Deeper Still Conference

The conference was wonderful! 3 ladies spoke...Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer, and Beth Moore. Also there was a special guest- Kelly Minter.

Kay spoke on Friday night about walking among the pieces of shattered dreams and how to have peace, purpose and strength through those times. She taught from 2 Peter. She really pushed the point of knowing God's truth for yourself, not just believe what someone else tells you to believe but knowing His Word for yourself. She posed the question...Are you having trouble making time to dig into God's word? Are you reading others' writings or God's word? So much of our time we spend reading the writings of humans and not taking time to read from the most important book, the book of Truth. Often times, we feel shaken when there are times of trouble or sometimes wonder why we can't hear God, we pray but don't hear Him. I think sometimes we want this loud voice to speak to us and tell us what to do, but I don't really think that would be best for us. We want answers and understanding but sometimes we can be pretty lazy, just wanting God to bring it to us on a silver platter. Moreover, God desires for us to press into Him. Where do we meet Him? In His Word! We gain so much through His Word about who He is, what He can do and the hope and encouragement that he can give us. The value of knowledge of the Truth is imperative to our spiritual walk with God!

Priscilla was up next and it was all about faith. Her main point was...God has placed many promises in our reach but not in our hands. We must have faith and reach out and get it. God is compelling us into that kind of faith that is unknown and risky. The kind of faith where you put yourself into a place where God has to come through. She taught from 2 Kings. God wants us to give Him our all, not just a portion. Stepping out on faith means not having all the answers and directions you need. He doesn't want us to be self-reliant rather He wants us to be God-reliant. Stepping out in faith means you saying yes to God, obeying Him, even when you can't see the whole picture. That there is a margin that is unknown to you, but God will be the one to fill that in. All we have to do is take that first step, obey and God will help lead us through each step after that. We have doubt, fear and think that it is just not logical and that is what keeps us from giving God our all. However, if we do it...the treasure is in the journey as we wait for the direction from our God. I could really relate to this, as hard as the journey we have been on has been, God has been so faithful, loving and patient with me as I would trust him for whatever we needed.

Lastly, Beth spoke. Her main point was we are blessed! Blessed! BLESSED! We are blessed because we know Him and know that we need Him. I truly loved her message because sometimes we can be so focused on what we don't have or how we are suffering that we forget to see what we do have. She taught on Matthew 5. God desires to display His Work through our lives and for that we are blessed!

Kelly, did a little devotion on Saturday morning that tied in with Kay's message. During Kay's message she smashed a piece of pottery to be a visual of our lives when our dreams are shattered into pieces. Kelly tied it in, that when are lives are shattered...rubble remains. We can do 2 things with it. Leave it as it is...a mess in total destruction, or use the rubble to rebuild. In order to rebuild, we have to look at the rubble in our life and see what is still good and can be reused and what is no good and needs to go.

Needless to say, I loved the 2 days. I was by myself, but for that, it was much more enjoyable. I could just focus on God, reflect on Who He is and how much I love my Father!