A Sleepwalker's Delight

In February of this year, I had the opportunity to go to McKinney Memorial Bible Church in Ft. Worth to hear Priscilla Shirer speak at her "Going Beyond" event. My friend, Heather, and I were wanting to go to this event, but she had to work that weekend. Instead, I went with several ladies from Oak Grove Baptist Church. Oh, how we were blessed!

Priscilla's message was titled "The Hidden Jesus". On Friday evening, she spoke about how God is here with us even in the difficult places. When we "sleepwalk" through our lives, we may be missing out on a wonderful experience that is part of His plan for us. We have stones in our lives, and we can choose to throw them at others or hold them inside of us. God wants us to trust Him, because He has good things for us. He wants us to ask Him, "How can the stone build us up?". He has good things for us, even in the hard things. This reminds me of a quote by Beth Moore in the "Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed" Bible study, in session 4 where she said, "Your God has good things for you, not painless things for you, GOOD things for you". I did that study on my own this summer and LOVED it. I want to attend a Deeper Still event soon, hoping they'll come to Texas in the future! Now back to "Going Beyond". Priscilla told us that stones in our lives can be used for God's glory, and that He uses stones to grow us in Him. He can change us! God will confirm His Word to us even when life does not affirm. God never changes, even when things and people change.

On Saturday, she said that we can walk into the full authority God has for us, and that our circumstances do not define us. She taught us a Bible study method that is featured in her "Can We Talk?" study. The Lord has a specific word for us, and we can read His Word without an actual study. The "5 P's" method was taught, which included positioning ourselves to hear from God, poring over the passage and paraphrasing the major points of the verse, pulling out the spiritual principles, posing a question, and planning obedience and pinning down a date. She spoke to us from the Book of Luke that day, explaining that we have treasures to behold, but we may not be able to actually see them. God is doing things daily for us to behold, and today is the day to see what He is doing. What we celebrate needs to become a reality in our lives. God is ready for us to move forward with our lives. We need to make the decision to "go beyond" instead of dwelling on the past. We need to invite God to be the Lord of our homes, and be able to see God's power working in our everyday lives.

The prayer experience was very powerful at this conference, and I loved the worship time too, which was led by Anthony Evans, Priscilla's brother. These things definitely brought me closer to the Lord. I'm glad He brought me to that event! He knew I needed a fresh word from Him.

If you ever have an opportunity to go to a "Going Beyond" event or to do one of Priscilla's Bible studies, DO IT!!! You will be glad you did.

In HIS Wonderful Love,
Jessica

For we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and to those who are called according to His purpose.-Romans 8:28

Back to blogging...third time's a charm!!

Hey, guys!

This is my new blog. I used to have a blog here on this site, but I hardly ever used it. I used Xanga, my old blog, until 2007. Glad to be back in the blogging world! Let me tell you a little about myself.

My name is Jessica and I have been a resident of Burleson, TX since December 2007. I was born in Ft. Worth and grew up in Weatherford, 20 minutes west of Ft. Worth. I am now in my second year at Southwestern Adventist University, in the process of obtaining a degree in Elementary Education. I am also an active member of South Burleson Baptist Church. I have been a member since August 2009, but it has been my church home for 2 years, starting in July 2008. I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I don't know where I'd be without Him. I praise Him for loving and saving me, and for all that He has done and will continue to do in my life.

I enjoy traveling, church activities, reading, Bible studies (especially my Ladies Life Group at church...love you gals!), shopping, having my hair and nails done, and spending time with my friends and family. I am a single woman who will be turning 22 on November 7th, and I have three older siblings: Jennifer, 43, who lives in North Dakota, Jason, 39, who lives here in Burleson with me, and Jeremy, 35, who lives in Ft. Worth. I have two nieces: Angelica, 7, and Kristanna, who turns 6 on September 11th.

That's just some of my background info! More blogging to come later!

Love in Christ,
Jessica

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful!-Hebrews 10:23