The weekend... and the beginning of a new fast
Joel 2:25 "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you."
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Soo... quite an exciting weekend. I feel quite exhausted today... but a good kind of exhausted... like... completely relaxed kind of exhausted.
Yesterday was supposed to be the last day of the Daniel Fast. But since I broke-fast those days in Gattlinburg... I had committed to adding on four more days.
But as I prayed about it over the last couple days... I feel the Lord calling me to a higher level this week... like "the grand finale" or something.
So, this week, I am doing a water-only fast, for five days. Monday - Friday.
Then Friday night, a few of "the girls" are going to DayStar Atlanta... a prophetic church in Douglasville. I am really excited about it!
So, anyways... this past weekend...
I suppose I will just start at the beginning...
Friday night, I went to our Youth Pastor's house to meet with his wife and all of "the girls" who are called to minister to the youth.
I can't even begin to express how much unity there was in that room. Like, there were things that the Lord has been doing in each of us individually... that none of us had talked about with each other... but that DIRECTLY tied in to what the Lord is getting ready to do in youth.
I can't remember what I have told you about our youth group before, but we are in a very unique situation. Because of the physical location of our church, we minister to a WIDE VARIETY of students. From homeschoolers who can quote every verse you throw at them, to "church kids" who are bored with the whole "God" thing, to kids who have never been to church before in their lives.
This is a very difficult situation to minister in. When discussing the crucifixion, you have some kids wanting to tell it for you... and correct your mistakes... and some kids who roll their eyes because they've heard it so much... and some kids who literally ask, "What!? God killed his son?! What did his son DO?!!!"
It also make discipline difficult because the homeschoolers want to talk too much, the church kids want to goof off, and the others are just plain disrespectful.
Now, I realize I am generalizing here, and there are some really good kids in all the groups. But there are also some really bad ones.
All that to say... it has been YEARS of struggle that has scared off no less than FIVE youth pastors.
Going to Wednesday Night service was sometimes like pulling our own teeth out. We went out of obedience... and no other reason, sometimes.
And for at least a year, we have felt the Holy Spirit wanting to pour out into our youth; so that they themselves could work in the spiritual giftings.
But they just weren't getting "it."
But... this past Wednesday night was AMAZING!
Kids in the alter praying for each other... pressing in during worship. I can't even describe it.
As I was standing there... watching in amazement... I felt the Holy Spirit say over and over and over again... "I am doing a new thing. A new thing is coming. I am doing a new thing."
Soooo... Friday night, I get there and I can hardly wait to talk about what happened! I say to Jess, our youth pastor's wife, what the Lord told me... and she and Pastor A just light up! Then PA says, "You just wait."
Turns out... that's what the Lord had been saying to ALL of us that week. Specifically "***I*** am doing a new thing." That it was not laying on our shoulders, but that the Lord HIMSELF was going to do it.
And that's exactly what happened Wednesday night.
So, that's how Friday night started... I won't go into the other stuff because it would take me HOURS to write it all down... but here is the bottom line.
We are doing a six-week girls-only series on Wednesday nights, based on the book "Captivating" by John and Staci Eldredge. At the end of that series, we are doing a girls-only SPA retreat. (SPA = Spiritually, Prophetically Affirming)
Later... we are having a couple girls-only movie nights where we are going to use the movies to bring out a message. I can't remember what the movies are right now.
Then, in early summer, we are doing a girls-only Bible study called "Kindred Spirits: Finding Christ in the Successes and Scrapes of Anne Shirley" - if you haven't already guessed, this will be based on Anne of Green Gables.
At the end of this Bible Study, they will focus on the love-story between Anne and Gilbert.
Then the following Saturday night, we are having a "Romance Night" planned, where we want to show the girls about God's desire to woo and romance them.
(I am in charge of this night, and I will definitely need some input from C and AB!! PLEASE!!!!)
That's as far as we got regarding the planning.
So then we had a prayer time...
Now the whole time we were making all these plans, I was very careful to only commit to the things that I felt the Lord calling me to do. But, still, having been in a place of complete burn-out before, every event that we added to the calendar made me more and more scared.
We prayed together, and at the end of this prayer, the Lord showed me a picture:
It was a picture of God... like a big kid... with a conducter's hat on... sitting on a little bitty toy train. And we (the girls in the room) were smaller than the train, with little ropes over our shoulders, trying to pull toddler-like God where He wanted to go.
And God said, "This is how you see me in ministry."
And I asked, "Lord, how do I change this? How am I supposed to see you?"
But the prayer time came to a close, and I could not get the picture of the little toy train out of my head.
So I asked the girls to pray for me about it...
And GS (one of the girls)began to pray and prophecy over me...
She said that she saw a picture of a HUGE TRAIN... a real muscle-bound locamotive... barrelling its way down the track... and God was conducting it and saying to me "Jump on board, and I'll carry you."
I just burst into tears! Because as she said it, I saw the picture too!
It was the promise that I needed to hear - that God was going to do this... not me.
She also saw that the enemy had been using this to hold me back for years... like a canker worm eating away at my confidence in ministry.
But then she said the Lord promised, "The Lord will restore to you 10 fold what the canker worm has eaten."
She also said (and this rang so true in me) that the Lord was calling me into a place of FUN in the ministry. Unlike the years before, this year I will begin to take on roles that I was specifically designed for.
...
*gosh* I really needed to hear all of this. And still, despite the exciting time that I feel God calling me into, I have a complete peace! I'm not jumping up and down excited, and I'm not scared out of my mind about the committment... I am simply at peace. Praise God!!!
...
So that was Friday. Not much to tell about Saturday. Slept a little. Went to visit my dad. Went to a b-day party. Nothing spectacular. Except this...
I was planning to go to COTN on Sunday because I thought, "Well, since the Lord is calling me to plug in 100% in the youth group, I guess I should plug in 100% at the church too." I was COMPLETELY DREADING going. I won't go into all the reasons... but there is no since of anticipation for what the Lord is going to do in that church. Anyways... I said something to B about going and he said, "I can't go there in the morning. I am filming a few scenes downtown..." (for campus movie fest - I'll tell you about that later) "... and I can't be at church by 10am. But we can go to NC because it starts at 11am."
*woot!* I was so excited that he said that. But later that night, I started praying about it. I was raised on the beliefs (and probably accurate beliefs) that you remain loyal to your church. You shouldn't go "part-time" anywhere. You should pick a church, plug in where you can, and stick to it!
So I was praying, "Lord, I just feel like I'm not being loyal to COTN if I minister in youth but attend Sunday morning somewhere else."
And the Lord replied, "Your loyalties are with ME, and no one else. You go where *I* say you should go."
And that was such a freeing statement!
.....
So... Sunday morning...
Oh, gosh, I don't even know where to start.
....
Judy Jacobs came to NC. She is a singer/evangelist/prophetess who REALLY hears from the Lord.
Her message was amazing (when I get a copy, I will try to write some of it here) because she talked about seven things the Lord is promising for 2007.
I only remember four (dangit)...
1.) A year of perfection and completion.
2.) A year of family.
3.) A year of increase.
4.) A year of overflow.
Perfection and Completion...
Things that the Lord has promised, and that He has been working out in you, will come to completion and fullfillment.
Family...
Lost family members will come to Christ.
Increase and Overflow...
"To each, the Lord gives a *measure* of faith." For those who have just barely been getting by, the Lord is "measuring" for them, faith for increase. But for those that have been living in the increase, the Lord is giving them a measure of faith for "overflow."
Anyways... it was an amazing time of worship. There was a physical presence of the Holy Spirit... like the air smelled different or something. It was powerful.
Even B (who, at one point in the service, leaned over to me and said, "These people are crazy!") actually lifted his hands and SHOUTING IN VICTORY!
Then, she said, "There are at least seven people in this place whom God has been teaching about increase, but that you are now ready for overflow. If you are one of those people, come up on stage."
So I grabbed B's hand (not giving him a choice) and marched right up on stage.
Afterwards, I asked him if that made him uncomfortable, and he said, "Well, I felt like she was talking to us, but I didn't want to go up there. So I'm glad you pulled me."
Haha!
So, that's it. It was a really powerful weekend of ministry. The Lord spoke so many things over me, and over B (individually) and over us as a couple.
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On another note...
B is doing a movie for "Campus Movie Fest." It is a contest where people have two weeks to film a five-minute movie about whatever they want. The UGA winners get ipods and apple computers and stuff. The state winner gets certain prizes. And the national winner gets $10k. Yeah.
And so B has had an idea for one since we went to the film night last year. He decided he wanted to do it, and he's been working on it for a good week now.
In the beginning, he was nervous, but I reminded him of the prophesy that Mrs.DD spoke to me last year: "Your husband is very creative, and the Lord is going to bring financial increase to you both through his creative giftings!"
So he's excited... and I'm excited... and we can't wait to see what happens!
......
So I suppose that's it for now...
How did the retreat go? What happened? What did Ms.S say? *eeeek!* I can't wait to hear all about it!!!!