I am just beside myself about something. The LifeWay event team (in charge of all the Living Proof Lives, Going Beyonds, Abundance events, etc) thought up such fun ideas for the booklet that participants will get at the LPL Simulcast on September 15, 2012. One of them involves you. They want to hear testimonies from you about how you are living proof that God’s Word is alive and active and that His Son redeems. (This is not meant to have anything to do with me or with this ministry. It’s about YOUR own personal story with Jesus.) They are going to go through each one of them, find a great cross section of testimonies, select 5 stories and add them to the booklet for the whole simulcast community to read! And, that, Sister, will be a batch of women from all over the place. Ā
Here’s what you do: In a comment to this post, write a 200-250 word testimony about how God has accomplished a work in you or through you that leaves no other viable explanation (in your eyes) than Himself. Use your words carefully and save them all for your testimony! You might consider doing it on a word document then cutting and pasting it into a comment so you can really think about what you want to say. Your participation through a comment will act as your automatic release for the publication of your testimony if yours is selected, SO, be sure, Sweet Thing, that you don’t say more than you mean to. You know your blog mama’s trying to protect you here.
Listen, these will be such a blast because, even if only 5 get to be selected for the booklet, just think how we are going to encourage one another and build up each other’s faith! NOT ONE STORY WILL BE WASTED. Thousands of eyes see these posts and comments. Girlfriend, T-E-S-T-I-F-Y! I will be sitting on pins and needles to watch these come in. Let’s call the deadline for your entries midnight on Thursday, April 26th.
The five who are selected will be contacted by LifeWay and will win the following:
- Free registration of the 2012 Living Proof Live simulcast for a small group of 7-14 of your friends!
- Free copy of Praying Godās Word
- Free James member book (I realize lots of you may already have one of these but I’ll get these five signed if you want.)
- A special section in the Living Proof Live simulcast listening guide including YOUR story, Girlfriend! (We’ll want your picture, too, if you’re willing to submit it to us. You’ll be contacted and asked for it if you are selected.)
One of the things we’re so excited about this year for our Living Proof Live Simulcast is that, for the very first time, small groups and INDIVIDUALS are able to participate. If it’s anything like previous years, women will be joining us from church buildings, military bases, and prisons, but this year for the FIRST TIME, also from living rooms and couches. You can watch all day in your jammies if you want to!
If this event sounds fun to you, go ahead and get that thing on the calendar: September 15, 2012. We are believing God to permeate walls, embattled minds, and rock-hard hearts and speak words of life, freedom, redemption, ministry. AND UNITY, for crying out loud.You game??
Ā I love you guys so much. Can’t wait to hear from you!
From LifeWay:
If you would like more information about the simulcast or how you can be a host, visit www.lifeway.com/lplsimulcast.Ā
I am still amazed, as I sit here writing this, what God has done in my life. 9/11 had taken place and my husband was going to Iraq to fight a war that we had nothing to do with. How could it be? Before he even went, it changed him. We had a new baby, a great marriage and everything. Then it all collapsed along with those towers. I don’t know if he was a afraid or afraid of having to leave what he loved. So, he just left. We went through 5 long and exhaustible years. One of those years he was in Iraq. I held on. I held onto him, but mostly to God. Even when he came back, I had to fight. Now it is the future. It could only be God. We are happy, in love, have a second son and I am content. I’m not content because of what we have. I am content in the Lord for the first time. I didn’t really think that was possible: To be content in a God that I could not see or feel. But He has shown me. He has proven Himself to me in many ways through my life, but that journey sealed it for me. He made me a better wife and mother, a better child of God. I know where my security comes from, it is all Him.
In 2006, I showed up at a new church called Zarephath. I was in a crisis. Things were good in the early years. I loved my husband and had 3 little boys. As we approached the teenage years, it got hard. My husband decided to leave the marriage and thatās when I showed up at Zarephath. My youngest son Mike, a senior in HS, (cute, freckles, big smile) suffered from depression. I prayed harder than I ever had. God had given me a verse from John. āThis sickness will not end in death, no it is for Gods glory so that Godās Son will be glorifiedā. I was confident that Mike was going to be ok! After he got out of the hospital Mike came with me to Zarephath. He loved the song āLet it Riseā and told me he never stopped believing! 24hr later he made a mistake. He took his life. He had listened to the lies of the enemy who was out to kill, rob and destroy him and our family.
I realized God wasnāt talking about Mikeās physical life but his spiritual life. I now know that Mike is with Jesus! What a gift the Lord gave me thru those words. My job now is to fulfill the other side of that verseā¦to give God the glory so that His Son will be glorifed. My journey has been very bitter but very sweet as I have discovered that the JOY of the Lord is my strength.
One of my parents was in the hospital and there was a family whose mother was having brain surgery. I felt God tugging on my heart to pray for them. We had been together for over two weeks in the ICU waiting room and had become very comfortable with each other. I had been learning about hearing God’s voice and the work we do for Him is our treasure in heaven. I had been wrestling with questions can I really hear the voice of God ?, Can I really know the difference between doing good and doing God’s work. As I sat in my kitchen thinking about these questions a thought came into my mind make a dinner for the family the day of the surgery. I questioned is that you God or me just wanting to do a nice deed? I decided it didn’t matter , if it was just a nice deed that would be ok, but if it was God’s voice I wanted to be obedient to Him! So I made the meal and in the middle of preparations I thought , it really would be nice to know if this was God’s voice and had you really spoken that specific to me. I continued to make the meal when another thought flashed through my mind,” Lord it would be nice to know if this was your voice. ” Then almost immediately another thought flashed thru my mind,” If this was your voice could they just ask for my address, they don’t even need to write a thank you!” I wrote a card to the family explaining why I had made the meal and who Jesus was and how they could have salvation thru Him to give to them. Figuring I was just doing a nice deed made up of my own thought and at the very least I could give God the glory thru the note. I delivered the meal , they were making comments about how nice I was and thoughtful, I gave them the card, hugged them, and proceeded to leave. I was walking up the hospital corridor thinking, well God I guess it was just Jeanne being nice.When the girl came out into the hall and ran up to where I was with a paper and a pen asking me to write down my address. She didn’t know what was up as I wrote my address with tears streaming down my face. My God not only loved me , cared for me, spoke to me, asked of me but He was also generous to let me know beyond a shadow of a doubt the inner tugging that I had felt was surely His voice. Who am I that He would think of me? Not only does He think of us but He answers us in specific ways, when we are persitant in looking for His treasure!!! To God be the Glory!!!!!
My life changed forever December 10, 1986. On that day I took my baby to the doctor for his well baby check up and was told to proceed to Childrenās Hospital immediately as there was an abnormality. After x-rays, wew ere immediately seen by a pediatric neurosurgeon and my little one was scheduled for surgery the next morning.
I took my baby home and collapsed on a hassock devastated. My husband was still at work and I felt so alone. The tears were just flowing as I sat there, kissing his head and gently rocking him back and forth.
As if from nowhere, a knock came on my door. I answered it baby still in arms to see an older man with a kind face. He introduced himself as a pastor. He was just stopping by to introduce himself and tell me about the church in the neighborhood. He handed me his card and said āif you ever have any needs, please feel free to call meā. Well, thatās all it took. I poured out my story concluding with how worried I was that my baby was not baptized.
Without one momentās hesitation, never pausing to ask what denomination I was or without any worry for ārulesā, he said āIāll baptize your baby.ā We made arrangements for him to come back that evening and right there in my living room, he was baptized.
The next morning when we arrived at the hospital, that pastor was already there! This man we had known less than 24 hours! He prayed with us that day and the surgery went well. That boy grew up to be confirmed, graduate college and is now an engineer.
That pastor later told me he was not doing a neighborhood canvas that day. He was driving home and he said he was literally compelled to pull into my driveway and ring the bell. Just try to convince me that the Lord did not directly send him to my door to save us!
Shattered Dreams Danced Into His Desire
(Heidi Tobin, 2012)
…for what is loss, I now count as gain…
Like that of the drummer boy, what shall I play for you? I played my best for Him…
Much of my life I have danced to my own rythymn, beginning with each rushed step out of significant childhood trauma into a beat of success, from third grade of winning the Young Authors award to honor roll, to national scholar in undergraduate school, and finally leaping through graduate studies in counseling to serving in the community with the dream I held since childhood. As I stepped into the next round of the dance it all seemed I had it all goin’ on until the beat came to a skip leading my knees to the floor…a lay off, then another lay off, then a virus that wiped my writings from my laptop, the off beat sent my body into a lifeless stance in the absence of all music. Until I searched the Word and kept each promise tucked into my heart believing who God is and what God wants I layed on the stage and cried out my song of many unmet dreams and waited in the longest measure before I rised up in the ashes of brokenness and thanksgiving of learning more of the Dance Partner who had in that moment became my Dance Leader. He continues to lead me in dancing into His desires, leaving behind what once was unmet dreams. For what is loss is now gain…a life beyond survival to a life of seeking Him.
Dear Beth,
I know this will probably not ever reach you, but, my heart is so overflowing, I just have to express to you what “so long insecurity” has done to my heart.
I have recieved back my DIGNITY! I spent almost 40 years in an abusive marriage, filled with much fear of that person. After he left, I believed my scars where too deep and that I was completed used up with nothing of me to offer any relationships. Through God’s love and grace, my wonderful Ron was brought into my life. We have been married for just over a year and he is my true blessing in this life here. I’ve been able to recieve this joy in my life, but, your book made me realize I brought a lot of bad baggage with me. I do tend to embrace fear…..but, the journey with you thru that book has totally opened my heart, my mind, my awareness of what I am to God, and the things he wants for me. Thank you seems to small! I feel like my world has opened up to me.
Y
I just wanted to share:
God has changed me! I know it because there is no other explanation! I struggled for 53 years trying to believe that Jesus actually loves me. Then on Aug 3, 2006, in the midst of the worst pit of my life, He gave me a song that pierced through the darkness! Then He gave me personal instructions on how to practice His presence in my life-to KNOW that He is always with me & loves me very much-just likes He loves all of us! He used a Godly Christian counselor to speak to me. My sweet Heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed to get my feet on higher ground. Praise the Lord!!! Itās been a steady climb & some slipping but I now truly know that He loves me!!! I want to share that precious song:
YOU CANNOT GO BELOW MY RESTING ARMS
By David Kauffman
I have watched you, child
Holding onto what you think will save you
And though you hear me calling out your name
You won’t let go
I know you know the words
“I will never leave you or forsake you”
But you live as if you still believe you’re all alone
The grip that holds you tight
That takes up all your time
Keeps you from believing what I say
You cannot go below my resting arms
No matter how fast or far you fall
No matter how lost you have become
My embrace is wider than the sun
So let go of what keeps you in the past
And fall into these arms that call you back
No matter how much you have been harmed
You cannot go below my resting arms
Of what are you afraid
Has your vision come to be so narrow
That you believe in only what you see
And nothing more
I know you know my heart
I embrace the lily and the sparrow
Whoever taught you different
Does not know how much I love you
Beyond the tears you cry in those hopeless eyes
My welcome waits to gently hold you tight
Do you know that my love can sustain you
And that I will never leave your side
Release the hold from anything that claims you
And live your life while you are held in mine