Everything I could have asked for....

This past weekend our women from our church went on our annual Women's Retreat in Jacksonville, Fl. This was my second retreat that I had been on and my first time having the oppurtunity to be able to serve on the Retreat Team. Everything went so well. From being able to serve on a team with some of my dearest friends to serving with women who I admire in so many ways. The theme for the weekend was B.F.F "Becoming Fruitful in Friendships". I loved the fact that not only I could spend time with my current friends but that I was given time to cultivate new friendships that I look forward to having. During our time in our sessions I was challenged beyond what I could have ever asked for in my relationships not only with the body of Christ but with God and even my family and non-believers. What was very exciting for me was that I had already went through a very difficult time of learning about friendships in the past and thought that I pretty much new all that there was to know about having healthy relationships in my life. But as I began to consider the truths that I had already heard before I was so very challenged in ways that I had never been before. Thank you Lord!!!

Deeper understanding of prayer...

As I grow closer and closer to the Lord I am filled with such a passion for prayer in my life. I shared with you in my initial blog that I was reading the book Celebration of Discipline written by Richard J. Foster. I have now finished the chapter on prayer and found my self flipping the pages for more. We all want a more intimate, powerful, relational time of prayer with the Father but getting ourselves and our agendas out of the way has to happen first. I could completely identify with the example in the book of the man that prayed, and at first he thought prayer was talking, but became more and more quiet and realized that prayer is listening. Engaging with the Father is not based on Him tuning His ear towards us but first our ears toward Him. Have you ever had those moments when God is teaching you hard lessons that it feels as though it just "hits you like a ton of bricks" as I continued reading the chapter the Lord began to convict my heart. Seeking repentance and choosing obedience in what I know He is calling me too. I pray for others and when I do it seems as if it is with all of my heart. And then I read this sentence...We must hear, know, and obey the will of God before we pray it into the lives of others. I began to just weep, I want my life to be in such order with my Father that when I pray on behalf of others He hears me heart. We genuinely love people, my desire for those that He lays upon my heart is far more than it is within my power to give, and that absolutely causes me to pray. The great thing about learning and understanding prayer is that this will be a lifelong lesson and many many opportunities for practice.