The Weekend Wrap-Up

It always amazes me that I can hear a Bible story that I've heard all my life and still get something new out of it.  This weekend at Women of Joy, we talked about Job and Ruth... and I needed it.

Jill Kelly started out in Job.  One point that she made was that Job's wife went through everything that he did... I had never thought of it.  All those losses that Job had, he did, too.  What I got out of this, even though it probably wasn't what her message was about, was that we're in it together.  What Wallace goes through, I go through... and as members of the Body of Christ, we're supposed to be in it together, too.  That means that instead of being like Job's friends, I'm supposed to encourage my brothers and sisters, and lift them up in prayer.  Then, she talked of how Job knew God... that's one of my favorite parts of the story of Job and His Redeemer.  He was a righteous man, and knew God... but at the end of the story, he tells God that he never really knew him until He saw him through the hard times. 

The next morning Liz Curtis Higgs spoke on Ruth.  She is hilarious, and brought the story to Ruth to a whole new light with her Righteous Ruth Rap.  The point I had never taken before was about them leaving the House of Bread because there wasn't enough bread... I had always understood that part... there was a famine in the land.  Liz pointed out, though, that that is how our world is... in spiritual famine.  As she spoke on this, my mind was thinking of how the Ten Commandments had just been taken down in the Breathitt County School System.  And tonight I'm still thinking of it as I hear the horrific news of the explosions at the Boston Marathon.  As my cousin Allie put it, we need Jesus, y'all.  And we need Him bad. 

Kay Warren was scheduled to speak next, but in light of her recent tragedy, the coordinator of the event talked about how our worth was in Christ Jesus, not in how much we could do or our past or flaws we tried to cover up. Saturday night was a wonderful worship experience with Jeremy Camp.

And Sunday morning, Angela Thomas spoke from Ephesians 3, about how we were made for eternity and we are longing to be filled.  Her illustration of filling our cup with Jesus was not just funny, it was memorable and had me saying, "Fill me, Jesus..." when I got home.

I needed some refreshing. Time with my Mama and my aunts and Diane. Laughter and good food and food for the soul. 

God is good.... and His grace is sufficient.