The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has send me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor...
We're back from our trip to NYC for the Extreme Makeover weekend and it was amazing. We witnessed first hand the mission of For the Girls International in action!! On May 15th women took off for New York City with a purpose. To bring hope and healing to those in need. Cynda and I were in awe to see the variety of God-given gifts that were represented in the group.
The women in the shelter that we visited were hesitant at first but once they sensed the love coming their way they opened up and some beautiful connections were made. Some of them told us that for the first time in a long time they felt hope again. Others committed to renewing their relationship with their heavenly Father that discouragement had robbed them of. They allowed us to pamper them and pray with them and welcomed the encouragement offered to them from the ladies on our team.
Many of the women that traveled with us told us that the most surprising aspect of the weekend was the work that God did inside their own hearts. They came prepared to minister and ended up being blessed themselves. One woman shared with me her own shock at the depth of compassion that she didn't even know she possessed! She told us that as she massaged and soaked the feet of the women she felt God's love supernaturally flowing through her. As the women thanked her for scrubbing their feet I heard her resisting and saying, "no, thank you for allowing me to serve you".
It was a beautiful scene watching women connecting with women...telling and listening to each other's stories.
Saturday evening a smaller group of us went to a drug and alcohol recovery house in Brooklyn. Some of the women on our team shared their testimonies of how God delivered them from the grip of substance abuse. Many of these women in the program are at their rock bottom but were strengthened to hear how the grace of God had seen someone else through. We could see them grab onto the hope that they too would come through this chapter of their life stronger and free.
Freedom was the word of the weekend. Freedom from the chains of the past that would try to anchor us and immobilize us. Freedom from our own complacency in the face of the great needs all around us.
Greater things are yet to come...Greater things are yet to be done...
This is only the beginning!!
1 Corinthians 2:9
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him..."
There is NO ONE like our God!!
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