"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them"
Matthew 18:20
I had the honor of speaking to a group of beautiful and talented ladies not long ago. When I was asked to speak my flesh almost talked me out of it but, God. The Lord made it very clear, very quickly that I needed to do this. I had no idea what I was going to say when asked, no idea how I was going to do it- this is uncharted territory for me, how do I do this? The Lord just softly and peacefully reminded me to trust Him and let it go. It wasn't long after that gentle therapy session, He said, grab your laptop and as soon as I did it flowed right out...
Trust Me.
The words began and didn't stop until all was written that He wanted to be said at this gathering. I don't know how else to explain other than, I felt when it was complete so I pushed my laptop back from me, took a deep breath, praised God, thanked Him and even shed a joyful tear as I chuckled at just how GOOD He is. I started to freak out, my flesh almost took over, I almost let it! Thank God for His gentle moments of grace, for his kind moments of correction and for His never ending mercy when we repeat the same thing over and over only to follow it up with "Lord I'm so sorry", "Lord I'm so sorry for not trusting, I'm so sorry for freaking out!" Thank God He knows our heart.
The week before.
I would love to tell you that after I got all prepared (or HE did!) and knew what I was going to speak on, knew I could rest in Him to handle it all, that everything was just perfectly peachy keen! But, I can't tell you that. I won't tell you that because, that would be a lie. The entire week before it was one thing after another...I mean it was so bad it got to the point of comical. Work things hit the fan, irregular craziness with my kids happened, co-parenting chaos tried to ensue, even my dang toilets stopped working in the house- lots of money was having to be spent on the most off the wall, random, out of nowhere issues that all just happened to arise within this same week. Oh and that's not all a stomach virus also hit my house and by hit my house I mean it ran through my house like a hungry ticked off linebacker taking down everyone in sight and on top of that I lost my voice. Now, I don't know if you can see the pattern yet or not but, just in case you can't I'll spill the beans. The enemy was PISSED OFF. He was hopping mad! He was going to do everything he could to try and beat me down, slow me down, keep me down so that I just gave in and gave up. He wanted me to call my friend Kelly and say oh I'm so sorryyyy I just cant make it, oh it's been a terrible week, you won't believe what's happened and boohoo wahh, complain and remain. Guess he forgot who my daddy is. Guess he forgot who's in charge. Guess he needed to be reminded. So I sent a reminder of PRAISE.
I began to pray, more than the usual. Specific prayers. Battle prayers. Recognizing God's goodness, giving Him all glory for what He gave me to speak, and I began calling out to the Lord to move the mountains out of the way and singing as much as my crackled voice allowed.
Luke 1:37
God and His goodness again. Holy Spirit never let me get too down during all these things, I would start to hard slouch, I would become frustrated, a tear would fall as I shuffled through the insanity the week had become and it's like He would wrap His arms around, me give me a gentle lift, wipe the tear and let me know He's there, just keep moving. PRAISE YOU GOD- You are so good father - even as I type right now I bless your name, Lord- Holy Spirit come, fall on every eye that even looks upon these words. Nothing else really matters but, you Lord, have your way.
Ok. wheww- I never want to suppress Holy Spirit- I pray He guides my tongue and my steps each day so why would I?
As I was saying, The Lord in all His goodness never left me in the ring alone, He stayed right there blocking each punch with ease ( I picture a pinky finger flicking away the nonsense).
The day before.
It's the day before gather and I woke up to a home with no sickness, my voice raspy but, for the most part, back. I honestly thought I sounded kinda cool I kinda liked it, haha. You can't tell me prayer doesn't work, I wont hear it! You can't tell me our praise isn't a weapon, I'll ignore it! I have seen it. I have witnessed it. I have experienced it. Our Praise is a weapon! It's not just a sound, it's a sound that wins battles in the spirit realm while giving our God the glory and honor He deserves. THIS is how I fight my battles.
"Surrounded" - Upper Room, Bethel Music or Michael W. Smith- or whichever version you choose just push play to this song when you feel surrounded. Oh, and volume up, like really loud.
The night of.
God is good and His mercy endures forever. It ended up being such an incredible time. Good food, fun, laughter and the presence of the Lord- it doesn't get much better than that.
But, why was there such a battle and attempt to stop the message from being spoken?
What was so important?
God was getting all glory, Obedience to the Father was going to take place, Holy Spirit flow was about to be shared to a group of women who are trying to seek the Lord. The enemy will do everything he can to get in the way of any of that! That's why we have to press in and push forward, never hesitating to encourage each other along the way.
The topic given to speak on was the topic of being intentional- within our businesses and or life in general. It just so happens that there was Intentional, beautiful fellowship that took place that night and we had the opportunity to sit, rest, relax, eat some good food, laugh, brag on the Lord, give Him praise and simply bask in His presence.
10/10 highly recommend coming to a Gather meeting
...and also recommend not letting anything get in the way of it.
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