Joy Unspeakable

Val and I before the event started

I have been trying to start this blog for a few days now and I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around where to take this post! So, my apologizes if it's all over the place!!

This weekend I was given the opportunity to attend Sparkle, a women's conference hosted by my church, River Valley. It was AMAZING! it was my first time attending and I was blown away by the Lord's presence among these women.  It was a two day event aiming to empower women in the church and give us a weekend to make new friends within our faith community. 

The main speaker for the weekend was Charlotte Gambill of Abundant Life Church in England.  She was phenomenal!!! She spoke three different sessions, of which I am going to give you my highlights and take-aways so listen up!

#1: Own It:

Charlotte brought up a concept of owning your zone.  Whats a zone you ask? It's anything that you are a part of; your marriage, your home, your workplace, your neighborhood block, your row in church, anything that you take part in you must take ownership of.  Many of us go through certain parts in our lives sort of complacent, its always been this way who am I to change it now.  What's a little gossip here or there, it can't hurt anything.  What's a little arguing in front of your children, they don't know whats going on. Whats a little texting in church, no one will notice.  Whats wrong with asking God for something, and getting mad when he doesn't give it to us?  Wrong.  We need to own our zone, we need to control over the things that are happening in our lives and stop settling for just ok.  Because when we settle for just ok once, we will do it again, and before you know it you are unhappy where your life or your relationships are at.  We need to fight for things that are important to us, we need to stand up to those people in our lives that are not bringing good to us.  I'll give you a personal example, gossip. I love to talk, and I am guilty of gossiping. I know it isn't kind, and I am making an honest effort to stop.  However there are certain people in my life that I KNOW bring out the gossiper in me.  I know that I need to take a stand and when those conversations come up, I either need to leave the conversation, or make it known that I refuse to talk badly about other people.  Another issue I have is swearing. I HATE swearing, it makes you sound immature and I really don't see a point in it.  I have made a really conscious effort to completely eliminate it from my vocabulary, and make a point to call people out when they swear in front of me. So in my house there is a no swear rule.  Now my husband Chad gets the brunt of my nagging because, on occasion he will let one slip in front of me.  But it is my house, and my zone and I am taking control of what is important to me.  So friends, we must figure out what is important in our lives and own it, especially in prayer.  We must make our requests known to God and make sure he knows we are serious, and it is important to us. 

#2: Get Over It!:

This is a hard one. I will be honest, if you have read my previous posts you know I have had a hard time with forgiveness.  But it is such an important thing to do, to forgive.  For if we don't we are carrying around a grudge that is constantly being fed and it has repercussions on other aspects of our lives.  Our anger is not transparent, we can't just turn it off even if we think we can.  Our anger can spill into interactions with people who have no idea why you are mad in the first place. I will come home from a crazy awful busy day at work, and I will get made at my husband for something completely irrelevant, like taking the last Diet Coke.  My anger from my day at work has nothing to do with him, but I can take it out on him because he took the last soda.  That is not ok. We need to recognize when we are getting angry or upset, and be able to let that go before we interact with someone else.  If we are holding a grudge because a few months ago a friend said something about me behind me back and this whole time this anger and grudge has gotten bigger and bigger the next time we see that person we are going to be so bitter and unkind and they will have no idea why! So we must get over it.  If someone says something wrong about you confront them, and forgive them. If we have a horrible day at work, yell at the steering wheel before you get out of the car so that anger does not get misplaced.  

John the Baptist was beheaded because of a grudge, because a woman named Herodias was so upset and couldn't get over what John had done to her.  Her daughter was given the opportunity to have anything she wanted, half of King Herod's kingdom even.  She went to her mother and asked her what she should wish for, out of anger her mother told her to ask for John the Baptist's head on a platter. (Matthew14)

We have and option in life, we can either forgive and get over it and take the kingdom the Lord has promised us.  Or we can have a head. We can continue to feed our grudges and make others lives miserable out of spite and revenge, and that my friends will get us no where.  So get over it and move on!

#: Wait for It: God has a strange way of helping us get what we want and need.  Sometimes he does it rather quickly, I pray for something and he provides for me.  Other times we pray and it seems like he never even heard us.  We wait and wait for something to happen and it never does! Personal example, nursing school.  I applied for my first time my sophomore year when I was at the UofMN, so 2008.  I prayed that this would be right, and I didn't get in.  The following year I did the same thing and applied, and didn't get in.  At this point I was mad, sad and just grouchy about the whole thing.  I decided to just finish my Child Psychology degree and figure it out when I was done.  So my senior year, spring of 2010 I sent in a million applications to schools everywhere and FINALLY got in at a community college in Bloomington. I was sooo excited that I had been given this opportunity.  Looking back now, I know that the Lord was listening but it just wasn't right.  If I would have gotten into nursing school in 2008, there would be no way I would be in the amazing job I have now! It was by personal encounters and good words from friends that I landed in the situation.  God just sent me on the long way around.  So even when we want an instant answer, we want our miracle, sometimes the timing just isn't right.  Charlotte phrased it like this, and it is so right on its scary! When God gives us an instant miracle, we are blessed.  When he sends us on the long way around he puts so many other people in our paths, for us to bless, and be blessed on our way to our miracle. I think of all of the people I have encountered in the last 4 years on my long way around and I can't imagine my life without them, God put them into my life to bless me as well as them.  So we just need to wait, and have faith that through him all things are made well.  He might not always give us the ending we want or expect, but he always gives us the ending we need, we just might not know we needed it.

Gretchen and Gretchen, and notice the baby I stole!

Worshiping

I am so thankful for this weekend retreat, my life has been changed and to him I give the Glory! I was able to strengthen relationships I already had, and meet some new ladies at church.  I even met a woman named Gretchen (1st time in a long time!) and got to steel my new friend Portia's baby for an hour! I know God puts different people in our lives for many reasons, and I'm excited to see where these new friendships go!!

I'm going to leave with some lyrics from a new friends song.  Jodi King came and gave our conference a special concert, and blessed our church with her amazing talent all weekend long.  I urge you to listen to her video and check out her website, she is truly amazing!

I live for YOU

People ask me what I do
Will I live the life I’m given to
And I live my life just where I choose
And where I live is close to you

I live a little
I live a lot
We’re all the same
But then we’re not
No matter what the experts say is true
I live for love
I live for you

The world keeps turning
And I wonder why
But I’ll keep living
Or else I’ll die

I don’t know how long I’ll live
But all I’ve got is what I give
So if you’re asking what I do
I live for you