I met a man today.  He’s no one special according to his own definitions, just a man with a story and a future according to God’s plans.  My husband and I were invited to have breakfast with three friends and this man, a visiting pastor from Africa.  He spoke at our church last night about our God.  It was something.  We serve the very same Lord and yet his stories sounded quite different from ours here in the U.S.

You see he’s been involved in the planting of a new church where he lives.  Away from the village he lives in, this new church planting began under a very large mango tree, to give shade from the sun that shines so brilliantly and hot.  Meager beginnings with nothing but the Word of God.  And the people came.  And the pastor shared out of the Word of God.

They come from miles sometimes.  They come because they heard something different is happening over there, under that mango tree.  They sometimes bring others with them, some not able to walk on their own.  They’re coming on bikes, and motorbikes, on foot, on blankets slung between two poles, any way they can get there.  To hear God’s Word of life.

As this humble man speaks of the God who set him free years earlier, an interesting thing begins to happen.  The people realize they want what this man has to share.  I mean they really want this freedom, this new way of life.  And about then, it happens.  The enemy of their soul, the one who has fought so horrifically throughout their lives to keep them from this moment, begins to realize he can no longer keep this person from the truth of the Word of God.  And OUT HE COMES!

The crowd dances, shouts, and sings in honor of the One who is able to keep us from falling.  And then the person realizes they are free from the tormentor, free to invite Jesus into their heart, finally and forever, and so they do.  Now the celebration is on as the rest of the congregation, singing and dancing and shouting, rejoice with this new child of the kingdom.  That’s what we heard the other night at our church.  And I wondered what everyone thought sitting there listening to this pastor tell of life in this place.

Personally, I tracked with him and loved sitting there listening to Pastor Douglas speak.  And at breakfast the next morning, I wanted to hear so much more.  Five of us peppered Pastor with questions.  And somewhere in there I found myself watching him speak to us of his home and I became mesmerized by one particular aspect of this man’s persona.  His smile.  Pastor Douglas’ smile seemed to rise up from deep inside him and when he smiled, I just felt that life was good.

Pastor Douglas lived through the regimes of Idi Amin and Joseph Kony.  He lost his father to the terror reigns and his mother abandoned her three children when Douglas was 10 years old.  I would have loved to hear more about this, but instead we leaped to more present day situations and the emerging church in the country where he lives.  He found his way to Christ and then found he was anointed for pastoring.  And that’s what he does…

This man, Pastor Douglas, radiates when he smiles.  Knowing even just this small bit from his childhood causes my heart to ache for a child who had to learn life the hard way.  Watching him speak, both to our church and at breakfast, I became lost in his smile because I felt it was so genuine.  That huge, brilliant smile comes only when one is at peace with oneself.  It is both comforting and soothing.  No matter the subject of our questions, that smile permeated the conversation.  And peace ruled in my heart as I listened to him share.

My husband and I are involved in a home group this fall, one where we are studying how we can “Strengthen Ourselves in the Lord” by Bill Johnson.  The subject matter the past two weeks has been about thankfulness and praise and how, just by entering into these two actions, we can literally turn our difficult circumstances upside down.  The content has been rich and the resulting discussions in our group have been stretching and full.

Sitting across the table from Pastor Douglas, listening intently about a life peppered with difficult circumstances, some even traumatic, made me think of what we’ve been learning.  And as if God knew I needed a living example, he plopped me down at a breakfast table across from a man who lives half a world away, sharing about extreme circumstances and about our God that we have in common.  What do I notice?  That smile.  That radiating, full-of-life smile.

Pastor Douglas is at peace with our God.  Through thanksgiving and praise he has been delivered out of the pit and into the wonderful Light of Jesus.  He is living proof that God hears our prayers, He gives us His Hand in times of trouble, He guides us through trauma and hopelessness, and He sets our feet on solid ground.

God unfolded a new truth to me; thankfulness and praise.  Powerful words.  Life-altering words. Words that belong in our everyday life so we might be lifted up and out into His glorious Light.  Be thankful and give praise to God for He will help you get through anything life can throw at you.

As our breakfast time came to a close, we prayed over Pastor Douglas.  What struck me was a picture in my mind of the blazing sun in Africa, radiating light and warmth.  And suddenly I was impressed with Pastor Douglas’ brilliant smile, a radiating beacon of hope, truth, and light for lost souls in his country.  Pastor Douglas.  Living proof that our God cares and that with Him, we can overcome, forgive, and become shining lights for others.

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”  Psalm 100:4 (NKJV)

“He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.  He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.”  Psalm 40:2-3 (NLT)

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!”  1 John 3:1a (NLT)

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We all go through trials.  When I was first saved many years ago, I erroneously thought that since I’d now accepted Jesus Christ into my life that my life was going to be pretty spiffy.  You know, privileged, special, safe.  While there is truth in that, Christ doesn’t suggest your life is going to be carefree and easy once you are part of the Kingdom.  On the contrary, as I look back over my life, it has been profoundly marked by trials, some fairly easy to walk through and some I wouldn’t wish on anyone.  The point however, is that the Lord walks with you through the trials of your life.

The lessons of this truth can be hard fought.  Trials can often bring up our own fight or flight response.  Often we panic in the face of a trial, especially if it’s something we didn’t expect.  Being blindsided isn’t an easy thing; walking through something you never intended nor thought you’d have to walk through is weighty stuff.

When we accept Christ into our lives, we are so new to the things of God we often make wrong judgments about what this is going to look like.  It’s going to be, hopefully, a lifelong journey with the One who loves us so much He was willing to sacrifice His own Son to die for our sins.  We don’t understand however, now that we have committed to following Christ, He is faithful to help us realize both the errors of our ways and also the giftings and blessings He has waiting in the wings for us.  We savor the gifts and blessings; the errors well, not so much.

Recently the Lord gave me an image to help me understand.  Growing up watching old western movies and cartoons there were countless times when the good guys are trying to save someone or the family property.  Often the bad guys utilized the big bang effect of dynamite to intimidate those they were trying to swindle or kill.  How many times did I watch with rapt attention as the dynamite was placed and a long, winding fuse was unwound off a spool.  Out of the house or mine or property came someone carrying this spool, unwinding it like thread, so as to be inconspicuous or overlooked to the unsuspecting eye.  Around trees, under rocks, over boulders and sometimes even around bluffs or hills the fuse was unwound so there was enough room between the offender and the explosion.

Then the bad guys waited for just the right moment.  A match was struck and placed to the end of the winding fuse.  Watching as a child, this always created a sense of suspense in my heart.  The fuse was going to burn for quite some time.  Often the folks the explosion was aimed at were oblivious to the impending doom.  The music would heighten.  The camera pans periodically from the unsuspecting recipients to the burning fuse, ever making its way closer and closer to the hidden dynamite.  And, true to Hollywood, sometimes the fuse was discovered and put out by the good guys and sometimes we would watch as the hissing ended in an explosion of great magnitude.

Welcome to our lives.  Sometimes we’re minding our own business, never aware that coming toward us is a neatly concealed fuse, lit by the enemy of our souls.  We get blindsided periodically by these burning, hissing displays cleverly disguised as trials in our lives.  Every once in awhile, we see them coming and we can take precautionary action to douse the burning fuse.  Unfortunately, there are also those times that we succumb to the blast of a trial gone wrong in our lives.

How do we learn to perhaps not enjoy, but at least endure the trials of our lives?  By recognizing that we gave our lives over to a God who is so in love with us that He will see us through even the worst of trials.  He loves us.  He adopted us.  And so He will stand by us as we figure out, hopefully with His help and input, exactly how to walk it out.

Can you look back now and see that He really did get you through?  I can.  I didn’t do so well always in the midst of the trials, but looking back I can see vividly that my Father in heaven has been faithful.  I pray for you this day you might begin to look differently at the burning, hissing fuses of your life.  Yes, they may threaten and they not be what you would have chosen but God has a plan for even this fuse in your life.  And sometimes, He even comes in a nick of time and douses that fuse with water.

Trials are part of our journey, don’t deny them.  It is through them that we grow.  It’s why James 1 tells us to consider trials an opportunity for great joy.  Yeah well, I may not be quite there yet Lord, but I’m definitely doing better at seeing your hand in the midst of my trials.

Lord, help my friends to understand your heart in the midst of trials.  Every trial is an opportunity for a promotion.  Let there be rejoicing in heaven this day as many are promoted in their thinking about the trials of life.  Bless them Lord, and keep them safe.  Oh, and Lord?  If it’s possible, douse some of those fuses please!  Thanks Lord and watch over my friends.

“And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are— northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” Genesis 13:14-15 NKJV

I love these two verses. Two sentences. Simple. A statement from God. And yet contained in these 44 words is a promise so vast it boggles ones mind.

God made a promise in these words to help Abram, soon to be Abraham, grab hold of a future plan. Abram could not understand the magnitude of this promise in its entirety for he had to live it out in order to even begin to grasp its scope. No Abram would never in his lifetime understand completely what God was handing to him in these two sentences.

You and I however are a different story. If you look at the Bible not simply as a lot of unrelated stories but as a love letter from our Father in heaven, you can begin to unwrap a beautiful gift from God meant to encourage and catapult you too into a future bright with promise.

God’s promise to Abram is a gift for all mankind. When the Lord promised Abram not only all the land around him that his eye could see, but soon after that his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky, He was including us in these promises. You see, you and I are one of Abram’s descendants. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we gained access to the promises of Abram!

Now the story can be read in a whole new light. God’s word is eternal so now I can read this Scripture figuratively as, “Linda (or insert your name here), lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are— northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.”

God wants each of us to lift our eyes now and look from the place where you are. What are you facing? Hard times? Disputes? Family issues? Financial stress? Health issues? It doesn’t really matter, you can insert whatever you may be facing. The point is the Lord has given us, each and every one of us, the ability to grab hold of something else other than what we are currently facing.

Abram was left with a piece of less than desirable land after he allowed Lot to choose where he wanted to live. He could have fumed and whined, even if only to himself, about this turn of events. “Oh great! How am I going to raise all my livestock on this piece of bare land? That ungrateful Lot! He could have at least left me a portion of the well-watered land.” On and on he could have railed about the situation. But Abram was willing to take the land that Lot rejected, whatever he chose, so there would be no strife between their families.

And it is right there that God showed up and made the promise to Abram. “Lift your eyes from this situation and see what I’ve given you. It is more than you might think and it is enough so that you may thrive in all I’m providing for you. It might look like the lesser of the lands. But trust Me. There, off in those places, is my provision for you!”

Lift your eyes from your current situation. Look around you. What, or even perhaps who, has the Lord placed in your path to help you realize there’s so much more? “More what,” you might ask? Simply more. Our Lord is a God of provision, so much so, it is even one of His many names: Jehovah-jireh, meaning God will provide.

God provides. The answer. The way through. The health, relationship, or financial means to get to the other side. Sometimes it’s just insight to help us see past our current place. Past the hurt. Past the habit so desperately needed be left behind. Past our current state of affairs.

Lift your eyes and look around. He has provided the way through. Step into it…you will only realize it as you move, one step at a time, from here…to there!

I was getting some vegetables ready to cook for a potluck the other day.  I placed them in a colander and rinsed them off.  A crazy thought came into my mind.  Life is like sitting in a colander sometimes.

I look at my life and realize that I’m covered in dirt from my living.  When I make bad choices I end up dirty, in a state I’d rather not be in.  I know this plight very well, we’re old friends in fact.  I end up here when I make hasty decisions or ones that I wanted to make because I thought this is what would make me happy.  There’s nothing more sobering than making a decision based on wants and later finding yourself miserable.

Another place quite familiar is the one of carrying around my burdens.  Why is it so easy to throw all the things that are bothering me into my backpack and sling that sucker up onto my back?  That backpack has felt like it weighed hundreds of pounds at times throughout my life.  Those burdens, the things that just won’t seem to go away because I’m hurt or someone I love is going through something or countless other mishaps that can occur in our lives, hop right onto me, causing me to feel overwhelmed by the bugs in my garden, threatening to consume all I’ve worked so hard to produce in the first place.

I don’t like it much that sometimes it’s way too easy to further complicate my soiled condition.  I can whine about it; that only compounds my condition and it will last that much longer.  I can go to a friend and try to blame my current spot on someone else; that is so not the way through!  My blaming others now has resulted in me taking my eyes off of what Jesus meant as an area for me to grow in and instead fall into a very ugly place – judgment.  No, God says if we judge others, then we will be judged in the same way.  This only causes me to sit in the colander of my life, motionless, wilting, and still covered in dirt.

As I rinsed my vegetables, I thought about God, the running water of my life.  Clear, cool, refreshing water rinsing through my life.  His cleansing truths rush over me, taking the rocks that have bruised, the dirt that has soiled and the bugs that threatened to devour cleanly out of my life.  I must choose to remain there and allow myself to be cleansed.  My Lord is happy to oblige me for He knows the restrictions I’ve allowed into my life are only serving to impede my progress.

You see, God’s plans are perfect.  He knows the way through the trials, decisions, and heartaches.  But, you see, He is also a gentleman and He will not force me to enter into His cleansing.  No, that decision rests with me.  Completely.  I must initiate the process, I must call out to Him and ask for His help.  I must desire to be rid of the things that are weighing me down, the many things of this world that are retarding my progress.

Just for today I’m making a choice to simply stop.  Yep, the dirt of life is everywhere and I must choose wisely to avoid it.  Instead, I’m going to allow my Papa in heaven to rinse His cleansing love over me.  I don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but today I’m just going to stop and get cleansed. This simple action allows me to get clean and climb on out of that colander because of the price my Savior paid…for me!  Thank you Jesus.

Part Two of my post “Forgiveness – God’s Mighty Tool.”

The morning after the women’s conference, my husband and I had breakfast with my friend, Jennifer, who not only conceived of the conference, but she also graciously invited me to be a speaker.  As we talked about the weekend, Jen voiced her feelings: “without a doubt, the pivotal point of the entire conference was the forgiveness piece with the banner!”  We chewed on that for quite a few minutes, recounting the beauty of what transpired through that unplanned God-moment.

Eventually we moved on to other matters in our lives since Jen and I only get to see each other occasionally.  At one point I suddenly remembered something I wanted to share with her, a curious dream from a few nights before; my husband and I had been on the Oregon coast on vacation prior to coming inland to the conference where I would speak.

Some of you may be aware there have been many predictions lately of a very large and potentially devastating earthquake that has been labelled “imminent” by many in the scientific community for the entire coastline, from California to Alaska.  While I don’t want to linger there, I must tattle on myself concerning this prediction.  Impending calamities, real or predicted, have been known to cause me concern, some to the point of allowing fear to rise up inside me.  I’ve learned fear is the opposite of faith and this is a lesson my Daddy in heaven is currently working with me on, helping me to learn to trust Him and Him only.

On May 20, 2013 we were in Branson, Missouri when an EF5 tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma with peak winds estimated at 210 mph, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.  We’d never been in “tornado alley” before and when the tornado warnings reached clear to Branson, fear rose in my heart.  All this to say, I have to work at not allowing fear to take over when confronted with natural disaster type warnings.  Obviously, we were fine (God showed up there too).

When we left for the coast, I must admit I was battling quietly inside.  Thoughts of the predictions roared in a few times, but I took control of the fiery darts, told them to stand down and we enjoyed our time at the coast.  We spent a week at one town, and left for another town further south on Monday, planning to leave Friday morning for the women’s conference beginning later that night.

Tuesday night I had a disturbing dream.  My in-laws, both gone home to Jesus now, were in my dream.  I’d gone to their house to deliver something and we were standing outside their house talking.  Suddenly my in-laws saw someone they knew on the road in front of their house and they told me to wave him down, they needed to talk with him.  So with arms flailing we all ran toward the road.  The friend saw us and he stopped his car.  Just as we walked up to his waiting car, his eyes got huge and he yelled, “LOOK!” pointing behind us.  When we turned around to look, we saw devastation (although I don’t know what the force was).  There where my in-laws’ house should have been was nothing but the foundation; the house was completely gone.  My car was gone and my dog with it.  Nothing was left.  As we walked to empty spot, the total shock and weight of the devastation settled in; no memorabilia, no possessions, nothing was left.  As I looked at my in-laws, and we felt the impact of the loss, I suddenly woke up.

Don’t much care for those kinds of dreams, a strange one for me.  As I laid there coming fully awake, I prayed, “what does that mean Lord?  Does this have something to do with the predictions?  Are you trying to tell me something.  And what’s the meaning behind my in-laws in this dream?”  I lay there a couple of minutes waiting but hearing nothing I got up.  My husband got up also and I immediately told him about the dream.  He looked at me with a strange look.  “What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Well, listen to this.  At 4 a.m. I was awakened out of a dead sleep.  My mind was raging with thoughts about the earthquake predictions.  At first I thought this might be an attack, so I prayed, asking the Lord to quiet the arrows of the enemy.  The thoughts of doom kept up for quite a few minutes.  Finally, I felt like I could rest again, so I turned over to go back to sleep.  It was then that I heard very clearly, “I want you to leave now!”  At this point, I kind of had an argument with God: “It’s 4 a.m. Lord!  This seems just weird.  We’d have to get up, put the trailer back together, probably bothering the people around us in the RV park.  Lord, if this is you, I need a confirmation that we are to leave.  I don’t know, something like when we wake up Linda will have something of a confirmation to this.  Father, I’m going back to sleep; please confirm this or I’m chalking it up to listening to too many disaster reports.”  And with that, he went back to sleep.  For him to get out of bed and have me immediately launch into my dream was a bit much; we looked at each other.  Was this the confirmation?

“OK, I think we each need to spend a few minutes with the Lord to see what we should do,” he stated.  So we did.  And we decided, due to his request of a confirmation from God, that we should leave.  A couple of hours later we were headed out of town.  As we drove away, we prayed for the people who live on the coast, for their safety and futures.

“So, we’re going to have some extra time now before the conference begins.  What shall we do?” I asked my husband, Butch.  Almost immediately we thought about friends who travel up and down the I-5 corridor for work and wondered if they might possibly be in town.  I texted Brenda and we were delighted to find they were staying at their daughter’s home near to where we were going to be for the conference.  We immediately made plans to meet on Thursday morning, the men to play golf and Brenda and I to have coffee and a leisurely visit.  As we visited I remembered my banners, that Brenda had actually made for me, left behind at home.  “Would it be possible to borrow some of your banners?” I inquired.  Brenda was more than willing and we then made plans for getting them back to her at a later date.

Back to breakfast with Jen the day after the conference.  When Jen said she felt the pivot spot of the conference revolved around the forgiveness banner and the work God did in each woman in attendance, the light bulb went off.  Oh my goodness!  The dream, the banners, the conference!  God had been orchestrating in the background amazing “coincidences”!

Long ago the Lord decided He wanted a women’s conference at my former church.  He put me into relationship with a new friend two years ago.  He built our relationship, long distance, over many phone calls.  He then took us to a conference together last spring, where He planted the idea of a conference into Jen’s thoughts.  He knew that the women of this church needed some quiet time with Him and He thought (I can only pretend to imagine His thoughts…He’s God after all!) it would be nice to use a banner for this purpose.  So Jen put a conference together and invited me to be one of the speakers.  We planned our vacation around this conference and unfortunately, I forgot my banners.  So He used a disaster scenario we were quite familiar with to get our attention and through the use of a dream and a strong impression, had us leave the coast early (there would not have been enough time to see Brenda if we had stayed with our original plans).  Now enter thoughts of good friends and they are actually in the area at the time.  We have a great visit with old friends and I borrow banners.  The rest of the story can be read in my previous post, “Forgiveness – God’s Mighty Tool“.

I used to believe in coincidences.  Not anymore.  God is, well, GOD!  He is mighty and loving and creative.  He had to find a way to move us from the coast to a position to have the time to spend with friends, one the maker of banners, so that a piece of painted silk could do what He wanted to do within the hearts of women.  Wow!

And that’s the rest of the story!

It has been a season of rest.  Surprisingly I found myself with no words to share.  To my faithful followers, thank you for checking back every so often even though I’m sure you wondered what happened.  Nothing.  And that was the point; I had nothing to say.  Why try to manufacture words when you feel like there’s nothing to write about?

Now, I have a wonderful thing to share.  I’ve just returned home after speaking at a women’s conference at the church I grew up in; I was a member of this church for almost 26 years prior to my husband and I moving after retirement.  It was good to be home.  Being one of the speakers was both honoring and terrifying at the same time and I spent no small amount of time working on what I would share.  As a last minute thought, I borrowed some 3’x4′ silk declaration banners from a friend to take with me; I have some banners of my own but I had forgotten them at home.  I’ll get to that in Part Two.

Banners being used in churches were new to me until four years ago.  We went to a conference where someone gave a workshop on the use of banners.  They can be used for simply declaring the goodness of God during a worship service, for using as a prayer cloth, for pointedly addressing specific topics (the subject of which is the theme of a banner) and so on.  I wanted banners with me in case.  I didn’t know in case of what, I just wanted them with me as I’ve witnessed their use becoming a powerful change agent.  God shows up sometimes in quite astounding ways.

As we gathered for prayer prior to the conference with the pastor of the church on Friday evening, I had to ask permission to use the banners as not every church is familiar with their use.  After a bit of discussion, this gracious pastor granted permission, asking that I give a brief explanation of what they are (only silk and paint, nothing special), and they hold no special meaning other than being used as an outward expression of an inner adoration or commitment to the Lord.

The theme of the conference was, “A Well Full of Water,” so it seemed fitting to wave a beautiful banner named “Living Waters” during worship that night after a brief explanation.  The night progressed with testimonies from two women, powerful, living examples of what God does best: transform lives.  Both of these women desire to be used in ministry and, after listening to their stories, I have every confidence that God will indeed use them.

Their stories evoked much emotion.  I’ve found it’s almost impossible to listen to someone’s story without causing some level of emotion to rise up as their sharing causes instances of similarity to surface about your own story with God.  He’s quite powerful that way.  As we ended the night, three of us gathered to debrief.  Please keep in mind that I’m recalling all of this in hindsight now; at the time, we had no inkling of what God was going to do.

As we discussed the evening, it was apparent that we each felt God was moving in hearts as only He can do and that there might be something He wanted to address in the women in attendance.  I can’t even remember why we landed on this word, but the word that resonated with us all was forgiveness.  It came up in our discussion a couple of times.  Suddenly I remembered that I had brought my friend’s banner called “forgiveness” with me.  I threw out a suggestion for it’s possible use the next day.  We ended our discussion with the fact we would all sleep on it, praying that Papa God would either open the way for the banners use or not.  Simple.

Early the next morning we came together once again to pray prior to the conference beginning afresh.  “Did anyone get a check on the use of the banner?”  No checks, so we decided quickly we would use it and what we were going to do.  I want you, the reader, to understand we inserted a plan into the agenda that had no prior inclusion or thought.  It was a result of something being “coincidentally” available and hearts open to God.

We began once again with worship, only this time I gave instruction regarding the use of the “Forgiveness” banner.  I quoted Colossians 3:12-13 (NLT): “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”

I instructed the women that perhaps there were some who needed to take a step toward forgiving those in their lives, not that the wrongs done did not hurt or harm, but that we are to follow Christ’s ways concerning forgiveness.  “If anyone desires to do business with God this morning, I ask you to make a move — step out of your seat, come forward, and simply walk under the banner of Forgiveness.”  It was most definitely a God-moment, so I don’t completely remember the exact words, but you get the idea.

It began slowly with a couple of women coming forward.  Another leader and I held opposite ends of the banner and simply moved it gently above each woman.   We prayed.  My instructions weren’t specific enough; instead of walking under and through, each woman came under the banner and stood, some remaining for many minutes.  Some held their arms high, some stood with head down, others collapsed to the floor in sobs.  Something powerful and amazing occurred that morning as women humbled themselves under a simple banner and took care of business with Daddy, some forgiving for the very first time, others reminded of a long-forgotten piece of forgiveness that needed to occur.

95% of the women in attendance went under that banner.  Watching them transform before our eyes gave us witness to miracles taking place.  They would walk under in full control.  As they stood under the banner, changes began.  There might be a quiver of the lips or tears would begin to roll gently down their cheeks.  It was a mighty move of God through the group as woman after woman took a step of submission before our God and He met them there at the front of the sanctuary.  Breathtaking.  Wondrous.  Powerful.  And there was not a dry eye in the place.

In the hours following, a number of women shared with me the transforming power of forgiveness and I learned a strong lesson from God about being part of such gatherings.  I went to that conference all conflicted about the word I had to share.  I prayed.  I waited.  I pondered.  I wanted to make sure that I knew that I knew that God wanted that message to be shared.  Yet, what I learned was that the power and glory of our God in heaven, the God of the universe, didn’t need me and the word I shared, anyone’s word for that matter.  Yes, the shared words over the entire conference were fine but they weren’t the most important things.  The most important thing was we invited Him into our space, made room in a full agenda, unknowingly, and through something quite as simple as a painted piece of silk, the power and might of a loving and gracious God came down from heaven — and spent a little time with His daughters, freeing them in a new way.

Priceless.