Due Date!

our first major event is less than a week away! it's starting to feel like that last week before a baby is due. i am SO excited for it to be here, to see what it will look like, and to experience it in its fullest. on the other hand, i'm SO ready for the 'pregnancy' to be over! i feel like there is something i'm forgetting, there is a lot to do before it gets here, and 'what have i gotten myself into?!?!'

when i was pregnant with my twins (my first pregnancy), i read books to see about their development, bought all sorts of baby stuff (x2), and did all the things i knew of to take care of myself during the pregnancy. about a week before i was due to deliver, i flew into a panic realizing i'd done all this stuff, but had no clue on what to do after they arrived! i didn't read any of the new baby books that told me what happened when they came out. i still remember that feeling of, 'what? they're letting me take these two babies home?' and a few hours later, 'i'm at home with two babies. what are we supposed to do with them now?'

well, i haven't run into any books that tell me what to do in this situation with a retreat full of women staring me down. i do know that God has been in this every step of the way, and He has the weekend planned out. i may not know what it will look like or what will happen, but i do know that God has 'shown up' in the planning in ways i never could've imagined. i'm confident that He will do that and more in the actual retreat next weekend.

Here is my prayer specifically for the women who are participating in the retreat next weekend (from Ephesians 3):

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Jen Chang

loveSTRONG ministries

Communications Director

www.lovestrongministries.com

The Process is the Point

i'm not sure if it was mentioned before, but a couple of us are reading "sun stand still" by steven furtick. i'm not even sure of how to summarize the premise of the book, but to say that it's about praying your faith into action. one of the subtitles in chapter 18 is 'the process is the point.' here is the opening paragraph of that:

"Too many people forget the promise and forfeit the payoff because they
faint in the process. It's human nature to want to skip straight from the
promise to the payoff. Who doesn't want to get right to the good
stuff? But the process is invaluable. The process is a time of
strengthening. The process is the place where you lay down your pride and
learn to rely totally on God. Most importantly, the process is the way we
grow to know God. And that's really the whole point."

wow!!! i don't think that i need to write anything more. but i will. i think that lisa, cory, jeni and i can all attest to this as a truth. we have learned so much about God, about our own faith, and about how important the process is. we aren't there yet - by any means! we haven't even made it to retreat, let alone through it and onto the next phase. we don't really even know what that means. we do know that we can't go back. we have been called to something greater than any of us could do on our own.

i'm yet again amazed at what God has taught me through the process. honestly, i haven't even really thought about what's going to happen at retreat on a personal level for myself or those attending. i'm not sure if it makes sense, but it feels like the retreat is just a small byproduct of the process. i have the feeling that it's going to be way more than that, though! thank you, God for your faithfulness to us and for doing more than we can ask or imagine!

Jen Chang

loveSTRONG ministries

Communications Director

www.lovestrongministries.com