Church and Retreat

  Last weekend my sister and I went to a womens retreat (two day event) at my church. It was called "The Ultimate Makeover
By: Sharon Jaynes." It was great. I came away feeling spiritually refreshed. Like I had a bit of a revival. There was a point in the retreat, where she had us write down things that hinder us spiritually (unforgiveness, low self esteem, fear, etc) So, on an index card, we wrote down the things we believed we had problems with, and we went up to the front of the church, and nailed our cards to a wooden cross. I cried as I was walking up there, it was a place I could say, ok Lord, here they are, I am nailing them to the cross, I am letting them go. So, now anytime those issues arise in my life, I need to remind myself...I nailed them to the cross.

Sunday at church, we finally got to hear the preacher for the first time (guest speakers each time we visited before). It was awesome, we love the pastor. He preached on effective prayer. He was telling us about Abraham praying for Lot. He also told us that Lot, at first, had pitched his tent toward Sodom, and then the next time he is mentioned....he is living in Sodom! His point was that as Christians, we tend to "pitch our tent towards Sodom." We have little sins in our life, that as Christians we know we shouldn't be doing, but they seem minor...then before you know it...we are smack dab in the middle of Sodom!

Anyhow, his point on Abraham praying for Lot, was that it worked, Lot was saved from the destruction of Sodom, and later in scripture it refers to Lot as being a godly man. So, the prayers of the godly are much effective. We have a card that we wrote 7 peoples names on, we are supposed to pray for them 7 minutes a day, 7 days a week...the thing we are doing is called 777:a prayer experiment. I haven't written my names down yet, but I am going to.

When we left church sunday morning, I asked my husband if he was ready to become a member of First Baptist Church of Middleburg! I am thrilled....we now have a church we love. :-)