Monday, June 23, 2008

Journey to She Speaks...

What a pivotal moment in my faith walk this conference has been. There were so many beautiful, broken ,yet redeemed women present only because God has worked in and through their lives in amazing ways. And like me, they wanted to wash the feet of Jesus with their lives. It was such a joy to meet my blogger friends and the P31 ministry team-they all were so real, so spiritually real. My camera is broke so when I am sent some pictures, I will post them. There is so much to share so I will have to break it down in several post as God leads me.

I felt God direct me to prepare myself mentally and spiritually for this conference and what He had planned for me to take from it. If you have read my previous blogs, I "mind fasted" in an attempted to empty my "self" to allow for more of God to enter. What a blessed disciplined act this ended up being. As I ventured through this door God placed before me, I was ready because I was focused on hearing Him and see Him...
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.~Rev. 3:8
As I sat on the plane ready for take-off, I was overwhelmed with a wonderful sense of peace and calm. God's peace. I would have thought I would be excited but the calm was so strong. I closed my eyes and prayed, leaving my "self", my past sins that weighed me down, the emotions of regret and remorse, the attitudes of unforgiveness and resentment-all left there on that runway. I wasn't allowing it to follow me to this conference. God made it clear through His handiwork and blessings over the last few months that He wanted me there and He had a purpose for me there. I was determined to meet Him there and to find out His plan.

I was captured from the opening message-it was just for me. It was about the Samaritan women being called to lead others to Christ. All the other sessions either confirmed what I had been doing or gave me a clearer message of what I needed to work on in my life. My spiritual cup was over flowing. I saw God. I heard God. I am humbled and I have been again blessed. Saturday night I was given the opportunity to lay down the garbage that has been keeping me from serving God as He desired from me. Though I had left the garbage behind, I knelled at that cross confirming to God my commitment to let it go and to press forward focused only on Him. Though my eyes were wet with from the sacredness of the moment, my heart was overjoyed, excited! I was handed a scripture card from one of the P31 ministry leaders and it spoke exactly how I felt-SECURED. Where has this verse been all my life? It is so beautiful....
"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." ~Deuteronomy 33:12
As I sat on the plane leaving North Carolina, this renewed 'MrsJoeB' felt a surge of resilience. As the plane engines reeved up and our speed quickly increased for the take off, I again lifted my heart up in prayer. With tears in my eyes and knowing satan is waiting and set to attack, I felt like screaming out "CHARGE!"...and I did in my heart. I am a women who passionately loves my Lord and His Word and I am better equipped with more of Him and less of me to walk in this journey of faith and ministry!! I will share more of the highlights in the coming days as I want to explore them more to scripture and to God's word.

Lord, I have seen you and I have have heard you. Most importantly, I am choosing to follow hard after you. Only because of You and only in You can I charge forward! May I be a testimony of your amazing grace and power. Amen.

14 comments:

Amy said...

"Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." ~Deuteronomy 33:12

I am writing this verse down. The image of God hugging me is overwhelming in this passage. (And my name means "Beloved" so I love that.)

I am so happy for you that you had such an amazing experience with God in your life this past weekend.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
I am definitely looking forward to more.
God Bless,
Amy:)

Yolanda said...

What a journey! Thank You Lord for all that You showed my Girlfriends....Sisters in Christ.

I can't wait to sit in the midst and hear of what God showed you!

Love ya,
Yolanda

valerie said...

I'm so glad you had a good trip.
Looking forward to hearing more.
I was just reading Lelia's blog and she said the two of you were roomies. :)
I hope to meet up with all of y'all one day!
I'm off to help with VBS that starts this morning.
Talk to you later.
Love,
Valerie

Unknown said...

You have inspired me! Thank you for that! I need to lay down a few things myself...thank you for the encouragement you have poured into my soul this morning.

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Prayers and Blessings!
Rebecca

Laura said...

welcome home, pamela! it was so wonderful to see you and give you a hug! you tiny little thing! I was so blessed by meeting you and sharing this weekend with you. What a blessing it was...
still overwhelmed...
still overjoyed...
still tired!

Anonymous said...

Your precious! I bet the Lord needed earplugs all day yesterday. I'm sure all of our hearts were screaming 'CHARRRRGE' after just experiencing something so powerful as hearing Him through, during She Speaks! It was awesome wasn't it!?! I'm so glad i got to see you. God was sooo good wasn't He?! I was tired but just pumped and ready to set the world on fire.

Paula V said...

Wow. What a true blessig indeed. I'm glad you were able to rest at the Cross and to see/hear what God had for you.

I, like the others, look forward to what you have to share.

You changed your profile pic, I see. It used to be one with your hubby. I think you also had longer hair.
Blessings,
Paula

Lelia Chealey said...

We got home Pamela!!!! After midnight so I turned into a pumpkin, but somehow Gene fit me into the car & home I went. My bed never felt so good! ;)
I'll post later. My eyes are burning so bad I can't see the computer screen well. Awesome weekend & I LOVE your new profile pic, NOT that we didn't like seeing Mr. JoeB also, BUT this one shows your beauty much better and closer. You are very beautiful inside & out and don't satan ever tell you different. God is pleased with you my friend. Continue to let Him use you for His glory.
Love ya!
Lelia

Kelley said...

It was so much fun to spend the weekend with you girlfriend. You are such a blessing and I hope God will bring us together often!

Love,
Kelley

Mrs.Naz@BecomingMe said...

What a beautiful post.

Amy L Brooke said...

Sounds like you had a good time. I cannot wait to hear more.

My brain is still processing it all....

Rachel Olsen said...

I'm so glad that you enjoyed the conference, Pamela.

And I just have to say that your blog is BEAUTIFUL!!! Oh my, I love it.

Off to poke around in your previous posts. Blessings!

LynnSC said...

Wow! Sounds like God really showed up this past weekend. I read some other blogs that talked about the awesome time you ladies had.

"Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders."

Sounds like God giving me a piggy-back ride. What an awesome image.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
Lynn

Jami said...

Hey Pamela! Thanks for your sweet comments! Wasn't She Speaks, amazing?!! I enjoyed reading your post. One of my favorite books - if not my fav. is What Happens When Women Say Yes to God..too

God bless you!!! :)

"Talk" to you soon! :)