A Whole New Heart for a Whole New Year!

The 3rd Annual Legacy Ministries "Equipped with JOY!" Women's Conference has come and gone, but not without making a major impact in the lives of so many...including my own! Like one attendee said, "All I can say is 'WOW!". The hundreds of volunteer hours (literally...if not thousands!) were WELL worth it! In the words of one of the songs at the conference, "Lord, I'm amazed by You!"

My passion is to see people set free and equipped to fulfill God's call on their lives to intimacy with Him and service for Him. As I told the ladies in the closing session, my rendition of the verse that says "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart" is "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you Himself!" How awesome to experience how wide, how deep, how high His love for us really is! That is the only desire that truly satisfies the deepest longing of our hearts--our love tanks! After that, our other desires will line up to match the desires He has for us to share that love to the hurting all around us. Then we will start to see those God-given desires fulfilled before our very eyes!

That has proven to be the case in my life this past weekend. God is a rewarder of those who deligently seek Him. He rewarded me by letting me see ladies soaking in the message Friday night about allowing Him to do heart surgery on us to heal those wounds that tie us to depression, anxiety, unforgiveness, etc. Then on Saturday it thrilled my heart to see the women writing diligently the dreams God has placed in their hearts to now go out and share that with others.

Thank you to all the volunteers who had anything to do with putting this conference together...the Table Topic facilitators, Breakout session teachers, registration, program, corporate sponsors, intercessors...the list goes on and on. What a team! What a privilege to be able to partner with Almighty God in His work to heal, restore and send out people to do His service! I know all on the team will agree with me that He gets all the glory! There is no way any of us could heal anyone, yet He chooses to use us as vessels to pour out His love to others. "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36)

Ladies, mark your calendar now for the 4th Annual "Equipped with JOY!" conference to be held on January 20-21, 2012! The theme will be "Making a Difference". Let me know if you want to go ahead and register!

Anointed Workmanship

I have decided that this is the year I will not only start reading the Bible straight through, but this time I will actually complete it! Even though I am behind in my schedule, I'm not giving up! This morning I read something that goes along with the desire God has given me to encourage Christians that they are in ministry whether they are officially in the "clergy" or not.

"And Moses said to the children of Israel,

'See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship,to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze,in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship. And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver--those who do every work and those who design artistic works.' " Exodus 35:30-35

See how God gave special grace and anointing for Bezalel to be an artist? Imagine that...an anointing on designing, engraving, tapestry making and even an anointint on teaching all that! What is an anointing? It is when you do what God has gifted you to do at the time He calls you to do it. Remember that whatever you are called to do, God can give special blessing for you to get it done with joy, without frustration, and yet all for His special purposes! Then you can step back and say, "Lord, only You could have helped me accomplish that for Your glory. Thank you for the gift!"