Be "Wowed" Every Day

It's hard to know where to start tonight. This conference was so full . . . full of worship, full of joy, full of God's presence. I hope I can be coherent as I share my heart and some of my notes from the sessions. Last night Joyce reminded us that if we live amazed, we will never be without hope. It reminded me of a piece I read with my students about the stunning nature of our universe. God created this incredible galaxy, and we should be surprised and amazed every day by its beauty and His face in all that we see. Here are a couple of points she made about being amazed: 1) We shouldn't get too comfortable in our churches that we lose our reverence for God. After all, we serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! 2) Make a big deal out of everything God does. Sometimes He is using us in incredible ways, and we don't even get excited. Be amazed! 3) Continue to be amazed by God's grace. Grace meets us where we are but never leaves us where it finds us! And then this morning . . . BAM! Chris Caine. I will never be the same after hearing her message. I'll try to give you the highlights! 1) The promises of God have no expiration date! They do NOT go out of date. You can hold onto hope when you remember that! 2) God's promises are real and everlasting. Emotions and hype will never fuel hope for the long term. We must find our hope in His promises. 3) Faithful = full of faith! We must be faithful in our relationship with Christ, not just a "rusty-dusty" Christian, taking up space in a pew. 4) God cares about the details. I know a person who is very dear to me who would argue that point, but he is wrong, and I am right! God cares about every detail that matters to us, and He can do the impossible. 5) One of our greatest mistakes is putting a due date on what God is not ready to accomplish yet. He knows His perfect timing, and He will accomplish His will in due season. Don't rush Him or attempt to manipulate Him. **This was a big point for me. God birthed a dream in my heart quite a few years ago, and I am in the waiting stage. I know that God is preparing me so when He adds the final ingredients to make this thing happen, I will be ready! Bam! (Thanks, Joel Osteen, for my new favorite word!) 6) Impossible is where God starts, and nothing is too hard for Almighty God! 7) Jesus is strengthening the wombs of our faith so we will not miscarry or abort God's perfect plan for us. I love this analogy because, as a mother and grandmother again just recently, I get it. We surely didn't want our new baby Harper to come too soon, any more than I want God's plans for me to come before I am spiritually ready. 8) The gap between God and us is a "hope gap," and it is full of light. God has no dark side; He is light. He is trustworthy, even if we don't always understand what is happening. Wow . . . and that was just this morning! Chris Caine spoke with passion and authority, and I could have listened all day. FYI to my friends back home: I purchased 27 of her sermons, so get ready! Study time is coming, my Manas! Joyce Meyer ended the day and the conference for us in typical Joyce style: forthright, passionate, and full of object lessons so we can never forget the messages of the weekend. Hope is the anchor of our souls -- the thing that causes us to step out, putting the promises of God into action. We must step out so that God can meet us where we are. He is often waiting to move until we take a step toward him, signifying our hope and faith that He is dependable. Imagine an anchor with HOPE written down the center. When we allow the world and its darkness and people with negative spirits to pull us away from our anchor, God can use that same anchor to draw us back into hope. But friends, we MUST know God's Word if we are going to live with hope. We must read the stories of those who have run the race before us and are now in the stands, cheering us on. We must know scriptures about hope, hiding them in our hearts to keep us strong against a very negative world. Just as God asked Abraham to step out of his tent and look at the stars in the sky (to be reminded of God's promise of descendents), we must "step out" and see what God has in store. Looking at ourselves and our situations too much is like staying in the tent; we lose sight of what God has promised and what He is going to do. Like Abraham, we must hope against hope; our feelings will often convince us to do otherwise, so the lesson is clear: we must listen to God's voice, not our fickle feelings. And my favorite points of all . . . We need to go on a fast: we need to fast pity. We cannot live in a pity party and be the powerful people God expects us to be. Every time we are tempted to say, "But you don't know what I've been through . . .," we must choose to stand up in God's power and say instead, "My hope is in God, and I will be powerful, not pitiful!" And finally, we are anointed for HARD. Don't you love this? I love to be a victor in life, especially when the battle has been hard, and I'll say it again: we are anointed for HARD! We can go home, go to our jobs, and go into our communities and be stable. We can enjoy this journey every day, sharing God's light in a very dark world. Why? Because we serve the God of the impossible, and He has anointed us for HARD! That excites me because if God has anointed me, what more could I want? God bless and stay in hope. I will be sharing scriptures of hope in the next few days, so keep reading. Love you all! Jean