"Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead - it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5
My buddy Frances and I enjoyed a timely women's conference in Nashville last weekend called the "Alive Conference". The Wesleyan Church invited women across the country to gather together to Grow and Enrich one another and Thrive by serving shoulder to shoulder with each other.
Let's just say...when you bring over 800 women together and remind them of their value and purpose and worth and identity in Christ, you can't help but have a big ol' celebration full of life. It was Alive, man, ALIVE!
Alive Conference 2015
We started our four hour trip to Nashville with anticipation and excitement but we also carried a heaviness put on by life's fullness. A weight that can drain the life right out of ya - some call it "dead weight." As we traveled and spent time listening to God speak through many different venues, we began to lose weight...the weight we carried 200 miles down the freeway. Underneath the weight was new life. Soul ready to breathe and come ALIVE again!
Sometimes you have to get away to do that. To carve out some time for God to do a little "nip and tuck" here and there.
After the weekend, we came back to the same full lives.
It doesn't change; we do.
God graces us with new glimpses, new understandings, new visions, new life within. And sometimes I can't even put words to His immeasurable graces.
What does ALIVE mean to you?
...when there are still lunches to be made and deadlines to meet.
...when there never seems to be enough time to accomplish the never-ending ideas and tasks running through your mind.
I don't want to gain all that weight back!
So I...
Stand a little longer at the end of my driveway to watch my 3rd grader's little face in the bus window a little bit longer.
And I...
Walk slowly back down the driveway with gratefulness, breathing in the spring morning air (pollen included).
I wear pigtails even though I'm 41, almost 42, years old. (I should also try to find something purple in my closet)
The words "chim chimney" come out and form into a Mary Poppins song. All I need is an umbrella to take me somewhere.
Up my steep Georgia driveway, put a little extra weight on the accelerator of my Ford F150 just to get the heart pumping. And make sure it is still doing its job!
An 80's song comes over the radio and I instantly feel a sense of vigor and youth as memories flood my mind of wild, crazy, brave times.
When your heart weeps unexpectantly in a sense of grief for women you don't know but have heard their stories. It's a deep connection of the soul that can't be explained, just felt.
Shopping for the Kentucky Derby, which is on my bucket list. What else do you do at the mall?
When you meet a new friend in unexpected places....
Silence with a friend, knowing each other's thoughts, and unable to hold in the laughter any longer that when it comes out it is hard to stop. Laughter that makes you feel like a giddy school girl.
Stopping to look someone in the eye and really listen. Making time to laugh. Carving out space to play charades before bed, take a family walk, look your dog in the eye (they have a lot to say). Step out. Step up. Step back and get a new perspective.
Whatever it is, remember: Jesus came to give you Life! The thief comes to steal that life away.
Steve Wingfield says in his devotional Winning the Race Every Day - Keep Your Drive Alive:
"The world lives with the normal, but Jesus wants you to live above normal. It's normal to sin. It's normal to get angry. (frustrated, worried, overwhelmed) But Jesus saved you so that you will not be normal and so that you will display His character to the world around you. Live above normal today."
Don't just survive. Grow, Enrich, and Thrive.
Be ALIVE!!!
(in the way you know how)
*What does it mean to you to be ALIVE? Share that with me in the comment section below. I'd love to hear from you!
No comments:
Post a Comment