Women at the Well Spring Conference taught me about praise and worship!

My husband and I took a road trip to the western part of our state where the rolling hills and flowering dogwoods and azaleas were a delicious treat to our eyes. Elizabeth asked me to perform the drama of the Samaritan woman at their first annual Spring Conference and I was delighted to accept the invitation. Even my husband was excited about traveling with me and accompanied me to the event...there were a few other men. Thank you Dale for befriending Ron!!


The pastor started off the event with a brief message (more like a prophetic word for the women attending) and it was followed with 40 minutes of praise and worship. It wasn't a live band but a power point with music and words in place...it showed me that what we truly need to worship are hearts ready and open to worship. I feel I have earned a right to talk about praise and worship since I have been on P&W teams in 3 different churches over the last 18 years. WOW! Eighteen years is a long time. I began under the leadership of a very capable music pastor who played the guitar along with a pianist and three singers for Sunday mornings and a full band on Sunday evenings. The congregation eagerly participated in worship with genuine hearts as did those in the small church where I was the leader of the P&W team. That was a stretch...a big stretch, but the pianist in that small church was a new member just like me and together we came with experience outside of old hymns and along with the new pastor who lead praise and worship in his former church, made up the first team. After a few months we had a drummer, 2 guitarist and a few singers that joined us. We made a joyful noise unto the Lord and the congregation responded to our meager efforts allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them to the altar. Now I am one of many singers on a team and we have a full band of wonderful musicians. Most of our church, I think, would say they enjoy our style of worship and are ushered into the presence of God.

At the Women at the Well event, Elizabeth brought a message that captivated the women the entire forty five minutes! In most churches it is stressed you loose people’s attention after twenty minutes. Not so when the message follows forty five minutes of worshipping the Lord and getting hearts ready to receive from the Holy Spirit. We seem to rush into church, rush into singing 4 songs (no more than 4), rush into the message and then ...do it all over for the second service. The music can be uplifting, the sermon can be convicting and encouraging and we can truly meet the Lord in those short services but I have seen what a difference not only at the WATW Spring Conference but also in others where the time spent before the sermon was praising God for who He is and asking the Holy Spirit to move among us. The difference is at the close of the service when people are flooding the altar for more of HIM...flooding the altar for prayer to be better followers of Jesus....flooding the altar with pure grateful hearts that want only to do the work He has created them to do.

During my Living Interpretation of the Samaritan Woman, the eyes I looked into were so soft and ready to hear about this woman's encounter with Jesus. They felt her pain and her joy. Is that because all of us have sins we do over and over and we know that it is only by the help of the Holy Spirit that we can overcome? It was such a beautiful sight when I opened my eyes after singing "Alabaster Box" to see women praying for each other with tears streaming down their faces yet with a glow about them that only come from the radiance of being in the presence of the Lord. Yes, it was a real blessing to be with this group of believers and one night I don't think I will ever forget!

Should I Really Write Out My Rambling Thoughts?

Recently I had a friend suggest that I should write a devotional. Last month an older women (I use that term with much admiration) emailed me that I should write a book. Through the past ten years, I started both endeavors many times over only to throw up my hands and throw out my thoughts; who in the world wants to hear the ramblings that go on in my head? Some of them, no, most of them, are so random that I wonder how they even entered my brain. Certainly God sends out ideas and notions that I am to ponder, go to the Bible for clarification and grow in my understanding of Him. But I worry that some things are not of Him but of my own pitiful mind or worse, of the devil who deliberately keeps me off track.
So here I am thinking about writing out my own interpretations of life…again. This time I will not hold back even if readers may think I am stepping on sacred ground with dirty feet. I believe in the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus is my only way to the Father and the Holy Spirit guides me in all things. I want to engage with God and if by doing so I write about things that you do not agree with, please know it is not my intent to upset or enlighten you. Please do not judge my ramblings as gospel truth but a way of sorting out my real beliefs. Please share your thoughts with me. Maybe we will grow closer to the Lord together.

My first interpretation…The title is shocking but the surge it gave me in my Christian walk is electrifying.

If Virgin Mary were a whore would they call her Whore Mary?

As I read this status on Facebook I was instantly upset. What would ever posses anyone to think of Mary in those terms and post it on the web for all to see. This nineteen year old college freshman was someone I taught in Sunday School and I knew without a doubt that he believed in the Lord. How could he make light of the Lord’s mother? I was so disturbed about it I called him and asked (well, told him) to remove his status! He obliged, but it had already received comments from other young people who liked his post. What’s up with that?

The next morning the Lord spoke to me as soon as I opened my eyes and He reprimanded me for the way I handled the situation. Wasn’t this an opportunity to have open dialogue with this young man? He also brought to my mind that if Mary were a prostitute, He would have called her as such. God does not sugar coat anything in the Bible. There are prominent women in the Bible that are described by their sexual condition, like it or not.

Write down what comes to your mind first as I mention the names of Biblical women; Sarah, Rahab, Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman, the adulteress woman. Did you write words such as, barren and told her husband to sleep with her servant, prostitute, demon-possessed, married 5 times, and promiscuous? Unfortunately, most of us were taught those adjectives to describe these remarkable women as bad girls of the Bible. Are we missing what God wants us to really take away from their lives? Wouldn’t it be more encouraging to think of them as; mother of nations, helper to God’s people and great, great grandmother to King David, freed from bondage and then possessed by Christ, first evangelist in Samaria, and forever grateful. Each one had an encounter that changed them forever.

The next phone call to this young man was an apology for my outburst but also a plea for understanding. What was going through his mind to bring up such a thought? “Well,” he said, “When I was out raking leaves I was just having random thoughts and wondered why there is a sexual word in front of Mary. I know why she had to be a virgin but what would it be like if we gave sexual titles to everyone? Instead of introducing you as my mom, would I have to say this is three times married Barb? Or this is my never married aunt? Or this is my childless aunt?” Wow! What a deep thinker my son is! I had jumped at the chance to defend what I thought was an attack on Mary without even asking my son what he was contemplating. Now I was the one thinking about how I mentally label people.

God stated the facts about a person to show the condition of their heart before encountering His divine intervention. We state the facts as if making a derogatory remark about the person to make them lower or raise us higher. Did God really intend for us to remember Mary as the Virgin Mary or that she was chosen by God for a specific purpose? Did God want us to remember that Elizabeth was barren or that He created a child within her when it was seen as impossible? Did God want us to remember the woman at the well as the one who had been married 5 times or that she accepted Christ as Living Water? Did God want us to remember the harlot who came uninvited to Simon’s house or that she boldly worshipped him when she washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair?

Why do we always look for the bad in a person instead of the results of an encounter with God?

It still bothers me that my son would even put the word whore in a sentence with the mother of my Lord, but I am delighted that he was thinking of Mary while raking leaves.

Because of the teachable moments that occur afterwards, I have asked my son to tell me whatever roams through his mind.

Spiritual Spa in May

We were so blessed at the Spiritual Spa yesterday with eighteen beautiful women who brought us much joy. I love meeting new people and pampering them. The Spa TECH's, Nancy, Susan, Polly, Diane, Kristy, Patti and I pray for days and weeks for the ladies before they attend Spiritual Spa. Our prayer is that they will experience a fresh awakening of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

I don't want to tell you too much about the spa in case you visit us one day, but please know that there is power in human touch...especially when God is the One using your hands to touch His daughters...a hug, a massage, a pat on the back, holding praying hands...His love just flows, one to the other.

Our desire is to bless the ladies but we are the ones who receive the blessing.

Clothe me Lord!

I didn't want to leave you hanging...my husband liked the new hairstyle. What is it about getting older and finally feeling content and then we get this notion to change things up a bit. I really was fine with the hairstyle I had but there was something inside yearning for a fresh look. When Kendall finished coloring and cutting my hair I must say I thought I looked a lot like my 6 year old granddaughter and that was a little too youthful! But once I got home and put some spice into it, I felt sassy. Just the feeling I was looking for.

The shopping trip was a real treat since I didn't purchase any clothes last year and only a few necessities this year. As I get older I feel less and less comfortable buying clothes. First of all, my size has shrunk...what in the world did the clothing industry do...did they mean to make clothes smaller? Second, I like the styles for twenty, thirty and forty-somethings but where are the styles for the 50 somethings...what happened to clothes for the curvy woman?

I have been talking to so many women who are ready to throw in the towel, sit back and grow old. I really don't think that is what they want for themselves but they settle for that because that is the expectation for the more mature woman. But there is something happening in the over 50 group that is sweeping the nation. There is a strong desire to reinvent themselves, go to college, change careers and enjoy challenges not hide from them. Sometimes just changing your style gives you a new frame of mind.

There should not be any worries in my life about what to wear. For God has clothed me with His garments. For those of us who believe Jesus is the way, truth and the life we are clothed with His righteousness. He clothes us with His compassion and love and fills us with His joy. He is all I need and all I want. This earthly tent will go away and my spirit will endure forever.

My Interpretations:

My earthly clothes makes me happy and helps to lift my spirit...but the Holy Spirit of Christ in me clothes me with His JOY and gives me eternal life!!