. Am I shining my light so that others can see? Truthfully, I feel like my light might be flickering a little bit. I still feel confident that Dave will get a job, even though right now the options seem a little bleak. However, on a daily basis...my pursuing Jesus feels a little less than par. We studied Mary and Martha last week in our lifegroup. Martha invites Jesus to her home and then becomes the seemingly ideal hostess...trying to make everything "perfect" for his visit. She is working herself to the bone. Yet, she, even in her good intentions, misses the point. Jesus just wanted her to spend time with him, like Mary chose. We talked about whether you were a Mary or Martha. At first, I thought I identified with Mary. When we have large crowds of people over, I love spending time with them, talking with them, etc. Yet, when it comes to my savior, why is it that I am more of a Martha? My entire day can go by, and I am "busy"-cleaning, taking care of children, even trying my best to get caught up on church duties...yet all that busyness often detracts me from just sitting and making time with Jesus. Why do I do that? When I write it down, it seems really silly, but that's been my reality.

Because of that, my light has begun to flicker. Yet, every time I open the word, I feel like it's a drink of water to someone who is parched. It feels so refreshing. This morning, I read about Treasures in Jars of Clay.

The verse I read said: "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ"- 1 Corinthians 4:6

Again, struck with the idea of God's light shining within us. I continued reading and it talked about how this power is from God and not from us. That even though we are hard pressed, we will not be crushed. The very end part got me too: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Tony talked about this yesterday in his sermon. How we are to fix our eyes on Jesus. Jesus is the center.

So, if you haven't noticed, I think God is trying to get my attention: and He is succeeding. I want my light to shine and I want my eyes fixed on Jesus.

Lord, forgive me when I have been apathetic. Forgive me for putting so many other things before you. You are so much more worthy Jesus.

Your love never fails

Last weekend, we had our Spring leaders retreat at Ross camp. It was amazing on so many levels. Not to mention, the weather was AMAZING!

A few highlights:

* Dinner on Friday night: A mother of highschoolers, an actual highschool student, and myself all had an amazing chat about parenting different ages. It was such an interesting conversation...and at one point I just thought, this is really cool. Thanks God.

* I got some REALLY good prayer from my dear friend during the first worship set. She's one of those who seems to always know when to pray for me and I'm so thankful for her. My words seem really cheap to explain what it means to me. I just sat there SOBBING as she was praying over me. One of those great holy spirit moments where you don't care what's going on around you, you just want to keep experiencing God's presence.

* The stars were so beautiful where we were staying. Honestly, God really outdoes himself sometimes...they were stunning.

* I had a great time connecting with friends that I don't get to see all that often, and make some new ones as well.

* On Saturday afternoon, the weather was beautiful! A few of us just laid out in the sun, basking in the wonders of it. It feels so good to be able to be outdoors again.

* I felt refreshed. We had a full 24 hours away from the kids. It was so needed to just be able to be refueled, get some solid prayer, get some rest...so that we could come back better parents. Thanks Dad and Kat for watching them while we were gone!

* They played this song this weekend...and I LOVE it. It's called Your Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture.



Lyrics:
Your Love Never Fails

Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes
But You have new mercies for me everyday
Your love never fails

Chorus:
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There maybe pain in the night but joy comes in the morning

And when the oceans rage
I don't have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails

Verse 2:
The wind is strong and the water's deep
But I'm not alone in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails

The chasm is far too wide
I never thought I'd reach the other side
But Your love never fails

Bridge:
You make all things work together for my good


So, I haven't had much time to jot down my thoughts from the weekend. I feel that these don't really give the weekend justice, but they are at least the highlights. And, listen to the song...it's amazing.

Clothing Exchange

So, every year, we do this event called the clothing exchange. It's super fun, and it get's a lot of girls involved. Essentially, we all clean out our closets of anything and everything that we don't wear...put it in piles and sort through it...try new stuff on...and go home with a new bag of fun stuff.

This year was a record year for how many girls came. It had to be between 30-35 in my little house...with all those clothes. It was a great way for people to get to know one another and a lot of new people came. It was wonderful!!





At the end of it, we had well over 17 bags/boxes left over! This morning we are doing a free garage sale in front of our church to minister to the people in our church's neighborhood. I can't wait. Hopefully the rain will hold off and we will be able to give some more clothes away. :-) It should be fun!

What a glorious week

I'm totally due for an update. This past weekend, the leaders of our church had a retreat. It was awesome. Dave and I left the kids with Dave's parents and had 24 hours to meet with Jesus, fellowship with others, and even have some time to ourselves. It was fantastic. We both got good prayer. 5 people got baptized in the freezing cold pond. I laid on a blanket in the sun with some girls during the afternoon. It was so nice to just lay there and not have to worry about where the kids were or what they were in to. It was such a great time of rest. The timing was so good because we all have been exhausted with the new church building (we are scheduled to open this upcoming Sunday...) It was wonderful. It's also just been a really good week. I feel hopeful, family is going well, marriage is going well. The church is coming along. There is still a lot to be done, but we are on hold because of the carpet. Once the carpet gets laid...then we can finish up. I've been so proud of everyone who has really banded together to get this project completed. It's been incredible seeing people serve and doing it so joyfully. Dave has been over there every night this week and is currently over there now. I have some girls who have offered to babysit tonight so that I can go over and help. I really really love our community.

Life is good.