In a large auditorium after a women’s conference, ladies were filing out as music pumped energetically through the building. The excitement in the air struck a stark contrast with the words coming from Brianna’s mouth. A new mother, she had stayed behind to talk to me, painfully unraveling the nightmare she was living. She was…
Play With Fire: Crying Out
For our God is a consuming fire. — Hebrews 12:29 ESV During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and He remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac…
Play With Fire: The Holy Spirit and the Abundant Life
Holy Spirit On the final day of the retreat, the prayer team called my mom to the front of the room. One of the leaders pushed her forward in her wheelchair, and the women placed their hands on her body and began to pray. In a beautiful moment of spontaneity, women from all over the auditorium got to their feet,…
Play With Fire: Surrender
I was at a point of capitulation and desperation. I lay on my bed in the quiet of my room (the room in my parents’ house that was mine in high school, and which I moved back into as an adult) and cried. This was my white flag moment, my moment of surrender. The tears…
God Hears
The second night of the retreat, the auditorium was packed for the evening session. Kathy (the speaker) taught from the book of Ephesians about faith and being rooted in God’s word. At the end of her teaching, she invited the worship team to lead us in a time of worship and waiting. Waiting, she said,…