Meeting the Neighbors

Well, today I finally got the water faucet out by the lofts repaired. I managed to back over it with the lawn tractor on Labor Day, snapping it clean in two, and have been carrying water to the birds from the house. My neighbor came over and put it back together for me. It will be so nice to just carry the jugs a few feet again. Fortunagely, the previous owner must have forseen such a scenario, because the faucet was actually a "T" off the main line with it't own shut-off valve. Was I ever glad to see that when we dug up the line!

It's so funny, I really don't know my neighbors well at all, and if it were left up to me, it would probably stay that way. (I'm basically a shy person--DON'T LAUGH!) But God always has other plans, and if He can't ge me to go to them, He brings them to me, sometimes in the most unusual ways! You'd think I'd learn eventually. Guess it's time to follow RW in changing the way I relate to others. Glad you all are here, this is one of the ways I am trying to come out of the shell a bit.

I pray each of you has a wonderful encounter with Jesus at church tomorrow, and that you can carry the sense of His presence with you throughout the week. Isn't He awesome?!

TIRED!!!!

The week has been non-stop hectic. I have had at least an hour overtime for 4 of the 5 days. My feet hurt, my back hurts, and it will definitely be an Ibuprofen night for this gal. Some of the happenings were pretty neat. I got to see at least two people that I know from other spheres, and I always enjoy getting to take care of someone I have registered over the phone. It's fun trying to put an image with the voice, and I am often surprised when I see the real person. I wonder if they feel the same way about seeing me after having bared their (health) soul to me. (We do ask some very nosey questions.) And most of you know that I like to cut up and kid with people, and I do that during the registration process as well. I kinda think there is some spiritual application in here somewhere, but I am too tired tonight to try to figure it out! I can really hear my bed calling me...

Where did this month go!?

September has been such a busy month that it has just gone by in a blur. We spent lots of time and effort getting ready for our church dedication, which was a wonderful day from start to finish. We had around 160 people present for the dedication ceremony alone, along with guests at the morning service and people from a couple other churches who joined us to help provide an atmosphere of worship. Two weeks (I think) prior to that we hosted the sectional fellowship and got to bless and be blessed by the pastors/wives of several churches in the area. That was like a prelude to the dedication. Then this past weekend was the Ladies Retreat. I am tired, but I gotta tell you that I wouldn't trade one moment of any of it for just sitting back on my pew and waiting to see if the Lord will move me. I have learned that I don't like being idle. I get bored very quickly. Give me something to do. Even at work, if I have to stand around very long I get itchy. The girls there have already learned to keep me moving!

Lessons learned from Boot Camp

How do I even begin to process this weekend? It was nothing I expected and everything I needed. The praise and worship was wonderful. The speakers were just so real. They told things about themselves that made us know that they struggled with the same issues they were challenging us about. Responses ran the gamut from bowed heads, quiet tears and furtive swipes at eyes to gut-wrenching sobbing and wailing. Seeing other women coming face-to-face with Jesus (and themselves) sometimes made it easier to allow myself to enter in. I spent a lot of time walking and praying (it's hard to find a place to sit and pray with 30+ other women trying to do the same thing, as I neither wanted to intrude or be intruded upon.) There were not many incidences of jumping, hooting and wild praising. But there were multitudes of breakings and breakthroughs. One of my prayers for the ladies this weekend was that no one would leave the same way she came. That has certainly been answered in my life. It will take some time to fully understand all that happened in 2 days. Some things I will be chewing on for a long time.

As is usually the case when there is a true encounter with Jesus, we were asked to make it real by committing something He had shown us to Him. The time around the bonfire was such a release for me because I saw and heard others revealing their secret fears and longings and realized that I am not the only one who struggles with feelings of inadequacy and lack of worth. I already knew that, but now I know it. I think I have discovered (again) that it is ok to be not perfect. It's ok to have questions and wonder if I've heard right. It's ok to stumble or even fall. Jesus will pick me back up. All things I knew. And all things I have had to learn again as if it was for the first time. All things I have allowed Satan to rob me of, and the hard part is, he will try to rob it again, try to send me back to business as usual. And that is what has to be stopped. I am loved. I am accepted. I am humbled.

Anticipation

Two more days! I am looking forward to the Ladies Retreat this weekend. I really feel that the Lord will minister in a mighty way to any woman who will open her heart to Him and allow Him to do whatever work He has in mind for her life. Not a work of works, but a work of love, of drawing closer to Him. I have been eagerly awaiting this weekend for over a month now. Of course, I think that the prayer over the events has helped substantially; not just my own, which have certainly drawn me closer already, but the prayers of evey lady attending have totally bathed this retreat in His power and blessing. I am praying that not one of us leaves that place the same as we came. I am praying that wherever we are right now, that we will find a place of fulfillment and total grace; and come home ready to explode with the start of revival!