Greetings from the Premiere Girl’s Getaway Cruise Again! If you think about it will you pray for me tonight? I’m doing the main stage which can be quite daunting especially when you know that all these music artists and speakers you’ve admired for years will be sitting in the audience.
I’ll also need major prayer this afternoon as well. Point of Grace asked me to be on their team for the speaker/ artist volley ball game. In a moment of temporary insanity, I said yes. I think they mistakenly think that I’m athletic. If only they knew that on a scale from one to ten, one being the worst, my hand-eye coordination wouldn’t even register on this scale. I’m serious, I have issues and now I’m supposed to play volley ball??? Oh dear. Thanks so much for the prayers!!!
Now for the point of my post today- when the lights go down and whoever is bigger than life on stage heads back to their room, they are just like you and me. People. People with hurts and fears and insecurities and dreams and struggles and inadequacies.
I’ve been a speaker and a writer for a while now. But, I still get this excited feeling in my gut before I take the stage that says, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Part of the feeling is a nervous energy. Part of the feeling is the amazement of the adventure God has had me on since making the commitment to say yes to Him everyday. But part of the feeling is also awe that God would use a simple, ordinary, very flawed woman like me.
Being on the cruise this week and getting to know some of the other speakers and music artists on a deeper level has been so good for me. I too have made the mistake of looking at them and thinking how perfect and charmed their lives must be. I would take my inside life and hold it up to their outside life and feel like I fell so short.
What a ploy this is by Satan to render us ineffective for the cause of Christ. To measure our inside knowledge of our own personal insecurities up to the outside appearance of someone else will always leave us feeling inadequate. The blessing for me this week has been getting to peak on the inside of other speakers and artists and getting to see how much we need to stop making assumptions.
Chonda Pierce shared so vulnerably the other night from the main stage about her struggle with extreme depression this past year. On New Year’s Eve of last year, her family committed her to the hospital for fear that she might hurt herself. God has met her tenderly and she is on the road to recovery. This woman who so many of us have viewed as larger than life, perfect in every way carries hurts and burdens just like the rest of us.
Lisa Welchel shared yesterday about God calling her to a 40 day fast from making any decisions in her marriage. She and Steve were in a hard place, a really hard place. During her decision fast God taught her many things she needed to differently to build her husband up. This woman who so many of us have viewed as larger than life, perfect in every way struggles with her relationships just like the rest of us.
And then last night, Leigh from Point of Grace, shared about a string of bad decisions she made while in college that led her to an abortion clinic. God has done a miraculous work of healing in her heart but the scar is still there. One of POG’s songs on their new album is about this. Leigh sings it so gracefully from a heart that has lived its message. This woman who so many of us have viewed as larger than life, perfect in every way carries scars just like the rest of us.
So, tonight it will be my turn. Please pray that I shatter the myth that I have it together in any way. I want the women in my audience to know how ordinary I really am. I pray the spotlight shifts off of me and only magnifies my sweet Jesus. The One who picked my heart up out of the pit of depression, darkness, shame, anger, and fear and tenderly whispered to me, “Lysa if you’ll hold on to me and follow my truth, I will take what Satan meant for evil and use for good.”
I’ll also need major prayer this afternoon as well. Point of Grace asked me to be on their team for the speaker/ artist volley ball game. In a moment of temporary insanity, I said yes. I think they mistakenly think that I’m athletic. If only they knew that on a scale from one to ten, one being the worst, my hand-eye coordination wouldn’t even register on this scale. I’m serious, I have issues and now I’m supposed to play volley ball??? Oh dear. Thanks so much for the prayers!!!
Now for the point of my post today- when the lights go down and whoever is bigger than life on stage heads back to their room, they are just like you and me. People. People with hurts and fears and insecurities and dreams and struggles and inadequacies.
I’ve been a speaker and a writer for a while now. But, I still get this excited feeling in my gut before I take the stage that says, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Part of the feeling is a nervous energy. Part of the feeling is the amazement of the adventure God has had me on since making the commitment to say yes to Him everyday. But part of the feeling is also awe that God would use a simple, ordinary, very flawed woman like me.
Being on the cruise this week and getting to know some of the other speakers and music artists on a deeper level has been so good for me. I too have made the mistake of looking at them and thinking how perfect and charmed their lives must be. I would take my inside life and hold it up to their outside life and feel like I fell so short.
What a ploy this is by Satan to render us ineffective for the cause of Christ. To measure our inside knowledge of our own personal insecurities up to the outside appearance of someone else will always leave us feeling inadequate. The blessing for me this week has been getting to peak on the inside of other speakers and artists and getting to see how much we need to stop making assumptions.
Chonda Pierce shared so vulnerably the other night from the main stage about her struggle with extreme depression this past year. On New Year’s Eve of last year, her family committed her to the hospital for fear that she might hurt herself. God has met her tenderly and she is on the road to recovery. This woman who so many of us have viewed as larger than life, perfect in every way carries hurts and burdens just like the rest of us.
Lisa Welchel shared yesterday about God calling her to a 40 day fast from making any decisions in her marriage. She and Steve were in a hard place, a really hard place. During her decision fast God taught her many things she needed to differently to build her husband up. This woman who so many of us have viewed as larger than life, perfect in every way struggles with her relationships just like the rest of us.
And then last night, Leigh from Point of Grace, shared about a string of bad decisions she made while in college that led her to an abortion clinic. God has done a miraculous work of healing in her heart but the scar is still there. One of POG’s songs on their new album is about this. Leigh sings it so gracefully from a heart that has lived its message. This woman who so many of us have viewed as larger than life, perfect in every way carries scars just like the rest of us.
So, tonight it will be my turn. Please pray that I shatter the myth that I have it together in any way. I want the women in my audience to know how ordinary I really am. I pray the spotlight shifts off of me and only magnifies my sweet Jesus. The One who picked my heart up out of the pit of depression, darkness, shame, anger, and fear and tenderly whispered to me, “Lysa if you’ll hold on to me and follow my truth, I will take what Satan meant for evil and use for good.”
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