Beth Moore Weekend

Last weekend was "Girls' Weekend" because Beth Moore came to town!
Here's the recap video found on Beth Moore's Blog (and no, I don't think that you'll spot me out of 17,000 women):

Kristi and I hung out with Lynn Long (one of the pastor's wives at Shandon) and her family.

Here's the gang waiting for the doors to open at the Colonial Center. It's hard to tell, but we were FIRST in line!

Here's Rachel, Kristi, and I inside waiting for the conference to start.

Over 17,000 (yes, that's the right amount of zeros - seventeen THOUSAND) women and four men (yes, you read that right two - men were sighted over the course of the two-day conference) packed out the Colonial Center to hear a word from the Lord.

This was our view of the stages - we were about 10 rows from the front. They had huge screens hanging from the ceilings and also flat-screen tvs at the bottom of the stage, in case your view was blocked by monitors or cameramen. They really weren't necessary, as Beth didn't stand still long enough for her to be blockedby anything.

"If you don't pray, then things that would have happened if you had prayed, won't happen. So PRAY! Think about that when you roll over to hit your snooze button in the morning!"
- Beth Moore, 4/13/07

And, for your viewing pleasure, it's very hard to see in this picture, but we squeezed 10, count 'em, TEN, grown women into a tahoe just to get to Outback for the delectable Chocolate Thunder from Down Under. Two in the front row and four the middle and back rows. Amazing. That picture is a testament to what women will do for chocolate while high on the Holy Spirit.

To see all pictures, click here.

And, if you're interested here are some of my notes. It was a fabulous conference, filled with the Spirit, and an amazing time of digging into the Word and worshipping the Lord.

James 1:1-25 was the primary text.

What is my life? What is the calling of my life? (James 4:14)

I only get one mortal life.
My one life is marked by multiple seasons. (Ecc. 3)
Each season in my life is colored by different trials.
And, for believers, every trial is assigned divine tasks.

There is something God is working, a goal He has, through each trial. I am lacking something, but through my trial God is completing something that was lacking in me.

At salvation my life was black and white; first I was black with sin, and then I was white when I entered into His light. Every season adds color to my picture. He is working me into a COMPLETED MASTERPIECE. We are His workmanship.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
- Eph. 2:10

If we got the life we kept asking God for we'd have the most boring story EVER! God is the King of Drama.

For believers, every trial is assigned divine tasks. Every true trial evokes a test of faith, and in order for faith to be proven genuine it must be tested.

Every trial will expose a need of new wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
- James 1:5

If I do not get on my knees in prayer certain things may not happen! Do I realize that when I pray things will happen that otherwise would not have happened?!

Every victory will take courage/perseverance. Perseverance enables a man to stand to his feet and face the storm!

. . .because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
- James 1:3

I do have the choice to lift up my spirit and run. And, no matter what I look like, I step across that finish line a masterpiece.

. . .but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
- James 1:14

Dragged away and enticed is a fishing term. What is the "bait" I keep biting over and over again. Satan baits us where we've fallen before; he's really just lazy.

God is going to stay with me until I get an "A," not just until I pass.

If we don't have a holy passion, we will have an unholy passion.

Ex. 3 - The bush was NOT consumed. An unholy passion will consume us, but a holy passion won't.

Double-minded is distracted. Distrction leads to addictions leads to destruction.

. . .he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
- James 1:8

We need to give the divine seed clean soil in which to grow in our lives (Moffett's Commentary). Am I snuffing out the Holy Spirit because I won't get rid of the old baggage in my life?

Why doesn't it say that those who persevere through trials will receive the crown? Because the only way to persevere, the only motivation to make it, is to be head over heals in love with the Savior.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
- James 1:12

We're either going to try to make ourselves feel better by satiating our lusts, or by giving ourselves over to His unspeakable joy.

Not only can He change our lives, He can change our day, or even our mood.

Could Beth fall into a ditch again? Yes, but Satan is going to have to bait her with a different hook!

Where does God display His power? In weak human beings.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
- Eph. 3:20

You're deceiving yourself i f you thik that all you need to do is hear the Word. The Word was meant to be sown into our reality.

Some people say, "But it's too hard to work the Word into my marriage."
But that's EXACTLY WHERE IT WORKS!

When I take God up on His Word I become poetry in motion testifying to the reality of His Word, because His Word and has leapt up off the page and taken on human form in me.

My calling in life: I WILL throw my head back with each wave of tribulation that comes my way and SAY, "I will trust my God!"