Messages & Moments
Spending this afternoon basking in all that Arise turned out to be . . . WAY better than what I dreamt it would have/could have been! Only God could have orchestrated sooo beautifully what transpired in this company of over 2,000 girls who GOT IT!
To re-cap, I love the way Lysa TerKeurst clearly communicated (as only she can) that “God is good at being God.” We also sat on the edge of our seats as Shameka Daniels shared passionately the importance of identifying our areas of hurt and dysfunction. “Got to bring it up in order to get it out!”. . . STROOOONG!! I believe hearts leapt as Dianne reminded each of us that “we were made to reproduce, giving birth to fresh vision of what can be.” If you were a girl who attended, then you know just why our words REALLY MATTER…thank you Pastor Tim Dilena.
This journey began 15 years ago and over these years I love that I’ve been able to walk out this message of friendship with Heidi Reiszner, who taught us that obedience is never easy and no one can do it for us but the rewards are eternal, LITERALLY!
The back drop of Arise was a tapestry. As I sat hearing AMAZING worship, messages and witnessing love in action . . . God, with needle in hand, began weaving something new and beautiful in us as HIS workmanship (a tapestry) created in Christ for good works that He prepared for us before we were even born.
I don’t take lightly that I was able to take the stage, sharing a message and simply doing my part. Humbling.
To be honest, sharing my pain was good for me. It was healing to sense purpose in it all as I saw the girls taking it all in. It’s as if my pain was an electrical cord that was now plugged in, productive and powerful! Lots of prep, lots of prayer, lots of courage went into that 45 minutes on a very large stage. To God alone be the glory!
Fast forward with me to the following Thursday as I sat on a typical southern porch, sharing a priceless moment with some pretty AMAZING girls! We breathed in all the wins of conference, chatted about how beautiful all the girls were, celebrated my very first book signing and simply enjoyed a moment . . . dreamy!
As I drove off smiling I realized that what had just taken place was just as much God (if not more) as the moment I spent on that stage! Confirmed in my reading that night it dawned on me, Jesus PREACHED very few messages but stewarded sooo many moments that we draw from as we preach so many messages! The time He spent doing His part with 12 has effected the ENTIRE world and I truly believe that what Jesus modeled, Jesus meant! As I prayed it’s as though the Holy Spirit prodded my heart saying . . .
“Michelle, every moment spent with someone is a message being preached! If you embrace these moments to the full, you’ll be amazed at what I accomplish through what seems to everyone else to be ordinary!”
I’m actually the fruit of many ordinary front porch moments that someone chose to spend with me! Remember . . . we never know who is on the other side of our obedience . . .