Last week, I had the privilege of attending a conference called “Operation Train Up a Woman.” As always, being around other women who are committed to the Great Commandment and Great Commission is electrifying. (And though I’m not the “sappy” type, my heart was borderline bursting from being with women so meaningful in my life who I do not get to see very often because of distance).
We were at this conference because one woman found a spiritually hungry woman and taught that woman how to follow Jesus, including, how to help another hungry woman. The process continued. And there we all were! Not only that, women were there who represented even more women making disciples in other cities across the country!! Amazing! These women are not making the headlines, but their impact is spanning generations.
Robert Coleman in Master Plan of Evangelism says this, “We must decide where we want our ministry to count – in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of our lives in a few chosen people who will carry on our work after we are gone. Really it is a question of which generation we are living for.” (emphasis mine)
My first take-away was to stay focused on “seeing” the women around me. Jesus really did model the way for us to reach the world: discipleship. He spent the majority of his time with 12 men who He trained. He 1) called them 2) to be with him 3) so that He might send them out (see Mark 3:14). This never means we neglect the many who may need our help, but the focus remains on the few who are faithful, available, and teachable to the things of God, including discipleship. These women will join us on the battlefield, participating in God’s Kingdom on earth.
Another take-away was being reminded how intricate God works. I got to witness women who were strangers with each other before the conference behaving as if they had known each other for years. Lives were impacted by divine meetings between women. This is because God not only cared about our collective meeting to hear biblical truth, but He also cared about individual women and their lives.
One story involves my 7-hour drive to the conference. One woman planned to ride with me a few months ago. One woman literally got redirected to my city on her flight home to avoid hurricane Dorian. And another woman took a last minute conference ticket just a few days before we left! These 3 women did not know each other before they got put in a car for 7 hours, but I have no doubt the car ride was God ordained. The conversation was just a warm-up for the conference ahead.
Another story involves a woman who was part of the prayer effort over the conference. She received a list of a few names, women who would attend the conference. During the conference, her life would intersect in a miraculous way with one of the women who just happened to be on her prayer card. This is out of approximately 250 women! God is on the move to use women to be part of other women’s stories of redemption.
This makes sense of course. The woman at the well in John 4 immediately goes and tells her town about Jesus. They come to know Him as the Messiah too. Redemption does not stop with us, it flows through us to others.
One of my “aha!” moments was during a demonstration done at the conference. The demonstration included a common, yet incomplete way we communicate the gospel/salvation. This incomplete way communicated that salvation was like a commodity we obtain and can put on the side. However, the more complete way that was demonstrated communicated that the Gospel is a covenant.
The part about covenant was not the new part. God only operates inside of covenant. BUT what struck me so hard was the demonstration of this in a Gospel presentation. As it was being demonstrated, it reminded me of seeing people exchange VOWS at a wedding! I was thinking, “Of course! Jesus offered us the new covenant. And a covenant includes vows!” The demonstration made so much more sense! Here is part of what was said:
“I am Jesus, your Lord and Savior. I want you to know My Father and I want to have an eternal relationship with you, but you need to know it will require the exchange of your life for Mine because I will become your new identity, your new way of living and will re-purpose your work on the earth. I will be saving you through this relationship, so it will require a constant crucifixion on your part of who you are, but I will be your constant Resurrection, bringing to life the woman you were meant to be.”
The woman agreed and the demonstration included “Jesus” guiding the woman to impact other women. It was an awesome demonstration. (Thank you!) And it does not stop there. Just because God wanted to make sure I got that in my head, He shared this verse with me the very next day during my quiet time with Him:
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and perform your vows to the Most High”
(Psalm 50:14; emphasis mine).
How awesome right? Again, the intricate God. A collective demonstration and an individual quiet time solidified a truth I needed to internalize. In turn, I hope to be better equipped to communicate this truth to other women as well.
If you were also at the conference, please feel free to leave a comment on any of your take-aways too! And even if you weren’t, I hope this post communicated something encouraging and/or challenging to you from some of my thoughts on the weekend!
By the River Together 