On April 13
th
I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of the Union Association One Day Retreat. Prior to the retreat I had worked on “my speech”. I had lots of notes and facts and all the important things that I thought they would be interested in hearing. The night before I was in my hotel room laying on the bed and looking over what I had prepared but something just didn’t feel right. I read the notes again and the Holy Spirit just kept giving me the nudge. You know the feeling. Something just didn’t feel right. I began to pray. I read the notes again and still no peace. I was down to the wire so I decided I would have to go with it and hope for the best.
I walked into the family life center at First General Baptist in Madisonville, Ky. The tables were beautifully decorated with the theme Amazing Grace. There were lots of greetings, hugs and the usual. The meeting began, and they introduced the speaker for the event. She was a very attractive lady, dressed impeccably and grace coming out of every pore. She sat down at a keyboard and with a deep throated voice (the kind of voice I love) sang “Oh How I Love Jesus”. And then it happened. The Holy Spirit said to me, “That’s It!” Took you long enough. Tears filled my eyes and then progressed to crying and then the sobbing and I thought oh no the ugly cry is coming next. My prayer then began to be “please God help me to pull it together here, I am next”.
My notes were useless because the message He had for me to share was: “How much do you love Jesus?” That is what it all comes down to. How much? Do you love Him enough to give it all? Does your heart break for those who don’t know about His love? Do you love Him enough to keep on even when everything seems to be crashing down around you?
The first verse of the song is “
There is a name I love to hear; I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth.”
My prayer is that as Women’s Ministries moves forward, we remember the words to that song. We truly search for what it is that God desires from us and that we never forget “Oh How I Love Jesus”.
All that He desires from us is
YES.
Once we have answered that calling-no matter what it is He enables us and equips us to do what he has called us to do. All he wants is availability.
He doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called!
