God of Hope

yesterday the main session message was on God's grace. today's message, again by alice matthews, was on our God of hope!

she focused on the story of Lazarus in john 11. there were too many gems of coolness in her message for me to remember and type all =b but here's what struck me the MOST:

1. God's love is so great and so wise that He allows us to go thru trials and suffering and to 'lose hope' in the things we depend on or trust in, so that we will ultimately turn to and find true hope in Him

2. God leads each one of us on a personal 'hope' journey - he doesn't expect us all to have the same ability to trust Him in the face of adversity. instead, He meets us where we are, and leads us one step further from where we stand.

i was amazed to see how Jesus led mary and martha on very different tracks in the things he said to them, even though they both started with the same phrase: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

to martha, who expressed a certain amount of trust and faith in Him (v22), he matter-of-factly told her a deep theological truth - that He was the ressurection, and the life; that whoever believed in Him would live. He knew that that was what martha needed to deal with the situation.

to mary, who fell at his feet weeping, He was 'deeply moved' and wept along with her. He empathised with her need at the point where she needed him most. He knew she needed His comfort more than any words of wisdom.

i was reminded that God really really knows how i feel and what is going through my mind, and what i REALLY need. and He will provide what i need at the right time in His own perfect way.

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the afternoon seminars were really good. i went for both slots today:

1. Girls just wanna have Fun-ds

- about support raising, as a single woman - the implications, joys and struggles...
- feel really inspired after seeing support raising as not just a means of asking people to partner with me, but it's really giving others an opportunity to invest in God's kingdom in tangible ways! (i'm NOT just saying that to get ur support. i really do mean it!)
- basically have a fresh new perspective and renewed passion for support raising and got some ideas to try out =)

2. Living large on a staff salary

- this was on how to make your dollar really stretch.
- a good talk for me - focusing on methods to save, give and budget. =) heh heh


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the night session was AWESOME AWESOME and i will blog about it more tomorrow cos i have to run now... hee...

thanks all for praying for me. i have so much to process and think and pray about... really thankful to God for bringing me here!