Scripture Memory Celebration - The End!

Alright... it's been 3 weeks since my last day in Texas and I HAVE to get this post written! I'm sorry if you don't want a long post - because this is going to be long. (Again.) (Did you miss Part One, Part Two or Part Three?) Well, Saturday night after a refreshing and renewing and relaxing day, I ended up back at my hotel room knowing I needed to get packed and ready to be up early to catch my 8:55 flight home. I was trying to figure out how to get from the hotel to the freeway and back to the airport. Looked at my maps. Tried google maps and mapquest and was pretty sure neither of them were giving me the best info. Called the front desk and got some partially good advice from the guy there. THANKFULLY I had been driving around that part of Houston enough that weekend to know that when he said "turn left when you leave the hotel" that he really meant "turn right." The rest of what he said was good, but I realized that was another lesson: Be careful who you get advice from! It may or may not be all good! When in doubt, FOLLOW THE MAP!

 Before I tell you about the end of my trip, I want to remind you of something I wrote back in November... You can read the whole post if you want - but I was talking about how I had been feeling like I had been spiritually asleep and thought it was time to wake up. I said, "But I think my winter is almost over. I've started feeling more and more like I'm wrestling out of a cocoon or trying to wake up from a long nap - not fully asleep or fully awake yet. This week I found Ephesians 5 (as if for the first time) where it talks about living as children of light and the light making things visible and it reminded me of what I was praying about (and wrote about here) about Creation and the light and when I read Ephesians 5:14 it was as if God was whispering in my ear "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!" Yesterday I listened over and over to a fairly new song by Matt Maher called "Alive Again". (You can watch/listen to Matt explain the story behind the song HERE or you can listen to the song HERE.) It expresses so well what I'm feeling... or what I'm starting to feel... waking up, coming alive again... the light on the horizon when the sun's about to rise..."

OK. Do you see those words????? Ever since last March when I memorized Genesis 1:1-4, LIGHT has been a symbol of God working some things out in me and bringing order into the chaos there is in my life. I've been praying and working and trusting Him to "let there be light!" more and more in how I manage my days and hours and minutes and my home and my children. (In other words... how I manage ME.) I've been waiting for the sun to rise. And I just needed to explain that so you'll know why everything else I say in this post was such a big deal to me. : ) Here is what I wrote in my journal on the flight home about my drive from the hotel to the airport early Sunday morning...


"... it was so exciting to discover I was going to get to actually see a sunrise this morning!!! Just the anticipation of it made me cry as I was driving down 59... Lord, I love your ways!!! The songs on the radio made for the perfect worship time as I was driving - it was overwhelming. What's funny is that I was a bit concerned about missing the actual sunrise (if I got to the airport first and couldn't see it.) How silly - yet how predictable. :p So as I was driving, wondering if I would get to really see the sunrise or not... all of a sudden I realized why I kept feeling like I was watching a sunset instead of a sunrise. I had my internal directions completely flipped upside down. I KNOW the sun rises in the East. I knew from the map I was supposed to be on the 59 North, but I could not shake the feeling that I was driving South! I knew I had to be going the right way, but it FELT completely wrong. I started sort of desperately looking for a sign that would say 59 North so I'd know I was not only on the right road, but going in the right direction! : ) I was VERY relieved when I saw the signs - so I just kept following the signs and the MAP, even though it FELT COMPLETELY WRONG. I don't know yet what life is going to look like in these next months, but I DO believe Your Word is going to be my MAP even when it doesn't feel right. I'm so grateful that this morning even when I didn't "feel" it, I KNEW I was in the right place and on the right path. So comforting. "

This reminds me of when we were getting ready to go to Thailand to bring home our little guy and I was SO scared. My brain kept saying "THIS IS CRAZY!" But I KNEW we were on the right road... So glad we KNEW. More in the journal:

"So as I got closer to the airport, I started to see even more light starting to shine on the clouds and I listened to You - or felt Your leading more than heard it - almost like a silent usher : ) - to the end of the rental car structure where I had the PERFECT spot to STOP (alone) and watch one of THE MOST glorious sunrises I've ever seen in my life. I just stood there in wonder and cried. After all these words and thoughts about sunrises and the light... I just can hardly stand it. You are just so extravagant Lord. Oh, and for a while when I was driving it also sort of seemed like maybe the sun wasn't ever going to actually rise. Silly and illogical as that was, it actually crossed my mind! But that time You SAID, "the SUN ALWAYS RISES! And the SON always rises!" You can't not rise upon Your children! You can't not shine on Your children because You can't turn Your face away from us! You can't abandon Your own! : ) You will complete what You start. Today is a new day, Lord." I was OVERWHELMED.

And remember the story back in Part 1 about getting lost when I was leaving the airport on my way to the conference? Here's what I wrote about that: "I was a bit baffled by getting lost even when I was trying to follow - but I get it now. You wanted to be sure I know that when I DO miss Your leading, when I do lose my way, You will still be with me and You'll stop me - help me know I'm off track - and You'll lead me back. It might take help from others, but one way or another, You'll find me and lead me home."

I started crying again right now as I read/typed that. I think that was perhaps the most precious lesson of all. Fitting, too, considering that the lessons about Psalm 119 were intended to help us identify with the Psalmist's longings and loves. The whole Psalm is big and triumphant and frustrated and full of commitment to follow and obey God's commands and His pathways. Man, that is my life! Full of commitment to follow, and stumbling along - sometimes victoriously, sometimes NOT... But the Psalm ends on such a different note... "I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands." (verse 176) I've always wanted to follow God's direction - in the big and little things - and have wondered "but what about when I don't hear right? What about when I'm trying to hear You and think I hear You and it turns out I was wrong?" The temptation is to stop trying to listen for fear of not hearing right. But that can't be right. Instead God sweetly reminded me in such an unforgettable way that He will always be with me and when I stray (because I will!) He will still be there and as long as I want Him to, He'll find me and lead me home. 
Always.
The End. : )

Scripture Memory Celebration Trip - Part 3!

(For Part One of this story, start HERE.)

Psalm 119:103 "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

I think I can sum up the whole Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration in one word: SWEET. Every aspect of it was just so sweet – from the time I spent with other Siestas, (that's what the girls that read Beth's blog are called. Started as a typo and stuck as a nickname. J) to the time I spent alone with Jesus, to the incredible sweetness of His Word. It was all so sweet!

Friday evening (after an interesting drive!) I finally arrived at the church and found everyone a couple of minutes after it started. My new friends Bethany & Yvonne (who I hadn't actually met in person yet!) had saved a seat for me in the very front row way over on the side of the room. It was so much fun to be so close to the action! There is something incredibly special (and sweet!) about 500+ women travelling from 48 different states (+ Canada!) all to celebrate memorizing Scripture together! So many of us had travelled alone, but there was an uncanny sense of sisterhood and connection that can only be explained by the fact that we are all part of the same family of God.

The teaching was on Psalm 119, which I will have to admit to you in the past I have not been super excited about. I was a bit like some of the Bible scholars who have said it's really long and an amazing piece of intricate poetry, but it's a bit repetitive. Let me say right now I DO NOT feel that way anymore!!! Now I think it's a lot like the Grand Canyon – and I had been looking at individual verses (there are some in it I have loved for years) like looking at beautiful rocks or trees with a magnifying glass instead of stepping back and marveling the whole amazing, beautiful landscape of it! I've known for years that almost every one of the 176 verses in it referred to God's word and always thought that was the theme of it. I wasn't completely wrong, but missed (again) the point. Beth explained to us that the theme of Psalm 119 is the longing of the Psalmist (who is anonymous, by the way) for God's REVELATION. And not just written! It's about loving and longing for God's word as written AND as spoken to our hearts, His instruction in the Bible and His leading us by His Spirit, His teaching in the Torah and the enlightening that comes when He lets us UNDERSTAND it. So much more than what I had thought before! And as she spoke about the Psalmists feelings, frustrations (with others and himself!), joys, longings, confusions, and rejoicings, we could all see how he was writing about the whole of life as we experience it – the highs, lows and roller coaster loops in between. I felt so inspired to keep seeking God's revelation in my life and in His Word. That night when I couldn't sleep at 3am I read through the whole Psalm TWICE, marking up all sorts of amazing verses I had never noticed before. I think the whole thing is so beautiful now that since I came home I even wrote a song about it using only scripture (except for a couple of words) straight out of Psalm 119. How's that for a change of attitude??? J

After the session Friday night, Beth (sorry… I just can't call her "Beth Moore" anymore b/c it sounds so impersonal) and her daughters and Travis (the worship leader) were all out in the lobby talking to people and taking pictures with people. There was a line to meet Beth, so we skipped it for that night (I was just getting to know Bethany and Yvonne as well!) but I did get to meet her daughter Melissa and I got to meet Travis! And I was standing so close to where Beth was taking pictures with people that I could have reached out and pulled her hair if I'd wanted to. But I think I would have gotten scolded so I didn't.) The whole night was fun. We found out on Saturday that we missed another chance to meet Beth after the Saturday session, but we left b/c we thought she wasn't coming back out that time. Bethany and I decided that God thought it would be better that way… less temptation to make it about her instead of about God. J We ended the whole thing with a loud celebration in song that I keep reliving b/c I downloaded the songs so I can keep remembering the thing. It was so good!

I also have to mention in here somewhere that my sweet, sweet husband had flowers delivered and waiting for me in my room when I checked in on Friday. They were just beautiful!

That afternoon I had my very first Chik-Fil-A sandwich with my new friends and then Bethany and I decided to do a little shopping together for souvenirs for ourselves and others. I was determined to find a new journal b/c I knew the one I was using was going to be full by the time I got home – AND I had asked God for a new journal anyway. (At the conference they gave everyone a weekly planner. Really cute, but my thought all the way until last Monday was "What in the world am I going to do with this?" J Well, God's teaching me. He knew I needed it.) I did find an adorable journal and we just enjoyed the most leisurely, sweet afternoon I've had in a very, very long time. Hard to even explain why, but it was a treasure. I think I so often even make relaxing so hard! I go on retreats and think so much about how to get the most out of my few hours of free time that I miss the FREE part of it!!!

Well, the best part of the afternoon was finding the Williams Water Wall with Bethany. (PLEASE click on this link and watch it for me!!! It's not my video, but I can't remember how to put the video on here and I really want you to see it!!!)

It was so absolutely breathtaking we couldn't wait to bring the other girls back that night after dinner to show it to them. We met up with several others for dinner and ended up all talking for so long that it was too late to go see it. I drove by it on my way back to my hotel, just to see it lit up at night and was amazed to see it wasn't even ON! I was so grateful God was sweet enough to keep us from dragging everyone over there for nothing. J I went back to my hotel that night feeling so satisfied, loved, full and blessed. I packed up my stuff, figured out how to get back to the airport and went to bed, not knowing that God had a grand finale in store for me that was more than I ever would have been able to imagine.

(Sorry to leave you with another cliff-hanger, but nobody else is folding the laundry or making dinner around here!) J

Click here for THE GRAND FINALE!

Scripture Memory Celebration Trip - Part 2!

(I have to come up with a better title for this series!) OK... Better get moving on this or I'll never get to Houston! : ) (If you missed Part One somehow, you can start here.) OK. So I got on the flight from San Francisco to Houston, full of excitement and anticipation, already just glad to get out of the GRAY blanket of clouds that had been hanging over the valley for at least a week, enjoying listening to God's voice and JUST RESTING! It felt so good just to rest my mind! Something I've realized since last week is just how much energy I spend THINKING!!! It was nice to not have to think so much. : ) As we were sitting on the plane waiting to take off, an attendant made an announcement saying that all of the passengers and attendants were on board... but there weren't any pilots yet! : ) They were on their way, so we should be on our way soon. Immediately I knew I was being taught another lesson! I started thinking about how ridiculous it would be if I decided I couldn't wait any longer! What if the pilots never showed up??? I just couldn't wait any longer and was going to just fly that plane myself! Wouldn't that be a disaster? For me and everyone else on the plane??? Lesson #4: Wait for God even when it seems like He's late. Trust Him because He's never late and taking matters into my own hands will always end badly - for me and everyone around me. (Psalm 37:7 "Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for Him to act...") On that flight we ran into some turbulence. The pilot got on the intercom and apologized to all of us saying that we were going to be in some choppy air for about 10 minutes because there wasn't a clear altitude we could move to. We'd be through in a few minutes and we'd be fine. I've been over the ocean (on the way to Thailand) in turbulence before, but it was different in this smaller plane. I could hear and see the plane's wings bouncing around and was amazed that the plane could take that kind of jostling. (And that air could be so bumpy! But I guess wind can be awfully windy sometimes...) Have you already figured out what lesson #5 was? : ) Lesson #5: Sometimes there isn't a way around the challenges in life. I have to trust God as my Pilot to get me through them - and trust that He won't let me get torn apart in the process. Panicking and pulling out the parachute and bailing out on the process God is leading me through would only get me into a whole new set of mountains to climb. Trusting Him to get me through the turbulence in one piece is better. (Romans 5:3-5 "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us.") (Both of these scripture passages are ones I memorized last year!) Well, I made it to Houston! : ) My flight was a bit late, so I only had about an hour to get my car rented, get some food and get to the church before the celebration started! God got me through the car process and I was trusting Him to lead me through the maze out of the airport and to the church. (Remember His promise to "Get me there?") All was well until I found myself in a slow-moving line of cars and I started to feel uncertain about whether or not I had missed something. Was I in a line of cars waiting to get onto the freeway or was I in a line of people who had already gotten off the freeway??? I started to feel more and more like I was in the wrong place and pulled off into a courthouse annex parking lot. Could see the address number, but not what street I was on! Nobody was in the lot and the doors were locked. My husband wasn't answering his phone. I was alone and starting to feel a little bit panicky. Not so much that I would stay lost, but because I didn't want to be late!!!!! And I didn't know where I was!!! What good were all of my wonderful maps if I didn't KNOW WHERE I WAS??? And what happened to GOD GETTING ME THERE??????? Well, I prayed and told God I didn't know what to do! Ended up calling my in-laws and tried to get them to figure out where I was. Turned out they were looking online at a courthouse in Georgia, so I'm especially glad that while I was on the phone with them a sheriff pulled into the parking lot. Phew! I waved him down and he told me where to go and within about a minute I was heading back the right way, got on the freeway and was on my way to the church where Yvonne and Bethany (my new friends that I hadn't met yet!) were saving me a seat. All weekend I kept thinking about getting lost and wondering "What in the world was that? I was trusting God to lead me. I know He helped me and I did get there, but I still don't get it!" You might already know what the lesson there was, but I didn't figure it out until Sunday on my way home. And you'll have to wait until I get to that part of the story to see what I learned. : ) OK. Enough for now. I'll talk about the actual Celebration event next! : ) Isn't God good???

Click here to go to PART THREE!

Scripture Memory Celebration Trip - Part One!

At the Celebration event I attended this weekend, one of the things Mama Beth shared was her concern that so often when we hear a Word from God, we so quickly start thinking "so and so really needs to hear this!" and whether it's via blogs or twitter or FB (or anything else) we just start passing everything on before we allow the truth of what was said to be planted in our own hearts. You can count me guilty of that! Maybe not passing everything on, but certainly reading the Bible with the youth group in mind, etc. instead of reading with the focus squarely on allowing God to feed my heart and speak truth to my heart. So before I started telling my story from this weekend, I wanted to make sure I allowed at least a little bit of time for the truths of it to sink deeper into my heart. But now I'm ready!!!

I'm breaking this up into parts because otherwise it would be the longest blog post ever AND I don't have that much time today. Neither do you! So in parts it is. There is so much I want to share with you all. I'm praying even now as I type this for the Holy Spirit to help me put it all into words you will understand. And I'm praying you like details because apparently I do!

I woke up early Friday morning and my longtime prayer partner Lisa picked me up to take me to the airport. I got there and checked in and waited for my flight with no problem. Have I mentioned to y'all (I did just get back from TX, so I can say y'all) that I've never flown anywhere alone before in my life except for a one way trip to Portland where Lowell met me at the airport? This was a big deal for me to be going on a trip like this by myself. I wasn't concerned about the flying, but I had been praying a lot about finding my way around Houston in a rental car without getting lost. God really convicted me when He said to me "If I've gone to all this work just to get you there, do you think I'm not going to GET YOU THERE???" I was clinging to Isa. 30:21 "Whether you turn to the left or to the right, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying "This is the way. Walk in it." Trusting Him to lead me and GET ME THERE!

It was fun to get a phone call in the airport from my new friends Yvonne and Bethany (both from the valley here) so I knew that even though we hadn't met in person yet, they were there and waiting for me! Yay! (Do you see now why I'm going to need several posts to tell this whole story?????) SO. All 8 (yes EIGHT!) passengers were on the first plane waiting to fly when the attendant got on the speaker saying we were going to be delayed about 30 min while maintenance fixed a switch in the cockpit. I overheard the co-pilot explaining to her that we could have flown without it, but he and the pilot wouldn't have been able to hear each other. God immediately started speaking to me about how important it is for me to be able to HEAR HIM. If I'm not hearing Him or sensing His presence, it might be worth stopping some other stuff (like ministry!) to get whatever is wrong fixed. Lesson #1: Make sure I can hear the pilot. (Luke 10:39 "She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.")

Once we were finally in the air, at one point we were flying through some clouds and God brought to my mind how sometimes in life I can't see where in the world God is taking me. Looking from my perspective it might even look like we're not moving at all! But I have to trust that , number one, we ARE moving, and number two, God knows exactly where He's taking me. Lesson #2: Trust God to lead me, even when I can't see a thing. (Jeremiah 10:23 "I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own. It is not for man to determine his steps.")

OK… I'd better stop for now. See what I mean? God had already started speaking to me and we hadn't even gotten to San Francisco yet! J May you listen to Him as He leads you today… He loves us so very much.

Y, Melissa

You can keep reading PART TWO here!