Wednesday, September 8, 2010

His Proposal 1

Weekend before last was one of the greatest weekends of my life. One I will think of on my deathbed. A long time ago, the Lord gave Tim and me a heart for college students. This started as studies in our home. Tim and I had Bible Studies for college students before we had children. Then I started having Bible Studies for girls and sharing everything I knew with them urging them to learn from my mistakes and live lives for the glory of God.
While I was sick, I really was taken out of ministry completely. I was home wondering if God had forgotten about me and begged him to heal me and let me serve Him again. He met me during those 4 years and taught me many things. One of those things was that being able to serve Him is a gift.
He healed me and began opening doors for me to speak to girls. I started doing conference calls for blog readers from home. Then, I started getting many emails from college girls so we decided to open our home for them to spend the weekend with us. You may remember THIS POST about that really fun weekend. God moved in the hearts of the girls and it was an AWESOME weekend. God especially moved in the heart of one girl from South Carolina named Mellette... Will talk more about her later.
So, I felt like the message of God's love and purity was worth the effort of doing another conference. This time in a Church. I called who I thought would be "The Dream Team" and everyone said yes to getting on board with what I believed God had put on my heart. I started praying about what God wanted me to teach on and the 3 of us (speakers) began having conference calls to discuss how in the world we were going to pull this off.
I prayed about a name and decided on "His Proposal". God specifically laid John 3:16 on my heart so I started studying.... and studying.... and studying. I was sleep-deprived with a newborn but stayed up late and got up early to continue studying this verse that I thought I knew but was rocking my world. I wrote and wrote and wrote and read and read and read. I also started studying everything I could find about what the Bible says about sex and holiness and marriage.
It was intense work but it blessed me so much.
I asked Elohim (Creator God) to help me be creative in sharing the gospel...
Then, the Lord began (piece by piece) to lay a drama on my heart. I am not creative so anything cool in the drama was from the Lord. There was much symbolism in it. Symbolism that I didn't understand at first but then it made beautiful sense to me.
I needed a wedding dress for the drama. I went to all the thrift stores in town looking for one. (I couldn't wear mine because I wasn't nursing last time I wore it ;). I couldn't find one that was pretty and fit so I asked the Lord to just bring me one. I knew this whole thing was His idea so I wouldn't have to wear a Goodwill ugly dress falling off of me with a broken zipper. I have been walking with the Lord long enough to know He gives perfect gifts... that fit.
So, one night, a girl brought a brand new $700 dress and veil with the tags on to my front door and said... "Use it for God's glory.... if it fits".
She left and I put on a dress that fit me PERFECTLY. I was in awe of how the Lord was going before me in this effort and doing everything to win the hearts of these girls. They truly were being "sought after".
We worked hard to prepare for this but the Lord claimed the victory long before we got there.

The day before the conference I decided I was too chicken to do what God was calling me to do.
I said, "I'm not going. I can't do it. This is too big. I am locking myself in my bathroom, Lord. I am in WAY OVER MY HEAD this time..." I went on and on about all the reasons why He had asked the wrong girl to be in a drama, speak before people, and lead this whole thing. Then, as clear as anything, I heard an inaudible voice speak to my heart and say...
"Will you dance with me? I'll lead. You follow".
I began to cry. I said, "Yes! Yes! I can do that!!". That changed everything. I couldn't wait to get there now. I knew my groom was waiting on me to dance. And when He dances with us- it is amazing. He doesn't need anything from me. He doesn't need my dumb speaking or dramas. He just wants a love relationship with me that produces glorious fruit.
So, I went. He showed up. He led and I followed and we danced in front of 100+people from all over the nation.
I can't act but did a drama. I have severe stage fright but spoke all weekend. It was AWEsome. I was in awe of the transforming power of God right before my eyes. I know that power because it transformed my heart of stone and made me a new creation that is still being transformed.
I saw girls in that room look TOTALLY different when they left. All due to the power of Agape love and the Word of God. Here are some pictures from the drama. You can watch the whole thing live in the post below.
That is Tim as Christ and Phil as "the enemy". Phil was the only one of us who knew how to act. He was so scary during rehearsals that I didn't even like rehearsing. Phil loves Jesus so was happy to be a part of the gospel drama even though he had to pretend to be evil.

I love these two pictures. They reflect powerful truth in MY personal walk with the Lord. It wasn't really hard play "the girl" since I am "the girl". We had prayed about what to write on those signs to reach hearts and the lady who made the signs for me decided on those six words.

Here is the panel of 5 cute, godly guys who answered their questions. Total hit.

I think the girls took the most notes during this session. ;)

Chase Griffith... remember this name. He will be famous. He is one of the most gifted musicians I have ever heard. He led worship along with Tiffany. God gave him to this ministry and to the girls as a gift. He is insanely talented and a worshiper.
When he played and sang "Blessed Assurance", I thought I must have had a heart attack and died and been in heaven.
It seriously blew me away.
Some pictures from worship. I didn't get to take pictures so I only have the few from my camera and the ones I snatched off facebook.
love these...


Tiffany rocks. She was created to do this. So beautiful up there and her voice is STUNNING! Helping these girls move toward God in worship and washing them with God's Word in song.
Little did she know her boyfriend was going to propose to her at the end of the conference!
HEEEE- HEEEEE! Heee!!! It is about the only secret I have ever kept! I was so excited I almost pee-peed in my pants the whole month before knowing it was coming!! I practically needed to wear Depends undergarments every time we talked before the conference.
I love Tiffany. I call her my delight. She is truly delightful.
She will most likely be famous soon too.



Beautiful girls who love Jesus are the BEST!! Loving Jesus MAKES them beautiful.
God's love captured them! YAY!!!










That is Lisa ( a mentor of mine) on the left. Lisa is like a momma to all of us and keeps me IN LINE. She is no nonsense about following Jesus. You either get on the train or get left. She is such a resource to all of us. We are all taking notes when she talks.
Ok, now back to Mellette. God did a huge work in Mellette's heart. She understood the gospel and it has radically changed her life. She is a powerhouse speaker for young girls.
I am so proud of her and her life constantly shows me the power of the gospel in a heart. She is amazing. She is single... but not for long. Can't wait to see God's fairytale for her! God is currently batting 1000 in writing love stories for the girls who trust Him for marriage. Keep your eyes on Mellette, girls. If you question the power of God to bring a godly husband, just watch what happens in Mellette's life. I can't wait!! She may have her own TV show. The godly guys will be lining up for her! She is a total catch and guys are starting to figure that out.

But, there will be one who is different.

He will recognize her and she will recognize him. ;) (Romans 12:1,2)
moowaaahaahaaa! I can't wait!!!!

Lisa+Tiffany+Mellette+Tim and the band+the counselors+the behind-the-scenes workers+prayer warriors=
THE.
DREAM.
TEAM.















I may have pee-peed in my pants during this. If only you could have seen us sneak him in and me pushing him on stage from behind the black curtain!! I lost my mind for a few minutes. I was SO excited.
He said, "I could sit here and tell you all the reasons I love you and how I think you are beautiful but you have been teaching the girls all weekend what to do while they wait. Well, I am here to tell you one thing.... (gets down on one knee)... you don't have to wait anymore! Will you marry me?"
BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAHHAAAAAHAAA! Everybody was crying! Even the big tough guys in the band! It was CLASSIC GOD! The girls got to see Tiffany's God fairytale unfold before their eyes!





I saw the power of God that weekend. It was amazing. Serving God with Tim is the coolest thing we have done together! Way better than date nights watching some silly movie. These are our new "date nights". I have so much respect for my husband. I am so thankful God brought me a godly man to lead me and serve with! What a gift He is!!!
Almost all the feedback from the girls I got said the same thing, "I was overwhelmed by God's love for me".
That was exactly what we prayed would happen!
I could write and write but I have a cute guy waiting on me to come to bed. If you want to know more about it, you will have to come to the next one!
I have also had a few rough days...
I fell down some steps while holding Hope on Sunday and thought I broke my tailbone. I am doing better but have been going through a lot emotionally (worrying about 1 million things) and because of my bruised hiney. I will make a full recovery though- Praise God!


***Finally, I would like to announce the dates for
His Proposal 2.
It will be Oct 29, 30 in Knoxville Tennessee at Calvary Chapel Knoxville.
There are 300 seats and we are praying God fills them all. The band is reason enough to come but the message will change your life. If you know a young girl who needs to know how much God loves her, get her there!
John 3:16 has changed my life and is changing many others!
Come see us in Knoxville for an experience with God you won't forget.

Love and miss you all!

4 comments:

Victoria Brunner said...

AMEN STEPH
goodness you have me in tears at 11:30
I'm so OVERJOYED these photos came in use FOR GOD'S GLORY
Thank you so much for renewing my love in God and helping me realize the true heights of how much He loves me. Though I will never fully comprehend the sunday after the conference I went to church and found myself in tears to the song "Oh How He Loves Us" in that moment I had a taste of HOW MUCH HE LOVES ME it overwhelms, fills, and makes me want to live for all He wants me to be. THANK YOU STEPH bless you!

Anonymous said...

Amen sista! We are spreading the word down here in SC. Can't wait until the next one!

Heather said...

So cool. SO cool what you all are doing ... !!!

Melanie said...

It sounds like it was over the top fantastic!! I'm so thrilled to have been able to hear about it and pray for you. I can tell God showed up and worked His magic! I love your excitement for this ministry, for these girls and most of all for your savior!
Melanie, Pure Freedom Ministries