Where do I begin?

I'm gonna try to sum up my weekend with the Lord in as few words as possible. Yeah right! ;-)

We spent the weekend at the Living Proof Live event in Columbia, SC in James chapter 1. Now, as soon as she said to open up to James I looked at my friend Melissa and said "UH OH!" Boy was I right! God did NOT fail to send out His Word and it did NOT return void. WOW.

Her basic theme for the weekend was what the point of my life was? How can I consider the trials I face pure joy? What is my purpose? No small task to answer those questions! God grants each of us one life and he marks our lives by seasons and those seasons are colored by different trials. Then our trials are assigned divine tasks by God. Tasks that evoke a test of faith, expose a need for new wisdom and they reveal the courage it takes to reach victory. If we're courageous enough to persevere we will be greatly rewarded!

We then moved into learning why we get caught in the cycle of temptation and addiction. We are in bondage due to the cycle of distractions which lead to addictions and eventually our destruction! The enemy knows our Achilles heel and he uses the same lure over and over because we don't have the motivation to TRULY be finished with whatever sin tempts/distracts us. Most of us hear the word tempt and we automatically relate it to sexual temptation but we are tempted in so many other ways. Tempted to eat more than meets our physical need, tempted to listen in on that conversation that is not edifying or encouraging, tempted to say it even though it's just a "joke", tempted to take it even if the boss won't ever miss it, all KINDS of temptations. The enemy knows where we've blown it before and he always takes the easy way out to snare us!

Finally we talked about how God is the Great Artist who is painting our lives with the colors of our trials. He's adding His own "Divine Special Effects" (DSFX) to our lives so that when we get to heaven we can look at our story or portrait or poem (whatever masterpiece you want) and see His almighty Hand in EVERY STROKE, EVERY DETAIL. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (think Hebrews) and when we obey God's Word they are cheering like crazy. When we're not the other team gets a score! We gotta dig deep in the Word ladies! God is longing to have a relationship with us that is so personal that we'll KNOW His voice, we'll KNOW His smell, we'll KNOW His Hand! Open up His Word and DIG ya'll! It's there just waiting for us! Treasure beyond measure!

One more thing and I'll try to wrap this up. There's so many things that I didn't even begin to touch on - these were the highlights! However, at the end of her sessions she talked about Revelation 7:9-12. In these verses there is a great multitude "that no one could count" from all nations around the throne of the Lamb crying "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Now, up to this point Beth said that the angels (obviously) don't "get" salvation. They don't get why God goes to all this trouble for us - especially when we disobey - because they do not have the need for salvation. Their role is much different than ours. Anyway, after they hear us saying this - well let me just put the Word here. "All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" vs 11-12 THEY FINALLY GET IT!!! They finally understand why He does what He does for us!! Does that just tear you up? If it doesn't - well sister - you better check yourself!! haha

I'm sorry for going on for so long about this but I just wanted to share with you how AWESOME the Lord is and how much He wants to have a relationship with you. He loves us so much and we just don't get it sometimes. I pray that each of you will dig deep in the Word. I pray that you'll fall in love with Jesus. I pray that God will become real to you. Not just some kind of insurance policy to have when you've got a trial going on but the Artist of your life who is painting you, molding you, creating you into His divine masterpiece! My sisters, that's what He wants most! Oh I pray you get that!

Love to all and if you get the chance please go see Beth Moore or do one of her studies for yourself! I PROMISE THAT IT'S NOT ABOUT HER! She's an incredibly gifted teacher but it's her MATERIAL that matters! NOT HER!! I know she wouldn't mind me saying that about her either. After all, she is MY best friend! haha