Awakening. That is a word I experienced this weekend. A few of the ladies from my church headed 3 hours north to go for an overnight ladies getaway.
The guest speaker flew all this way from California. Meryl is a fellow Pastor’s wife and more importantly she is a mentor and a friend. It was an amazing time together. There were around 130 women from 6 different churches in our area.
6 ladies from my church went, 5 of us drove up and met up with the other one who is currently living in that area. We hopped into my friend’s SUV and enjoyed ever single minute of the 3 hour drive, we chatted – we laughed – we shared with each other. We shared what we were expecting from the weekend away, it wasn’t just about getting away!! The ladies were all very excited and the difference was going up with an expectancy. Expectancy is the breading ground of miracles.
We arrived right on time for the first session in which Meryl shared the deep and painful experience she and the rest of her church are going through as a dear friend and elder in the church – an incredible pillar in the Kingdom of God went to see the face of our Father on September 19th (I told this story to you a couple of short posts ago). It shook her and her congregation to the core, not to mention the great loss of a wonderful husband and father of 4 small children. Grief is a very real thing. She pushed past her feelings and her thoughts and her emotions and knew she had to come up. The Kingdom doesn’t go on hold. She and her church has not been the same ever since. An awakening has happened. I was reminded of one of the B Attitudes in Matthew – Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.
She wanted us to know that even though we don’t know why George at the age of 38 died, three days after walking into a hospital with a severe headache, we don’t need to know. We only need to think on and focus on what we do know about our God, our wonderful and beautiful Saviour, King and friend. His 9 year old daughter became the pillar in the midst of such incredible grief. She saw all these adults in her home crying and mourning and this little but mighty 9 year old says, “Daddy is face with face with Jesus, he’s walking the streets of gold right now, he’s dancing.” We need the right kind of Theology, the Word otherwise we can’t make it through the lowest moments of our lives. At George’s memorial celebration this same amazing daughter, stood up in front of a church that usually holds 1,000 people and told everyone there, “I’m going to see my daddy again… will you see him again?” She is George’s legacy, he was a strong man of God.
It was a great start to a very packed weekend. I’ll fill you in on more later – I’m exhausted and drained!!!!
