Going Beyond ~ Recap (long!)

WOW! What an amazing weekend it has been! I hope that I can somehow describe what it was like and it make some kind of sense! My mind is just full right now with everything that was said and I hope that I will not soon forget the ways that God spoke to me and worked in my heart.

Thank you for your prayers! We prayed that the glory of God would fill the sanctuary...and let me tell you, it did. I was reminded of Isaiah 6:1 - God filled the room. He was there, He was moving and it was incredible! I was so blessed to see women of all ages, all colors, different churches, all walks of life together in that room praising our Lord and Savior. There is just nothing else like it! I can imagine that it was just a very small glimpse of what heaven will be like! Glory!

We started the evening by doing business with God. Laying down anything that would keep us from hearing from Him that weekend. Just getting real before Him. It was an awesome time of prayer and preparation to hear from the Lord. They had us fill out a card with any prayer request we might have and lay it at the altar. Priscilla was going to take the cards and pray over them that night, and again this morning. Ladies flooded the altar and came forward to lay their burdens down. It was such a precious sight to see.

That was followed by an incredible time of worship. As we sang, I thought about something we learned in our Stepping Up Bible Study about being truer worshippers. As I was singing the words "You're all I want, You're all I've ever needed" and "I'm desperate for You" I just cried out to Him and said "please God, I truly want You to be all that I want!", "Help me to be desperate for you alone!" How I long with everything that is in me to mean what I am singing and sing what I mean!

I had been praying for God to speak to me in a very personal, real and direct way. I was ready to hear from Him. Priscilla came forward and began to speak about how our God is a God of abundance. He came that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). We sometimes put God in this box, and it certainly doesn't limit God's ability, but it limits our awareness of His power and how He wants to work in our lives. When the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt, God wanted to bring them out to His Promised Land. A land that was flowing with milk and honey. She talked about how milk represents satisfaction and honey represents sweetness. God wants us to be satisfied and have sweetness in our lives. But to get to that Promised Land, we have to free ourselves from the things that keep us in bondage (unhealthy relationships, sins that we are hanging on to, places of comfort, etc.) What do you need to leave behind so that you can move beyond with Him?

Once the Israelites escaped from the things/people that enslaved them, they made their journey to the Land of Promise. But as we know, God did not lead them directly there. There was a way that was near, an 'easy' way...but God did not take them that way (Ex. 13:17) Instead, there they sat at the edge of the wilderness (vs.20). You may be in that wilderness right now...I am. You may be wondering, why? "Why would You choose this journey for me, God? Why do I have to walk this road? I never thought I would be here, in this place, going through the things I am facing right now. God, there is an easy way, but this sure isn't it!" Have you been there?

Oh, but then she talked about why God chooses the wilderness for us. This is good stuff, sisters! God was speaking right to my heart. The first reason is that the wilderness is the way to a miracle. He wants to lead us right to a miracle. When we get to that place where we have to call on Him because we can't do it ourselves, when we have no choice but to depend on Him, that's when He wants to show Himself strong (2 Chron. 16:9). The wilderness is also the way to intimacy with God. When we get to our lowest point then we come to the mountain of God and see Him like never before. We have to realize that this wilderness we are in was intended by God, He is not surprised one bit by where we are...He led us here. It is here that we will hear from God and see His glory clearly. Praise you Lord!

God continued to speak this morning as we opened with a time of praise and worship. There were ladies who met at the church early to pray over all the requests that had been written last night. Vicki Yohe was one of the worship leaders and she started to share some of her testimony before she sang. She had been there for the prayer time that morning, and prayed over all the ladies that made their request for the Lord to bless them with children and fulfill that desire of their heart. She has been married for 12 years, and said that she tried for 9 years and was not able to have children. She talked about the pain and heartache that she felt and just being consumed with that desire. She went on a mission trip to Uganda and spoke out about starting an orphanage for those children. The Lord had brought her to the point where it was not all about her and she took her eyes off of herself and put it on others. Shortly after that she received a call that there was a little boy that they could adopt, and Walker Winston Hodges became a part of their family! He is now three years old and they just adopted another little boy who is four months old. She testified to God's goodness, His faithfulness, and His blessing to those who wait on Him.

Then Priscilla came up on the stage and asked those of us who had written that prayer request and who were going through this struggle to stand up. Y'all, you just have to know that it is so not like me to do something like this...what we are going through is not something that I talk about a lot. It's easier for me to talk about it here than in 'real life' because I don't really know who is reading and I don't have to answer questions in person....but at that point, I stood up by myself on my pew. She asked us to make our way down front to the altar, and I climbed over all my friends sitting beside me to get down there. Vicki spoke a word of blessing over us and prayed for us. I stood there with my hands lifted towards heaven and said, "I trust You, Lord. I leave this in Your hands. I will wait for you to move. I am open to the blessing of adoption if that's where You lead. Have it Your way, God." After that time of prayer, Priscilla came and hugged me and whispered a sweet blessing in my ear! Y'all, God is so good! He did that just for me, and I am so thankful for His amazing love! Then to walk back and my sweet friends hug me and know that they had been praying for me just blessed my heart even more!

There is so much more that I want to share, but I know this has been long. I will try to do a 'part 2' later to share with You the other ways that God spoke this weekend. He revealed some awesome things through His Word and I am so thankful for Priscilla's obedience to share.

Here's a couple of pictures, because I did remember to bring my camera! These are some of my precious friends from Sunday School. We were missing a couple of girls that had not arrived yet.

After the conference we went to lunch at Camille's Sidwalk Cafe....LOVE their chips and salsa!!

Thank you for your prayers. What a privilege it is to intercede for one another. I am praying for you all as well!