Last Friday I waved Grant goodbye and, although I was going to miss him for three nights, my mind was also preoccupied with a ladies meeting we were having at our church the next day.
Several weeks ago a small group of us ladies sat together and listened to Christy Herselman share her vision for this meeting. Now, I am sure the idea of ladies church meetings conjure up visuals of an exclusive bunch of gaggling middle-aged women, drinking tea and discussing home décor, children and the rising price of groceries. Ok, so a lot of us are middle aged and home décor, children and the rising price of groceries are important to us but we would probably be drinking coffee and in no way would this meeting be exclusive!
Let me just say that I adore these special women from The Rock and I picture them as part of this beautiful rainbow that Ian Edwards spoke about during his preach on Sunday. Each one of them bring their own complex, unique and magnificent colour to this rainbow community. God is using each one in such a special way and it is so exciting to see.
The meeting was titled The God of Small Things. God and small in the same sentence just seems like a paradox, right? But this is where God is so amazing. You see, it’s the small things, the small moments that often make the most impact – the seed that becomes the tree, the drops of rain that become a river, the seed and the egg that become a human life. The unexpected meal to a neighbor, the word of encouragement to a work colleague, the car lift to a weary nanny on her way home, the prayer for the invisible beggar on the street corner.
Life is made up of these special God moments that are seemingly so small but God takes them and multiplies them and gives them his glory. The aim of this meeting was to give encouragement and fan the flame for so many ladies who may feel that their lives are insignificant, void of gifts, talents and the ability to do God’s work.
More than 100 ladies came to the meeting. Some were from The Rock but the majority were not. Every single woman who came through those doors was given a prophetic word. Every single woman was prayed for unknowingly before the meeting and a note was written: a promise from God unique to that person. Christy Herselman and Natalie Mallett spoke (you guys are such legends), we watched two video clips (The Invisible Woman and Figuring Life Out). Google them whether you are a guy or a girl, you will be moved.
And then while Vanessa, Jill and Cristy sang we handed out little bags with stones in them.
David used a sling and a stone to bring down Goliath. These stones represented the gifts we have, our talents, the tools in our lives right now and the weapons we have against the enemy. The most important thing about these stones is that they need to be yours.
By that I mean David was uncomfortable wearing Saul’s armor. It did not fit, it was cumbersome because it did not belong to him. But those stones he knew how to use, and he used them well. For us those stones could represent anything from owning a car, being a prayer warrior, a baker or an accountant, a contagious smile, a great hugger, children, family, patience to rock a crying baby. Everybody has their bag of stones – God given, unique and extremely powerful.
So as we sat and listened to the music, we wrote on our stones, we wrote and gave stones to friends, we prayed with each other and God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit moved and woke up these powerful women. My challenge going forward is that we may stay awake, that we will look at our stones often, throw out the ones that don’t work for us anymore and continue to add new stones but most of all, may we have the courage to use them.
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