What a Weekend!

WOW! There is not much more I can say about this weekend to sum it up than just WOW!

What a powerful weekend full of the WORD! We spent hours upon hours hearing the Truth of His Word and disecting His Word and digging into His Word. We discovered treasure after treasure in the scriptures. We learned, we gleaned, we worshipped. We praised, we prayed, we exalted!

It was glorious! It was awesome! It was such a precious time of renewal and revival. A time of repentance and restoration. A time of drawing in and pouring out.

We studied, we shared, we were blessed. There is nothing like 350 women of God raising their voices in prayer and praise. Singing our hearts out to the Lord. Worshipping with all that we are. Worshipping God for who He is. Basking in the Glory of our Lord and King.

The presence of God was surely in that place. His Spirit fell down on that pavillion like a mighty wind. We were immersed and saturated. We experienced love and sweet mercy. We experienced true worship. We experienced hungering and thirsting for more.

We experienced God.

"I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel." (Isaiah 45:3)

Facedown!

"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" (Revelation 7:11)

"Oh come let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker" (Psalm 95:6)

I come to the altar in humble desperation, heartfelt brokenness, and great anticipation.

Facedown - crying out; pouring out; reaching out.

Facedown in prayer; in praise; in worship.

Facedown in reverence; in repentance; for deliverance.

What a precious time at the altar. Just me and my Lord.

Communing.
Abiding.

Me reaching up - God reaching down.

Me pouring out - God pouring in.

On my face in renewal and revival.

I raise my head and my eyes catch sight of the cross. I can't take my eyes off of it and emotion overtakes my spirit. I am overcome with awe and wonder and humility.

My breath catches and my pulse quickens. I can feel my heart beating faster and my spirit is quickened.

THE CROSS

It is so much more than just a cross. It deserves so much more and demands so much more.

It was a place of cruelty and pain. A place of suffering and shame. It was a place of execution, agony and death.

A place where my Savior freely gave His life.

THE CROSS

God's redemptive plan.

A place of love and healing.

A place of forgiveness and peace.

A place of worship and praise.

I inhale the wonder of God. I inhale His mercies.

Facedown... I worship.

++++++++++++

I will be gone today through Sunday at a glorious retreat at Brookhill Ranch outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Pray that the 4 of us will experience the hidden treasures of His Word in a mighty way! I love you all and will miss "seeing" you this weekend!

THANKful Thursday is Awesome!

I join Sonya today for her Thankful Thursday and am so glad that she hosts this each week.

Megan, Melissa, Ashlie

1. I am so thankful for my 3 precious daughters. God richly blessed me with sweet girls who love the Lord and I am so thankful that they all call me their best friend.

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.." (Psalms 127:3)

2. I am so thankful that Megan and Ashlie are raising their children (my precious little grandbabies) in the admonition of the Lord. They both began teaching them the truths of God's Word when they were just babies and they continue to help their children grow in Him as they get older.

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6)

Thank you Lord for the Truth of your Word.

3. I am so thankful for something called "skype" so I can talk to my daughter Melissa while she is in Africa. What a blessing modern technology can be!

Thank you Lord for your mercy!

4. I am so thankful that Melissa is feeling so much better. Nothing is worse than knowing your child is very sick and that she is on another continent, far away from home. She has been so sick for the last week and it was so awesome to answer the phone last night and NOT hear her crying. She was happy and laughing and it did this mama a world of good to hear that!

"For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds",says the Lord. (Jeremiah 30:17)

Thank you Lord for your healing hand upon my sweet Melissa! You are so good! Nothing is too hard for you!

5. I am so thankful for prayer. There are times when I feel like I am on my face ALL the time and I am so thankful that God hears my cry and that He answers me!

"In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me" (Psalm 120:1)

Thank you Lord for the power and privilege of PRAYER!

Longing for Him

I long for holiness. My desire is for holiness to settle down upon me, flowing freely from the Throne of Grace and flood my heart and soul.

I pray that holiness penetrates and saturates my entire being.

I long for righteousness. My desire is for righteousness to flow down from the rivers of heaven and fill me to overflowing.

The Lord is Holy, therefore I desire to be Holy.

He is righteousness, therefore I desire to be righteous.

He is merciful and I need mercy.

He is gracious and oh, I need His grace.

He is compassionate and I desperately need compassion.

He is salvation and I need a Savior!

He is majestic. Glorious. Faithful. Truth. Life.

In all His ways, He is holy and righteous.

In all my ways, I am lost and undone. I am nothing.

But, praise God, through Him and because of Him, we can sanctify ourselves and partake of His holiness.

Sanctification is being set apart for God’s service. It is the ongoing process of God’s grace by which we separate ourselves from sinful things and dedicate ourselves to the righteousness of God.

Holiness is being conformed to the will of God and to be like God. It is the result of being sanctified in Him. We can’t achieve holiness on our own but we CAN make choices that allow holiness and purity to be manifest in our lives.

We can only do this through Him and His Word. Galatians 5:24 tells us, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”.

This is telling us that those of us who belong to Christ are not slaves to our flesh, but that we should live and walk in the Spirit.

To achieve this, we must put aside our fleshly attitudes and ask God to purify our thoughts and our hearts. We walk closely with God in bible study, prayer and right living. We guard our hearts and our minds from worldly morals and values. We must allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and transform us.

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10)

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14)

As a Christian, living a sanctified life is an ongoing process. We are not perfect. We will mess up. We will need His mercy and grace in our lives on a daily basis! His Word tells us in Romans, that nothing good dwells in our flesh, but if Christ is in us, we have life because of His righteousness. Glory and Hallelujah!

I am so thankful that His mercies are new every morning. I am so thankful that He is patient and loving. I am thankful that I don’t have to do it on my own - because He lives in me, I have mercy, forgiveness and redemption.

Sanctifying grace is the breath of God. It restores relationships, imparts newness, perfects us in His image and equips us to be His hands and feet.

My challenge to myself and anyone who wants to join me, is to go facedown each morning, without fail. Facedown in humility. Facedown in surrender. Asking my precious Lord to give me the strength I need each day to live a life sanctified for Him. To live a life worthy of my calling. To live a life that is pleasing to Him.

“… that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12)

I long for holiness.

I long for righteousness.

God paints my life's picture

I am a simple canvas. Clean. White. Empty.

Waiting...

Waiting for the Artist to pick up His brush and begin.

Sweeping across the canvas, a stroke of color is added. Vibrant. Bold.

With a flourish, the creation begins. The creation of the work of art that is me.

God begins painting my life's picture.

A masterpiece in the making. A work in progress.

Dashes of color are added here. Dabs of color added there.

Splashes of rainbow hues fill empty spaces.

Swirls of emotions take shape. Emotions that are essential to the production.

At times the progress seems fast and at other times it seems slow.

The Master paints and the subject conforms.

The Master paints and the subject transforms.

There are times that the brush isn't painting where I want it to. There are times the brush isn't painting what I want it to. Sometimes the shades of color aren't exactly what I had in mind.

But I remember that it's not my painting. The Artist has the finished product in mind and He knows what has to take place on the canvas to become the masterpiece that He is creating.

There are times when my canvas is a mess. Colors running together. Dripping.. Smudging.. Streaking...

Then with a deft stroke of His brush, the Artist begins blending the mess into beauty.

The seeming chaos turns into a work of art.

It becomes pleasing to Him. Yet.. it remains a work in progress.

Stroke by stroke I slowly become what He desires. My colors begin to merge into what He requires. From a blank canvas to a masterpiece
that is my life in Him.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10)