by | Faith Lived Out, Life Application
I have experienced many things this past weekend – more than I’ll probably remember to put in this blog. Isn’t that awesome? When you have so many blessings in three days that you’re not sure if you’ll remember to write them all down?
My amazing best friend Jammie gifted me with tickets to the Joyce Meyer Love Life ’10 Conference in St. Louis for my birthday. I expected to have a good time, but God went beyond my expectations. The Devil tried to play and he FAILED.
On the four hour road trip to St. Louis from Branson I had the opportunity to enjoy laughter and great conversation with a friend who at a point in our lives wondered if our friendship would survive. There was authentic, genuine, forgiving love in that car. I was reminded of how great God’s grace was and how blessed I am to have her in my life.
We arrived at the conference to learn that others from my hometown were there. What could have been awkward for me, God turned into wholeness and peace in my soul. The wife of one of the men who sexually abused me was sitting next to me. I could have made two choices: don’t make eye contact and avoid conversation, or embrace her and let her see Jesus in me. I chose the latter. I stood in the Edward Jones Dome with 17,000 women listening to Darlene Zschech praise God with her amazing voice and tears streamed down my face as I felt freedom – true freedom. At that moment I realized I was no longer tied down to my past.
Not only that, but the first night of the conference 2,143 women stood up and gave their lives to Christ. That’s more than the population of my hometown of 1200! I was seriously lucky enough to witness that. Joyce Meyer Ministries gave away a new van, a $20,000 home renovation, makeovers, gift cards, and more. Words cannot describe what I was blessed enough to experience. You must go next year and see for yourself.
Joyce brought conviction to me as she asked, “If you can’t overcome a piece of pie, how will you overcome the devil?” John Maxwell had me wondering if I should have worn a Depends. Natalie Grant brought me to a deeper level of praise than I had experienced in a long time. Dr. Caroline Leaf reminded me that I am in control of my brain.
A man standing on the street reminded me just how cruel the world could be. As he began speaking to me and Jammie, he couldn’t stop stuttering. Then he stopped and said, “Please don’t laugh at me.” No one was laughing. We had the privilege of praying with him and embracing him. As I walked back into the air conditioned hotel room he was still standing in the street. Oh how lucky I have it!
God has shown me lavish love lately. I haven’t deserved it, yet He’s given it to me anyway. Every good and perfect gift I got this weekend was made possible by my Father in Heaven, whom I am so grateful to know.
by | Faith Lived Out, Life Application
So, as an intern at Table Rock Freedom Center I still have the privilege of receiving weekly sessions with the director, who by the way, is one cool chick.
Each week I sit down and talk about what I worked on the past week and what I want to improve on for the upcoming week. Last week’s topic was my priorities. I explained to Kim that I wasn’t sure if God was coming first. When I’m trying to process things out, instead of talking about them one on one, I write them out, then we discuss what I have written.
So, here’s some questions she asked me to answer:
- If you’re putting God first in your life what does that look like?
- Are you doing what is necessary to put Him first?
- If so, what would He say?
I have reflected on this over the last week and here’s the conclusion I have come to:
I don’t always put God first in my life, but I’m trying. Everyday I mess up, but everyday I grow one step closer to Him. I have been beating myself up lately thinking I wasn’t doing things the right way in the way I should seek a relationship with Him. But I think I’ve been looking at it the wrong way. How I seek God isn’t how everyone else does.
I try to start every morning off with Him, whether that’s reading the Bible, journaling, or simply praying. Some mornings I wake up with the intention to read His Word, journal and pray. But I find myself cozying up to the pillows, praying to Him for people, places, and things as I drift back and forth into consciousness between the snooze button. Guess what? That’s okay. It’s okay!
Step One For Me: Stop being so hard on myself.
What does the necessary in question two look like? There’s not a handbook. What’s necessary for me is to go to Him with EVERYTHING. Necessary is making sure I talk to him everyday, whether that’s in the shower, driving to class, playing the guitar, or simply playing a game of Sorry with friends. I talk to him all the time – that is necessary for me. What’s necessary for me is not spending a disciplined one hour every morning diligently praying, although I love it when He calls me to do so.
Step Two: I don’t have to be like everyone else.
What would God say?
I love you Sundi Jo. I love you with an everlasting love. You are not perfect, therefore you need me. Apart from me, you can do nothing. I will give you the strength you need for ALL things. Continue to trust me. Continue to talk to me, even when you’re mad – even when you aren’t making sense. I can make sense of everything you think. Fix your thoughts on me. Don’t give up. Continue to follow in obedience. Take one step at a time. Take one day at a time. I am sanctifying you. I love you when you’re happy, mad, sad, angry and overjoyed. Watch your pride and do everything possible to stay humble. Stay in my Word. Don’t try to make sense of it all at once – I will give you what you need when you need it. Did I mention I love you?
by | Life Application
So, I’m going to be blogging more in depth about the Joyce Meyer Conference, but for now here’s what I’ve got to say:
AWESOME!
God showed his favor to me in more ways than one. My family has looked at me with the “deer in headlights” look many times as I have mentioned the word Twitter. “What is that?” I would try to explain it to them, but it was like speaking a foreign language.
This weekend my amazing friend Jammie brought me to the Joyce Meyer Love Life ’10 Conference in St. Louis. It was amazing to say the least – more details to come.
As I sat there and tweeted the conference I knew Jammie, a common Facebooker, but nothing more, thought I was crazy. I was right. She was wondering how I could possibly be getting anything out of the conference because as she puts it, “I wouldn’t get my eyes off the Blackberry.” Her opinion soon changed.
My tweets paid off. We both got the opportunity to hang with some amazing Social Media peeps from Joyce Meyer Ministries. Not only that, but I got some cool gifts to go with it, as if watching one type away on the Ipad, one with his eyes fixed on Hootsuite, and one filling up memory card after memory card with pictures wasn’t enough. I was in Social Media heaven! Another cool point – these were really some Jesus lovin’ people!
The moral of the story? Never underestimate the power of a tweet.
Register now for next years 2011 Love Life Women’s Conference – you don’t want to miss it!
For recent tweets on the Joyce Meyer Conference click here.
by | Life Application
Today I witnessed customer service at its finest. I swear drama never stops finding me. I get a phone call from my mom this morning to say that I needed to go with her to the hospital to pick up three children whose mother was in the emergency room. This lady was a complete stranger and I’m going to pick up her children?
The short version of the story: It was a sister of a friend of the family. She was vacationing in Branson with just she and her three children. My mother gets a frantic phone call and offers to go pick up the children.
Now comes the cool part. We show up at the ER to find the resort manager herself and another employee stretched out on the floor with three car seats, a baby, a two year old, a one year old, and Sonic breakfast. I bet this is not what they had planned for their day. She held two small kids who she didn’t know from Adam in her lap while the other sweet woman rocked the precious baby girl. Then they jumped in my lap. We got along well, being as though we act about the same age. I got an excuse to watch cartoons today!
What inspired me the most though was the willingness of these employees to go above and beyond the call of duty. They didn’t have to take care of those children, but they chose to. They didn’t have to stop by and spend their own money to buy breakfast for three hungry children, but they did. That’s customer service.
For anyone planning a trip to Branson I recommend Wyndham-Branson at the Falls. Though I have never stayed at their resort, I believe they have their priorities in line regarding the safety and well being of their customers. If they are willing to spend four hours with three strange children, can you imagine what the complimentary breakfast is like?
Stop by Wyndham-Branson at the Falls and tell Becky Guthrie, the resort manager, that she and her employees are some pretty awesome servants!
by | Faith Lived Out, Life Application
I’m a 27-year old college student in a class full of 18-year old kids who have no idea what life looks like yet. I used to be one of them. Today I found myself filled with aggravation, compassion, frustration, and mercy.
Before class started there were the usual, “What did you do this weekend” conversations. Two beautiful teenagers sat next to me discussing just how drunk they had gotten the weekend before. They reminisced of their Jack and Coke and Jose Cuervo moments. They laughed and gossiped about how ugly girls were hitting on their boyfriends. At first judgment filled my mind as I started to shake my head at them. Then compassion took over. I used to be there. I found myself praying for them as the professor made her way to the front of the classroom.
I wanted to grab a hold of them and shake them until sense filled them up. I wanted desperately to play the tape of my last 27 years of life so they could see what mistakes they could avoid. I wanted to protect them from drunken nights of “praying to the porcelain god”. I wanted to protect them from being taken advantage of by older men that would fill their minds with false hope in order to have some fun. I wanted to protect them from quitting college after one year because they were too afraid of success to finish. I wanted to protect them from the future heartache I saw playing out in the stories they think are funny now. Oh, if only they could see!
I can’t keep them from that. I can’t protect them. But I can pray.
Join me in this prayer of gratitude for all the works God has done in our lives. Thank you Lord for redemption. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you that you love me with a never-ending love. Thank you for truth. Thank you for trials. Thank you for tests. Thank you for grace and mercy. Never let me forget what you have done for me. Never let me forget the pit I fell into that you had to pull me out of. Thank you for reminding me that you will never leave me or forsake me. Thank You.
by | Life Application
I recently felt the need to bless someone dear to me. I tend to do things out of the norm. I’m either very sappy and sentimental in a card, or I like to do acts of service. So, I decided that a thank you for being my friend card just wasn’t going to work this time.
God gave me an idea: help her check off something on her bucket list. So I did. Then he gave me another idea. Check out this video and I hope you are inspired to do the same.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FynFjQsPtFc]
On the four hour road trip to St. Louis from Branson I had the opportunity to enjoy laughter and great conversation with a friend who at a point in our lives wondered if our friendship would survive. There was authentic, genuine, forgiving love in that car. I was reminded of how great God’s grace was and how blessed I am to have her in my life.