gIRL

I could write a ridiculously long post describing the way God worked to draw me into involvement with gIRL (Girlfriends In Real Life) in the spring of 2010, but not today. Today I will fast forward to the weekend of September 23-26, 2010 and attempt to put into words how the Lord met me in Black Mountain, NC. I say attempt, because I am still pondering on all that occurred on that mountain, as are so many other women.

I, however, can tell my story from a perspective unlike any of the other ladies who attended. I do not say that to be prideful or because I think that God spoke more to me than the others. I say that because I was privileged to be handed the task of coordinating the prayer effort associated with the gIRL gathering. I, along with a team of five other ladies, were responsible for covering the gathering and everything associated with it in prayer for several months prior to the event. And so, I went to Black Mountain to work…to do the assigned task of staffing the prayer room for the event. We had prayed and I expected God to show up in amazing ways…for the ladies who attended and for Mary, Melinda, and Karen, who had worked so hard to make the gathering a success. In the spirit of being real, I must admit that I really did not anticipate that God would make Himself so visible to me. Remember, I was there to work.

This is the point at which I must resist chasing rabbits. There is so much to tell about the weekend, but I promised myself that I would choose one thing about my time at gIRL and share. So, rabbits…you are safe for now.

On Friday evening as the ladies were in their small groups, I sat in the prayer room and prayed for the Lord to be huge in the lives of the attendees. I sensed the Holy Spirit leading me to ask the Lord for individual Scriptures to give to each lady. With instrumental music playing in the background, I began to pray and seek the guidance of the Spirit toward verses that He wanted me to give the women.

For a pair of minutes I thought, “This is a huge gamble. These verses may not make the least bit of sense to the ladies and I will make God look ridiculous when I tell them that I asked Him to give them to me.”

Still I continued praying and flipping through my Bible. As I looked at the list I held in my lap of the ladies’ names, I began writing down Scriptures beside their names. A few times, Satan tried to stop me but I persisted.

2 Samuel 22:32-34

Ephesians 3: 17-19

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Proverbs 8:17

Psalm 89:1

Even an obscure verse like Amos 5:24 appeared on my page. Before the ladies finished their small group session, the Lord had given me verses for 25 plus women.

On the DVD that God has in heaven, this would be the place where He looks at Jesus and says, “Watch this. I’m gonna blow Leah’s teeny, little mind.”

As ladies came into the prayer room to pray over the course of the weekend, I would spend a few moments praying for and with them, and then read to them the verse that the Lord gave me for them. I had no idea how they would react. All smiled kindly and thanked me for praying for them. But then………

“That is my life verse. That is the verse the Lord gave me when I became a Christian. How did you know?”

One precious lady sobbed as I read her verse to her because it dealt very specifically with a life situation that she had just shared with me.

Another woman’s verse encouraged her in the ministry into which the Lord has called her.

Yet another woman’s verses echoed the magnitude of what the Lord is doing in her life and career.

I was floored…completely slack-jawed that the Lord had worked so specifically to minister to those ladies through the prayers I prayed and the Bible verses He gave me for them. I’ve long known the power of prayer, but I suppose I needed a fresh reminder and that is what the Lord gave me at Black Mountain.

Yes, I went to Black Mountain to work, but God had so much more for me there in that place. He had a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit to remind me that He moves in response to prayer. I would dare to say that I was the gIRL who received the greatest blessing at the gIRL gathering.