March 16, 2011

God May Have an Appointment Made For You

Last weekend at the Hearts at Home Conference I was so excited to get to meet this beautiful blog friend, Natalie from Mommy on Fire.  You'll get to learn more about her next Thursday, as she will be featured on the Inspiring Women Series.

I love that Hearts at Home ministers to the hearts of mothers.  The conference is one of my favorite times of the year, as I get to be a part of watching God work in the lives of so many moms.  Friday and Saturday I had volunteered to staff the prayer room.  This is a place that women can come and talk to some of our staff and have us pray for them.  Now I don't tell you about this to boast about praying for women.  I want to tell you about it because I am in awe of how God works!


Serving in this way has reminded me of so much that I need to keep in the forefront of my mind at all times.  We all carry baggage.  We all have life experiences that are ugly and hard. BUT WE NEED TO SHARE THOSE EXPERIENCES WITH OTHERS!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  II Corinthians 1:3-4

God knows these experiences are hard.  He knows it has nearly defeated you.  But He has also sent others near you that have lived through the same thing.  He wants them to be His arms, to wrap around you in comfort, His shoulder to cry on, His ear to hear your struggles.

You've probably noticed here on my blog that I am pretty much an open book.  I share a lot of things that have happened in my life, and by all means, many of them are pretty ugly.  But because I have shared, I have also been able to help others in the same situation.  God seems to somehow put us together.

This past weekend, God was an amazing conductor of circumstances.  Every.single.woman. I talked with and prayed for had a circumstance in their life that they were struggling with that I had dealt with at some point in my life.  
  • a husband who had declared he didn't love her anymore
  • struggles with hurtful words from family members
  • adultery
  • yearning to know God but not knowing how to find Him
  • attending a husband's church that she didn't agree with
  • depression
  • marital counseling
Happenstance?  I don't think so!  I am humbled that God has used my ugly trials to be able to encourage others to fight through, to not give up!

My encouragement to you today:  share your experiences.  I know it isn't always easy.  But God never said it would be!  Someone needs to hear your story so that they have enough strength to keep going.  They need you.  Don't miss your God appointment!



iFellowship


Don't forget to check back here tomorrow for another installment of the Inspiring Women Series.  You won't want to miss meeting Penny.  Her story will amaze you!

6 comments:

  1. Natalie is an awesome lady! So glad you had the chance to spend time with her.

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  2. It is amazing and wonderful how God puts people in our lives at just the right times! Thank you for sharing this.

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  3. What a great reminder while we are in the midst of trials - God is going to use them for HIS glory!

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  4. Thanks for sharing Cherie.. I'm a believer in this myself. As you say, its kind of hard to let others see your uglies, but if God wants to use it to build His Kingdom, He's going to give me the courage.

    God Bless!

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  5. What wonderful words, Cherie! I admit, I'm better at sharing my uglies when I know that I can connect with someone with similar uglies....maybe it's an issue of trust?

    Anyway, this sounds like an amazing conference! So glad you could be there for those other gals!

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  6. Hi, sweet friend! It was my pleasure to meet YOU. What a beautiful lady you are - inside and out. Thank you for the opportunity to write for you. SO thankful to call you my friend...

    And thank you, Melissa!!! :)

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