Being a Princess... In the Jungle

I was changing purses. You know how it is... I had put last fall's purse in the box with a few things left inside of it, so it was a treasure chest now! Inside was one of my notebooks - a little one that flips up over the top. It was open to a page and had prayer requests in it. I closed it only to find that it had been my notebook at a women's retreat in KC last spring (a year ago... 2007...). The speaker was Carolyn Johnson, one of my favorites! So, I thought I would journal through my notes of her sessions over the next few days and revisit what I had learned. (I'm not sure what I really took away from them at the time because I was 'working' the event...)

You know, we all go through life and life can be really stinky. What we often tend to forget is that
NOTHING HAPPENS TO ME THAT ISN'T FILTERED THROUGH GOD'S WILL
I forget that a lot, don't you? That doesn't mean that nothing bad is going to happen to me or that I'm not going to suffer consequences due to my own choices or the choices of those around me, but God will work His Will through it all.

Look at Genesis 29. Read it through.
I. The Picture
Jacob meets Rachel and falls in love
II. The Problem
Rachel has an older sister, Leah
Their father switches the daughters at the wedding and makes Jacob work an additional 7 years for Rachel.
III. The Prescription
Suffering - Leah knew she was not loved, but God had opened her womb. She had sons...one after another. Reuben (Look-It's-A-Boy), Simeon (God Heard), and Levi (Connect), but it wasn't until she had Judah (Praise-God) that she chose to say, "This time I'll praise God," and submit to His Will.
Submission - this is the goal. We must submit to His Will. When I am in the jungle of life, when I am suffering, I must turn my pain into praise. I must fix my eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter.

You are a Chosen One! You are not chosen to resist suffering, but to Praise God through it!

Judah, Leah's son, is the son through which Jesus's line comes. Normally, this honor would be given to the first-born. Not in this case. God waited for Leah to praise Him through her pain and the reward is that Judah becomes the line through which Jesus will enter the world!

Turn your pain into praise!

Passing Lanes

This weekend I have a prayer retreat planned at the church. We are using the DVDs that I purchased last year at Come to the Fire for our speakers and using video worship. One member of WCG will be running a prayer room while another runs a prayer walk in another room. A couple of ladies are doing food/snacks and we have greeters and sound booth people.

I have advertised this thing all over town to every church I can mail. I have sent invitations to the Church of God congregations in Ottumwa and Moberly. I have invited all the ladies I work with.

I have 4 registrations.
FOUR!

OK - so maybe most of the ladies who attend will be from our church.

So, today while all are leaving, I stop one lady and visit/say goodbye and stuff. In the exchange I say, "Will I see you on Friday and Saturday?" The response was very noncommittal. I tried another couple of people, but nobody was seeming all that interested!

These are the same ladies who were complaining that WCG was just meeting and collecting money - never 'doing' anything. We had a spa day last month and now a prayer retreat this month, but they aren't showing up. At the spa day we had 15 people, but only 7 were from our church!

I'm DONE trying to please these ladies and get them involved. They aren't going to like anything I do. I'm following my hubby's advice and building passing lanes. I'm going to do things and get excited and work on building up my programs - but I can't drag these ladies with me or wait for them- I'm going to have to find new ones to travel on my journey with me! Sunday morning church goers are going to miss out on a lot of fun in the journey to grow with Christ if they continue to resolve to only come on Sunday mornings! Following Christ and being a part of the body of believers takes more than just a couple of hours out of the weekend. There are plenty of ladies in our church who want to travel with Christ - we'll just have to go on without the others.

And it's not like they are all old! If they were all older, I could see that they are just from another generation, but some are quite young! Sometimes I feel like they serve God from a different tradition that the one I belong to. It's like there is a checklist of do's and don't's that are to be followed and if you get them all done when they are supposed to be done, then you'll get to be a Christian and go to heaven. The holiness movement I am a proud part of is all about relationship - with God and with others. Following where the Holy Spirit leads on a daily basis. In my Bible it says the Jesus came to fulfill the whole law and take my sin to the grave with Him. I am free from the condemnation of the Law of the Old Testament and am free to follow Christ with no limits. I am to be in such a close relationship with God that I can follow His leading daily and be Jesus all over my corner of the world - just wearing a "Jill Suit" while I'm doing it! OK - enough of that - that's my next blog!

I feel sorry for these ladies who choose to exclude themselves from the fellowship of women. I wish I could just rope them and bring them along for just ONE activity so that they could see for themselves what others are experiencing, but I'm not sure it will ever happen.

So on with the building of the passing lanes.