A Beth Moore Girls Weekend {Lundi Little Lovelies}

This is definitely NOT one of those Mondays.  The ones where I'm depressed and just feeling off.  Today, I am so thankful for this Monday.  Mainly because I need a mellow day to relax and catch up and process the past few days.

This weekend, I had the absolutely fabulous opportunity to attend a Beth Moore conference in Daytona with a big group of women from church.  And I have been so incredibly blessed by God, Beth, the worship team, and the lovely ladies who went on the trip.  Frankly, I was a little nervous to go.  I'm so shy.  I also don't have children.  I didn't even know the names of several of the women who were going.  I was afraid of not enjoying myself because I so often don't fit in.  But, I was wrong.  The wonderful, godly women who went included me, and the Lord spoke to me so much that I simply cannot look back on the trip with regret.  I know I was meant to go, as was each of the other women who went.

I so greatly enjoyed getting to know them better.  One of the wonderful things about the trip was that there was a lot of "unplanned" time where we could all just gather around and talk, share, pray, laugh, and cry.  And I think I'm right in saying that we all walked away from the weekend changed in some way.  

God moved powerfully through the worship, Beth's speaking, and through our time with each other.  Though I cannot fully explain how God spoke to me in a way that will speak to you, I'd like to share some of the things that Beth said that moved me.

• "Jesus knew firsthand what it was like to be a man." -  Now, I know that when Jesus came to this earth, he was fully God and fully man.  But I have never thought about it to the point that Beth explained.  Jesus took his 100% God-ness and put it into the confines of a human body.  Beth thought about the fact that God never sleeps.  So, it may have annoyed Jesus that his human form got tired and had to sleep.  He surely got sores on his feet from walking miles in his sandals.  He got hungry.  He probably had a cold at some time in his life.  And Beth focused on Mark 7:34 where is says that Jesus groaned.  He knows the limitations and the afflictions of our human forms, and he longs for us to experience our heavenly forms that have no imperfections.  Wow!
• She also spoke on a verse that has long been dear to me.  Isaiah 40:11 says, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."  (NIV, Italics added)  Oh how I just love that God gathers me in his arms and carries me close to his heart.  I so dearly need to be loved and cared for in such a tender way by my Savior.
• Beth's last point was that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in heaven until he comes back to bring all the saints home.  Amen!  I have read the accounts of Christ's ascension into heaven many times, however, I have failed to picture the scene in my mind.  "After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God."  (Mark 16:19, NIV)  Just as he had proclaimed right before his crucifixion (Mark 14:62), men witnessed him being raised into heaven and sitting down beside his Father!  Wow!  And there he remains until the day no one knows except the Father, when God will turn his head to his son and say "Go get her!"  (Paraphrased from Beth Moore)  Hallelujah!

I was so tremendously blessed through Beth's teaching of the Word.  I am so thankful to her that she is daily obedient to the call that God has placed on her life.  And I am also thankful for the wonderful group of women that He has placed me in.  They are Godly influences on my life, and I am glad to be counted among them.

And we finished up the weekend with a life group party.  What a great way to keep the fun going!  We played True Colors, and I have not laughed so hard in ages!  I am so glad that God has given us such a wonderful group of friends!

This, indeed, is a happy, happy Monday!