Here kitty, kitty

We just held our second Prairie Fire conference. For those not familiar with Prairie Fire, it is a Saturday full of speakers, worship, and ministry time to help folks become more familiar with the gifts of Holy Spirit. For me, it is an honor and a blessing to be part of the leadership team that brings these meetings into fruition.

Today I was thinking back to our first Prairie Fire conference last August. I was such a different person then, spiritually. I just wanted someone to tell me what my gifts were. I wanted someone to tell me what ministry God wanted me in or what goal I was supposed to shoot for. I was like the lazy kid in school who always expected someone to do his homework for him. It gets him by for a while, but in the end, he didn't really learn anything. I was pathetic!

I remember leaving that conference with way more questions than I had answers. And thinking I had absolutely no business being on that leadership team. But instead of letting it mess with my head, I did the one thing I learned from that conference. I prayed. I prayed more specifically than I ever did before. And the more detailed I got, the more detailed that still small voice got. I soon learned that it didn't matter what gift or gifts I had... I just needed to listen. Listen and obey that still small voice.

That communion, that conversation with God will be all I ever need. It will be my light in the darkness. It will be my sword in my battles. It will be my comfort in the storm. No one can stop it and no one can take it away from me. It is my anchor and my joy.

It is the way I have learned to listen to that still small voice that has made me a better mom, a better friend, a better coworker, a better leader, a better speaker... a better person. In the last 6 months I've gone from the kid who didn't want to do his homework, to the kid who likes to teach the class Hebrew and Greek! Yes... I am the nerd in the room!

And in my obedience, God has answered some of those looming questions and blessed me many times over. I never turn down an opportunity to share my testimony. It's not up to me to decide who should hear it and who shouldn't. God's in charge of that. And I'm in my happy place when I'm speaking to a room full of people. Whether it's sharing my testimony, preaching, or teaching, I can feel God beside me.

I think Daniel is a good example of what I'm trying to say. Daniel didn't learn to trust God in the lion's den. Daniel trusted God long before he was part of the king's court. In fact, as soon as Daniel got to the king's palace he refused to eat the royal food and wine - not wanting to defile himself. He asked for a different way and God provided it. Before he was ever in the king's favor, Daniel proved his faith and trust in God was well established.

Daniel's enemies knew the only way anyone could find fault in him or they could get him to break one of the king's rules was if it had to do with his God, because even they knew Daniel would not waver on his faith in God. So they tricked the king into making a law that no one could pray to any god except the king himself and that anyone who broke this law would be thrown into a den of lions. Law or not, Daniel never stopped praying to his God, and when he was caught, the king was sad because he cared for Daniel. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” And when God DID rescue Daniel from the lion's den, the king issued a decree that everywhere in his land, the people "fear and show reverence to the God of Daniel."

Daniel started out as a captive - a young man in a foreign place, but he never stopped trusting God. He never wavered, he never once took the easy way - the lazy way. He stood firm in his faith and knew his God would provide whatever means necessary for Daniel to keep moving forward, to keep worshipping God. God used Daniel's faith to make an entire empire see Him.

So, what will you let God use you for? Will you listen to that still small voice when he calls you to take that neighbor a meal or maybe hand them a check? Will you stand up and pray for someone in church or Bible study? Will you call that old friend to apologize for a harsh word said long ago? Will you pray for that coworker that you've been avoiding for weeks? Will you hug the father that hurt you all those years ago?

I realized it wasn't the big things I was missing... it was all the little things. If I paid attention to all the little things, the bigger things were a blessing. And that's why Saturday's Prairie Fire was a huge blessing for me! I had done my homework. I had paid attention to the little things. And Saturday, without ever asking for anything, God whispered in my ear all day. Every "I wonder" that's been rolling around in my head... He graciously and lovingly answered.

Surrender is a blessing, but to go beyond is a gift.

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.