I had the privilege of preaching in our church today. Preaching was something I did quite often when I did youth ministry ages and ages ago. Believe me, there's no experience like preaching at one (or more) meetings a week, week in and week out, to teenagers no less! I learned so much about going with God's flow, saying what God wanted me to say no matter what and always being full-full-full of God. I am in a different season of life right now, a season that highlights different gifts.
Though I've already shared that I count it a privilege (and important responsibility) to preach to our Blossoms, I don't often get to share to the church body as a whole, which is a unique and humbling experience (as true God-inspired preaching ought to be). Actually, I'm pretty sure that the last preaching opportunity I had was to preach about diving healing five plus years ago. I was pregnant with Blossom3 at the time and had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. I look back on that opportunity to preach and consider it
golden. It stands out in my memory as a time when I needed to sort through all the things I'd been taught, all that I'd studied and all that became more and more real to me each day as I believed God to heal me of Lyme disease. More important than my own healing, I was believing God to care for Blossom3 inside of my womb, so that she would be born whole, with no problems or effects from Lyme disease. Several months later, I stood in the makeshift sanctuary of our church building at the time with tears streaming down my face. I said, "Do you remember what we prayed for, because here she is?!" Blossom3 was a little bundle in my arms and our entire church body rejoiced together. It was the real life version of
"The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much..."
James 5:16
There's no way I am bragging on myself. I know the journey of faith, its ups and downs, its pitfalls and mountaintop peaks. But no one can ever take that experience away from me.
No one. Engrained in my memory is how I shared His Word and the Lord brought it to fruition in our lives. Praise the Lord for that!!!
More in the next few days on what I shared with our church body today, so stay tuned!
