Ginormous Huge Awesomeness

So this weekend has been spent watching the Verge 2013 conference webcast. The entire weekend. It started Friday when my sweet sista told us she would like us to tune in instead of our discussion this week. Ohhhhhh my gravy!!! Talk about awesome! A whole weekend of spiritual leaders from all over talking about what God is doing.

The most awesome thing? He's doing it everywhere. It was so awesome to hear these guys and gals talking about hospitality, discipleship, and love. Talking about the importance of relationships. The importance of sharing the story. Not just the story of the Bible, but the story of our lives... our eternal lives. These are all things that Ben and I, as well as many others within the church, are experiencing. God is moving in this dirty nasty world, and doing it the way only He can... BIG.

Big. Ginormous. Huge. Just think about it. All over the world, God is handing out invitations to what He's about to accomplish. He is instructing us, influencing us, informing us of what we are to do in order to share His awesome story with more and more people. How is He doing this?

He is asking us to get out of our comfort zones. Heck, He's asking us to get out, period. Get out. Meet people. Invite them to your home. Show them what your life looks like as a follower of Jesus. Show them love. Show them how you interact with others. Tell them your stories of God's work in your life. We all have a story. Every single one of us can relate to another person's story.. which means every one of us has a story that can be related to... What is your story? How can it help someone you don't even know? Well, you can't share it with someone new if you never leave your couch....

Or can you? Have you ever thought about sharing your story with your immediate arena of influence? That would be your family, your friends, your coworkers... Do they all know you are a believer? Why not??? It doesn't have to be beautiful. It has to be real. We are not perfect, and there is no way we can be on our own. We will not achieve perfection in this world. That's something to look forward to when we leave this world. Perfection, brought about by the only One who can make us that way.

I know what you are thinking... In this world, who can I trust to come into my home and not harm me or my family? Well... we can't put our trust in man. We can only trust One, who is so fully perfect and who loves us unlike anything we've ever experienced. You might also be thinking that we will never reach everyone. Well, you are right. WE can't, but HE can. One day every knee will bow, and every man will declare His majesty. Who's to say we can't see that in our lifetime?!? Wouldn't it be awesome to exeperience, and to know that God used you to spread His Word to this sick, sad world?

Our God can do it! Our God created everything around us, including us. Have you ever thought about that? He created all of it. Every cell, every tiny part that makes up every living thing... HE did that. He can do anything He wants. He can use my story to further His kingdom. He can use yours too...

If you want to know how that can happen, ask Him. He will show you. Just remember, when things get tough and you are under attack, that He is always with you, and if you keep praying and listening to Him, He will show you what to do. He will guide you, equip you, and speak through you. You just have to obey.......

God IS at Work!!

Thursday night I made a very important appointment. An appointment the enemy DOES NOT want me to keep. You see, tomorrow, I will be sharing my testimony for publication as a life change story in an online Christian magazine. When I was asked, I had many reactions all at once.... honor, amazement, fright, and an overwhelming sense that I was saying yes whether I wanted to or not. 

You see I consider myself an introvert. I prefer not to have any attention directed at me. I enjoy the company of my friends and family, but meeting new people kind of freaks me out, and being considered an example absolutely blows my mind. I am nothing apart from God. On my own, there is no way I would consider sharing my story with more than a handful of people at a time. Ha, for that matter, there's no way I would consider sharing my story, period. I would rather be in the background.

So of course, the enemy has been harassing me. A flashback scene on a favorite show sent me into a tail spin of anxiety and fear. It also made me really, really mad. You see, I was in the middle of requesting prayer for myself and the author of the article, as well as another young lady God has put on my heart. I was horrified when I realized what I was seeing, and how exactly like my memories the scene was.I was mad... and yes, a few choice words did come out when I was berating satan for the attack. 

 It took a bit for me to calm down. I immediately sought prayer from my warriors and prayed myself. Then I went to the Word, and boy, was it good! God led me to Ephesians 2, and my super awesome Discipleship Sista sent me a fantastic article written by John Piper on being weak. Oh, thank God, I am WEAK!!!! I embrace it and welcome and let the One who is STRONG do the work He has planned. As I prayed and read, I realized that God had been protecting me the entire hour long show. The only flashback I saw was the one at the very end of the show. Then throughout the weekend,  He sent me Word upon Word, song upon song, friend upon friend, and love upon love......Every song on the radio spoke directly to what I was feeling at that moment. During Discipleship we tuned into the Verge 2013 conference, and every speaker was speaking right to me. In fact, that was so awesome, I have watched it the entire weekend, and it's on right now! Awesome stuff, and confirmation that God can and does work, and He does invite us to join Him where He's working. He's got people all over the world thinking about the same things, loving the same people, wanting to spread His Word in the same ways.... WOW!!! 

I have experienced so much love and protection and confirmation this weekend. God invited me to join Him where He is working. It's not going to be easy, but I know, I know, I KNOW it will be worth it. It amazes me that He has chosen me to join Him. Alone, I am not much. With Him, I am a powerful weapon in the war against an enemy who wants to destroy us all. He wants to separate us from the only One who loves us no matter what. No matter what we do, He still loves us. No matter what we do, He still cares. No matter what we do, He still seeks us. He seeks us... And we turn our backs away from Him. We decide that it's too hard to do what He asks us, or that we just don't want to obey. We hurt Him over and over again and He STILL loves us. 

I want to be the me that He sees in me. I want to follow the path He's set before me. I want to obey. I want the story of what He's done in my life to touch someone. I want them to see that He changed me, and that He can change them too. He heals. He loves. He wants. He doesn't need us.... He wants us. Do you want to be healed? Loved? Wanted? Seek Him. Pray for someone to come along side you and disciple you and allow God to teach you about His love. He wants you to know Him and know just how much He loves you... Don't you want that too???