Big Mouth Mama

“Big mouth Mama!” The thought seared my subconscious as horror set in. “This must be some kinda joke.” With lightening speed I shot an email to Lexie, the girl in charge. She needed to be informed- PRONTO! After all, my head wasn’t supposed to be cut off, right?

My first piece of published writing was featured Saturday on Mary DeMuth’s website in her Thin Place feature. Much to my chagrin, it wasn’t quite like I imagined it would be. When I excitedly clicked on the link to my post early Saturday morning, the picture above illuminated my computer screen.

And truly, I was horrified. But the horror quickly turned humorous as I chuckled to myself. I knew there must be some spiritual lesson the Lord wanted to teach me and you.

With beams of sunlight dancing off the lake and wind whipping through my hair, I opened my Bible a few hours later. My husband and I weren’t spotting any boaters with our high speed binoculars, so I decided to sneak in a couple of chapters in Isaiah. (Mark and I get paid to spy on people and record whether they’re wearing life jackets!)

As I soaked in the words of Isaiah 58, verse 13 leapt off the page as if it were shouting at me. The latter half of it read, “…honor the Lord in everything you do, and don’t follow your desires or talk idly.”

Talk idly? Idly means nonchalantly, carelessly, or absentmindedly. It denotes speaking casually without thinking first. An idle word isn’t profitable to others; it’s barren and useless.

I don’t know about you, but I’m often guilty of idle chatter. I love to talk and will bend the ear of anyone who’ll listen. I’m not always the woman with the quiet and gentle spirit (1 Peter 3:3-4).

But in that moment, the Lord reminded me of an important truth found in Matthew 12:36-37. One day, I’ll give an account of every idle word I speak. And so, sweet sister, will you.

Now I know why my mouth was emblazoned across my computer screen Saturday morning. God saw fit to send me a friendly reminder about the kind of mouthpiece He desires me to be. So in the magnificent words of Colossians 3:17, may everything I do and everything I say be an accurate representation of my precious Jesus. I pray this will be your heart’s cry as well.

On Holy Ground

It was 11:00 p.m. Friday night. As I rode the elevator back up to my hotel room at the She Speaks conference, my eyes threatened to close. But sleep wouldn't come anytime soon. Images of book proposals and publisher interviews danced in my head as I slid the slender hotel key card into the door. The green light flickered, and I tumbled into the living room of my suite, exhausted.

Before me sat my two beautiful roommates, Hester Christensen and Shelby Howard.

They looked up at me with smiling eyes. Instantly my heart skipped a beat. These women were prayer warriors.

I dropped my red leather bag on the floor and plopped down on the couch next to them. I asked them to lay their hands on me and pray for strength. There was so much to do before tomorrow. And tomorrow was only 8 hours away.

Together we passionately petitioned our Savior, and as we exited the throne room of God, peace enveloped my soul like a river. I swung my red leather bag back over my shoulder and headed down to the lobby to write. I needed to make finishing touches on my book proposal for my publisher interviews the following day.

As I turned the corner in the lobby, I heard the still, small voice of God. "Go the prayer room, Stephanie." For a brief second my flesh argued, "Lord, I don't have time. It's almost midnight. There's still so much to do before morning!" Again the Holy Spirit beckoned me with His quiet voice. Without hesitation I obeyed.

On the way, I passed Luann Prater, my speaker evaluation leader for the weekend and the She Speaks team member overseeing the prayer room.

 

She smiled warmly and asked where I was headed. "To the prayer room," I answered. She nodded knowingly. She and her team had prayed believing that when each of the 608 conference attendees entered that room they'd be standing on holy ground.

And holy ground it was. Soothing music echoed off the walls intermingled with the soft sniffles of women's cries. Beautifully decorated tables displayed the names of God. Upon each name of God rested the names of several conference women, with every name prayed over before being carefully placed.

I excitedly searched the table for my name. I scarcely believed my eyes when I found it. My name lay on El, the name of God meaning "the Strong One." Underneath I found this simple definition. "He is more powerful than any false god. God will overcome all obstacles. I can depend on God."

Hot tears stung the back of my eyes as I marveled at God's sovereignty. Jesus wooed me to the prayer room to confirm He had heard the cries of His girls in Room 609 just moments earlier. To remind me that He could overcome any obstacle. To encourage my dependence on Him and Him alone.

I left the prayer room energized. No longer was I weary. As I opened my laptop to polish my proposal, I imagined Jesus sitting right beside me. He was smiling. Steadied. Strong.

It only took an hour to finish my work. God's power truly was made perfect in my weakness. His grace was sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Maybe today you  feel weary. Beaten down. Broken.

Run to God's throne room and find rest for your soul. Jesus' yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). Won't you trade in your burden for His?

And the Winner is...

Meet Jennifer Johnson, the winner of my blog contest. She's a 20-something lover of Jesus. A wife to Todd. And Mom to Kaitlyn and a baby boy due in January. Jennifer is a SAHM committed to God's calling on her family's life.

 

Todd and Jennifer moved to Oxford, MS in August 2009 to join staff with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Todd is the Director of Ole Miss FCA as well as the baseball and basketball chaplain on campus. Jennifer also works part-time from home as Administrative Assistant for Ole Miss FCA.The FCA's mission is to minister to athletes and coaches at Ole Miss. Todd and Jennifer hope to see those coaches and athletes in their sphere of influence impacted for Jesus Christ. Their ministry on campus includes but is not limited to:

• Weekly Huddle meetings
• Student leadership training
• Small group Bible studies
• Coaches Bible studies
• One-on-one mentoring
• Team chapels
• Accountability groups
• Fellowship events
• Camps/retreats
• Game day rallies

Please help Todd and Jennifer impact the Ole Miss campus by:

Praying - They need committed prayer warriors praying for their staff, administration, coaches, and athletes on a regular basis.

Giving - They are fully funded by donations and this ministry would not be possible without the help and collaboration of their supporters!

For more information about their amazing ministry, please visit them at http://www.olemissfca.org/ or contact Todd Johnson at toddjohnson@fca.org.

Friends are Friends Forever

To update all my new followers, I am in the process of chronicling my amazing weekend at She Speaks 2010. To catch up on how God emptied me of ME before the conference, check out my post Brokenhearted. Then read my two entries Brokenhearted-Part 2 and Seemingly Insignificant.

Done backtracking? Now fast forward to Friday.

After one of the breakout sessions, God blessed me with a new girlfriend named Lisa to encourage my heart.

 She is a Methodist girl; I am a Baptist girl. But both of us are Jesus girls, which raises a few eyebrows at the southern churches we attend.

We openly shared our struggles, our hurts, and our disappointments. We talked about how difficult it was to feel like foreigners within our own church walls.

As our conversation drew to a close, I told Lisa how God had been stirring my heart and showing me that I needed to repent. That maybe I somehow caused the women at my church to treat me differently because my heart had become hardened. I was afraid of rejection. I feared man and not God. And in the process I had built an airtight wall around my heart that few women in my church could penetrate. I had failed to love and in the process appeared self-righteous and judgmental.

Together Lisa and I covenanted to pray for the women at our churches. To reach out to them in love. I shared with Lisa how a group of ladies in New Jersey had poured their lives into me when I was a baby Christian. They didn’t judge me for wearing slinky camisoles and teeny-tiny shorts to church, although I’m sure they wanted to put blindfolds over their husbands' eyes. 

They loved me to the feet of Jesus.

After Lisa and I parted, I headed to the elevator. As I rounded the corner, there stood one of the women I had been telling Lisa about. Robin Downs.

She was smiling from ear to ear, just like I remembered her. I hadn’t seen her in seven years since I moved from New Jersey to Mississippi. She along with my former pastor’s wife, Carrie Turansky, and another friend, Maria Reyes, had flown in for the conference. I had no idea they would be there. But God did.

In that moment God whispered once again, “Stephanie, I am a God of details. I have every detail of this weekend perfectly orchestrated.” I quickly grabbed my little pink notepad out of my bag and showed it to Robin. As tears of joy streamed down my face, I told her of the mighty ways God had moved in less than twenty-four hours.

Little did I know, God wasn't finished moving. He had only just begun.

It's a Blog Party- Win a Fabulous Prize Pack

To celebrate the spectacular time I had at the She Speaks conference, I decided to throw a blog party. I've lit some candles on top of a delicious strawberry Emileigh's cake courtesy of my Ruby leaders, and the GEMS and I had a marvelous time recounting the miracles God performed at the conference.

We would love for you to be a part of our celebration!

At the beginning of next week, I will be giving away a fantastic prize pack to one of my awesome followers.

Not a follower? No need to worry! Click on the "Follow" button to the right. Go on. I'll wait for you!

That just earned you 3 points!

This amazing prize package includes:

1) My favorite CD- A personalized autographed copy of Cheri Keaggy's newest release- Because He First Loved Us (Thanks Cheri!!)

2) My favorite book- Radical-Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt

3) A replica of the notepad that changed my life.

4) My favorite movie- Fireproof

5) My favorite candy and yours...now that we're friends! (Don't forget to leave your favorite candy in the comments.)

NOW....increase your chances of winning by doing the following:

• Tell your friends about my giveaway! If they follow and then comment and mention your name, you receive 10 points!
• Link to this contest from your blog- 5 points
• New Followers- 3 points
• Tweet it- 2 points
• Facebook it- 2 points

OK! Tally up your points and leave them in the comment section with your favorite candy and I'll give you one more point just for following directions!

Hopefully you'll score all 23 points which gives you 23 chances of having your name drawn from my random number generator!

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

XOXOXO,

Stephanie


Contest closes next Monday, August 23rd and winner will be announced Friday, August 27th.

Seemingly Insignificant

An ornately decorated pink notepad. Seemingly insignificant. Ordinary.

Yet as Karen True stated simply at the She Speaks 2010 conference, God often chooses to do extraordinary things with ordinary objects like Moses’ staff, David’s five stones, and Samson’s long hair.

And that is exactly what He did with my little pink notepad. Extraordinary things.

You see, Diana, my partner in ministry and sweet sister in Christ, gave me this notepad last year as part of a care package for She Speaks 2009.

It sat unused during last year’s conference and all throughout this year. Forgotten.

But God had big plans for my forgotten notepad. After arriving at the hotel Thursday for the 2010 conference, the group of ladies I rode with from the airport all decided to have lunch together. We were earthly strangers but heavenly sisters. As we sat at the round table sharing our hearts, Jeri Lynn mentioned a particular Bible she thought I’d enjoy. The Key Word Study Bible.

As I pulled out my tiny tablet to write down the reference, Jeri Lynn said, “Let me see that notepad. I have one just like it!” And then Elisa, who was sitting next to me, said “I have one of those too!” Three of the four of us had the exact same notepad. We marveled at the sovereignty of God. But the story gets better.

When I took out that notepad to write down the room numbers of my new girlfriends, we marveled once again at God’s power.

605, 609, 614, 615.

Out of 608 women from 48 states, God saw it fit to put us all on the same hallway at the Embassy Suites. According to Renee Swope, who commented below (thanks Renee!), even the Proverbs 31 speaker team doesn't get to be on the same floor!

And then I heard Him whisper, “Stephanie. I concern myself with every detail of your life. I am a God of details. No matter what happens this weekend, your times are in my HAND. Don’t ever forget it!”

Maybe today you feel forgotten. Unnoticed. Insignificant.

Always remember that you are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do the work He predestined for you before He spoke the foundations of the world into existence. (Ephesians 2:10)

He has a magnificent plan for your life. And he loves you deeply.

Brokenhearted- Part 2

Let me just begin by saying I didn't know this would be a two-part post. But God did. He ordained my fingers to fly over my computer keyboard two weeks ago in preparation for what He was going to do in my heart this year at the She Speaks Conference.

You see, I have been in the process of revival for a while. A year to be exact. Unlike physical CPR, spiritual CPR doesn't revive us instantly. Because revival requires repentance.

Uuuggghhh. Repentance?

You mean, admitting I AM WRONG? That I don't know everything? That I must be willing to turn and walk the other way?

Repentance is repugnant to most of us if we're honest. It makes us want to vomit. We would rather do anything than confess our sins before God or one another.

But this weekend, God brought me to a place of COMPLETE repentance that I've never known before. And the most miraculous thing happened....He turned my heart of stone into a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

Through a series of events sprinkled with the fingerprints of God, He reminded me that He is a God of details. He concerns himself with every aspect of my life. He charts the path ahead of me and tells me where to stop and rest.

EVERY MOMENT HE KNOWS WHERE I AM. (Psalm 139)

I hope you'll join me over the next few weeks as I share with you what God has done and continues to do in my life. Along the way, you'll meet some of my new girlfriends from She Speaks.

As my ornately decorated notepad with its sparkling pink GEM on the cover says..."I will praise you, O Lord, with ALL my heart; I will tell of all your wonders."

By the way, this little notepad has a big God story attached to it! More on that next time...

Brokenhearted

As I sit here in the solitutude of this place, tears threaten to well up in my eyes once again. I have so much I want to say yet no idea how to possibly articulate every word.

For months now I have sensed God's spirit blowing revival into my life. Now don't get me wrong, I am crazy in love with Jesus and have been for many years. I've been described as a girl who oozes Jesus. Who is passionate about the things of God. But so often in my pursuit of the Living God, I have shifted my focus off of Him and back onto myself.

A few days ago during my prayer time I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, and His message was so utterly clear. And instantly I knew...

"I have made an idol out of me."

ME.

As much as I desire to bring glory and honor to God, I confess that so often my world spins around my wants, my needs, and my desires. I can easily become my own idol.

In that moment, I experienced an epiphany of sorts and realized the depth of my selfish sin nature in a way I never had before.

And I was truly brokenhearted.

I think so often as Christians we spend a lot of time talking about how we need to get serious about our sin. We set up checklists of do's and don'ts in an effort to please God. We forget that sin is simply broken fellowship with God and every time we choose to disconnect from our Maker we invite sin to take up residence in our lives and establish a foothold. But God does not just ask us to take our sin seriously, He asks us to be brokenhearted over it.

Have you ever really considered what it means that our sin grieves the Holy Spirit?

Ephesians 4:30 says "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

Grieve comes from the Greek word lypeō meaning to distress, to be sad, to cause grief, to be in heaviness, to make sorry.

Can you imagine God's utter remorse, His distress, His heaviness of Spirit when we willingly choose our sin over His righteousness? When we choose to reject the completed work of Jesus' death on the cross and refuse to walk in the promises of His Word that proclaim that sin has no power in our lives (Romans 6:6-8)?

Today my prayer is that as a body of believers we would become brokenhearted over our sin. That we would plug back into our only source of power and surrender our lives to Christ moment by moment. May the Spirit of God's conviction fall so heavily on our hearts that we will be distressed enough to leave our old man behind once and for all and walk victoriously in the newness of Christ.

Speak Lord, I'm Listening

Do you ever have "one of those days"? You know, the one where chaos reigns no matter how much you desire order and stability? As the school year draws to an end, I find myself having "one of those days" more frequently than I'd like to admit. It seems that this time of year often breeds burnout in my life... as I hurriedly attempt to finish all I have committed to start.

Yet God in His everlasting love and unfailing mercy never fails to meet me where I am. And even in the midst of the noise, He speaks. All I have to do is listen. God desires to teach me at every given moment by the power of the Holy Spirit. When I feel like a failure, He ministers truth. When I am tempted to give up, He brings encouragement for the future. He reminds me through His Word that my biggest weakness is His greatest strength (2 Corinthians 12:9). His power is truly made perfect through my imperfections.

The next time you feel discouraged cry out to the Lord. Ask Him to speak to you in the midst of your circumstances. And then listen as He whispers truth to your heart and lavishes His love upon you.

The Disconnect

Brace yourself. This post will not be light and fluffy.

Let's just say it's been a long month, filled with joys and sweet memories of the holidays. But in many ways it has been a season of testing, of reflection, and of self-examination. I don't know about you, but when the Lord takes out His magnifying glass and the Spirit begins to move in my heart, it is not always peachy.

Growth often requires pain as the Lord cuts away anything that is not of Him in our lives.

One thing I have been pondering is something I call the "disconnect." That is, the tendency believers have to know a lot about God, to worship Him faithfully each Sunday, and then to "disconnect" what they know from their everyday living. The truth is our fleshly tendency is to be like the man in James 1, who looks in the mirror and upon leaving immediately forgets what he looks like.

What I am convinced of is that we serve a holy God. A perfect God. A God who cares about the daily life decisions we choose to make. There is no way to separate our actions and our choices from His presence. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is a reality to every believer.

Whether we like it or not, Jesus is always right beside us.

He is concerned with how we speak to our husbands, how we parent our children, what clothes we wear, what areas of ministry we serve in, what we watch on TV or listen to on the radio, what books and magazines we peruse, and how we treat the clerk at the check out counter.

He has called us to holiness, not mediocrity. Through His shed blood on the cross, He has made the way for us to live abundantly.

So the question is, does that excite you? And more importantly, do your choices excite Jesus, or grieve Him?

I don't know about you, but I want 2010 to be different. I want to live as an heir to the throne because I am a daughter of the King. I want to be free of the sin in my life that so easily entangles me. And you know what, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can be. And so can you.