Light

By: Cindy Pentecost 

What a power filled weekend Freedom 2012 was.  As I look back at each event that took place, each one seems to directly have the Hand of God over it. 

We began with the live webcast and heard such exciting testimonies from three of our Success from Home winners and once that was finished we went into a first for us.  We enjoyed a time of worship and praise together.  The Spirit that moved into the room and unified our hearts was very special and emotions were felt by all of us.

So much prayer and hard work went into the planning of every detail that as each event unfolded it seemed to be like a puzzle where all the parts were being added one at a time and finally by the end of Saturday we could all see the big picture.  As each of you go back into your routines we are keeping you in our prayers.  

We know that while you were still at the conference the excitement, energy, planning and dreaming was easy.  To be focused and single minded did not have the barriers that being home again bring. Now that we are no longer surrounded by one another we must apply this truth:

“You have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away (and to enjoy to the full) what is promised.” – Hebrews 10:36

I shared on Thursday night how God will use the very hard things in life to bring us into His very best plan for us.  He has a purpose for allowing trials to come.  We then have a choice in aligning our attitudes to look for the good and believe in God’s sovereignty.  God will never do anything that cannot be used for our good.

“Trials that often come into a Christian’s life are the fulfillment of God’s gracious purpose as He seeks to make us the sort of person He planned for us to be when He first thought of us.  Like a sculptor, He begins with a lump of marble.  But He has in mind a picture of what He intends to create.  He breaks, cracks, chisels, and polishes until one day there emerges His vision… At the moment, His sculpture of us is incomplete; God has not finished with us.” – Billy Graham

God is in the age old habit of turning the unlikeliest people into sources of light.  Our job is to stay plugged in to the source of light and let HIM flow through us, not to gleam under our own power.  When we go day in and day out in our own strength we end up burned out, weary, and unbalanced.  Our lights (the message of the opportunity God has placed in your hands) shine when we accept with thanks the gift of whom we are—our talents, our experiences, our energies and possibilities.  Our lights shine when we turn our focus outside of ourselves, our talents, our experiences, our energies and possibilities and choose to serve others.  Our lights shine when we listen to God and say YES to HIM—yes to the possibility of shining, even when we are not sure how it is going to happen.

We are real people, praying for real results.  For any of this to happen, we have to stay connected to the Source of Light through prayer, meditation on scripture, and worship the One from whom all blessings flow!

It is a beautiful possibility for this bright new year.  Let’s stay plugged in and be sure to shine.

“Jesus looked at them intently and said, ‘Humanly speaking, it is impossible.  But not with God.  Everything is possible with God.’” – Mark 10:27

Blessings, Cindy