Lisa Harper, Will you join me for dinner?

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What is so exciting about a women’s retreat? No laundry. No grocery shopping. No meal planning. No demands. A night away. Just women and Jesus. Learning. Growing. Digging. Exposing. Healing. Renewing. DINING. 

Three weeks ago I was inspired to buy four tickets to the LifeWay Abundance conference in Daytona Beach. (Not to mention, the graphics for the Abundance invitation were so stinkin’ amazing that my graphic design gene went into overdrive!) I bought four tickets, secured one hotel room, and prayed who I would invite. The Lord put my daughter, Daley, on my heart. She is a senior in high school and if you are a mom who has experienced the life of “getting-into-college,” you know that daughters need getaways. She grabbed two of her friends, and we headed to Daytona Beach with high anticipation how the Lord would touch our hearts. And touch He did!

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Friday night opened with the worship music of Christy Knockels.

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The large convention center suddenly felt small as we lifted our voices to worship our Creator. Her spirit was real and sweet and vulnerable as she led us into praising the One we were there to learn more about.  

With her joyful demeanor, Lisa Harper was our Emcee for the weekend. Her wisdom of Scripture combined with her lovable sense of humor captured our attention to grow deeper in relationship with Jesus. While I can’t possibly describe all the messages spoken, I can give a tiny recap of what the Lord showed me through these 5 women and one man. I hope you will be encouraged, too.

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Can I just say that I just want to sit with Lisa for hours on end? She is warm and friendly and genuine and oh, so wise. Her knowledge of Scripture goes deeper than intellectual knowledge. Her life-engaging and funny stories open up a deeper and more personal way to experience God’s Word. She gave the personal invitation for all of us to know Jesus basing her passage on Mark 13—not the easiest of passages. But with grace and love, Lisa captured our hearts that while things may seem out of control in our world right now, these are the birth pains that are inviting Jesus back. He will be coming IN the cloud to come and gather His bride. He is running down the aisle to find us. Have we surrendered our lives to the Kingship of Christ? He has offered us ABUNDANT life. Lisa, will you please join me for dinner? I’ll cook.

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Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams

th-3Lisa interviewed Raechel and Amanda of She Reads Truth. What I loved about this interview was that Lisa did not take the ordinary “Tell us about She Reads Truth” and “What are you promoting now” kind of approach. Lisa asked questions such as “Who are your mentors, and what is God teaching you right now?” We felt a living room sense of who these women were, their hearts for the Lord, and their mission to ignite a passion for women to know God’s Word on a daily basis. I wish Raechel could have seen me nodding my head when she told us that it is imperative to be in the Word SEPARATE from studying God’s Word for work. I get that. When you are writing a Bible Study you need to be in one that’s not your own. I marched right outside to the lobby and bought Lisa Harper’s study of Hebrews. I can’t wait to have my daily QT’s. Raechel and Amanda, you are invited for dinner, too, and, btw I bought Open Your Bible!

Jefferson Bethke-

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LifeWay through a wrench in the conference and invited a  . . . man. Oh good gracious. In fact, I think he spoke faster than any woman I have ever talked to! But his words were rich and studied and thought through and marinated on and delighted in. Jefferson is a man who desires not only to know God’s Word in his head but also to experience them in his heart. He called us to a deeper intimacy with Jesus. He taught us the definition of Torah obedience and asked this question: Do you want to walk in the knowledge of just knowing Biblical answers or do you want intimacy with Jesus? If relationship is just a mental assent, then we will miss the Jesus we are looking for. We need to SIT at the table with Jesus and dine, building on intimacy.

His message had a lasting value I was not aware of until I was in Sunday school this past Sunday. We were studying Mark 9:33-39. The disciples are arguing about who is the greatest when Jesus takes a child in His arms and says whoever welcomes these little children welcomes Me. It was the perfect example of Jefferson’s message. Are we about making sure we check off all the how-to’s to be a good Christian, the rules on how to be greater, OR are we drawn into an intimacy with Jesus where we can sit on His lap and be loved. Thank you Jefferson. Can you come for dinner, too?

Kelly Minter –

Kelly started us out at the Healing Pool where Jesus SAW the man who had been an invalid for 39 years in John 5:1-8. While I have read this story many times, her fresh perspective rained down on my soul. It was a message I needed to hear.

The pool represented an abundance of life, but the pool also represented a misconception—If ONLY we can get to that pool, THEN I will be healed. She asked the audience, “What pool are you trying to get to that you think will heal you? And, who are you trusting to get you there?” My heart burned within me. When the pool becomes our object of worship, will never see Jesus standing right beside us. The problem is, the pool will never fully satisfy, and we can never try hard enough to get there. Only Jesus can heal us. He is the only one that can forgive us of our sin. Jesus’ power trumps any pitiful pool seeking. We will get complete healing in Jesus name. Kelly, will you bring the homemade pasta to dinner? You can even bring the coat hangers.

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Lysa TerKeurst-

Lysa closed us out with the dynamic reminder that humility has power. She taught from 1 Samuel 25:1-44. With wisdom and purpose, she unpacked the Word line by line and taught us about ABUNDANT LIVING through the lens of David, Nabal, and Abigail. Because Nabal refused David’s request for food, he was planning to derail his future and kill all of Nabal’s men—until Abigail shows up with abundance. She brought more than David first sought – wine and bread. She brought 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisin, and 200 pressed fig cakes. All added up to feed 600 men. Smart? I think so.

Lysa’s point – our perspective gets blown out of proportion when we take our eyes off the Master. While David was getting his panties in a wad (Annie’s rendition, not Lysas) because Nabel did not meet his request, Abigail was loading up her donkey bringing abundant offering and abundant wisdom to the situation. We can’t wait for abundance to be brought to us, we have to bring it to the table. We have to tap into the Holy Spirit fruit of love, joy peace, patience, . . . self-control.

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This is going to be one heck of a dinner party! It’s funny, I never intended this blog entry to be about having a dinner party. But isn’t it interesting that Jesus’ last time with His disciples was at a table sharing intimacy and abundance.

I would encourage everyone, to read these passages and let them minister to you. I would also encourage you to look up all these amazing women, and man, to find out about their ministries. We are all a part of God’s work and God’s kingdom here and now. We all have different needs. We all are in different stages of life. But we all serve one Master. Let’s keep our eyes on Him today and learn to live in this Abundance.

Thank you LifeWay for putting on such an incredible conference. Thank you for all the behind the scenes, hard work, and beautiful invitation. Thank you also for choosing these speakers. They love Jesus and because they are full of Him –their abundance flows over.

Dinner anyone?

If you are interested in attending the Abundance Conferences, CLICK Here to see the schedules. It’s abundantly WORTH every minute.  Click here to see the video!

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