These are the days....

Okay, so .... I haven't posted since .... Attended the Grace Walk Conference in Waterloo this weekend. See prior post about this. What can I say....it was a great review of some truths that I have accepted and a wonderful time to prepare for an upcoming study of these very truths that were reviewed at this conference. One very exciting thing to come out of the conference was that new life in Christ was accepted by one attending. Hallelujah! He uses all venues to bring those He so chooses unto Himself at His appointed time. To think that this new believer starts their journey with a strong message of who they now are in Christ...what that identity is and looks like and how God will reveal all to them as they just learn to fully trust in Christ who is their Life, was just truly joy unspeakable. Another truly wonderful part of this time was being able to share this experience with my two daughters and their friend who came along for the purposes of "shopping" and having a short pre-winter weekend get-away. Three 16 year old girls and me....what a time was had by all. :) It never fails to amaze me how the minds of teenage girls work and this time with them, out of the normal routines, provided joy unspeakable to me as well. It was a time to share, a time to listen and a time to watch as every detail and every discussion was an opportunity for Him to teach us at the very place we are....what He is doing and who He is and how that is lived out in our lives wherever we are. So very cool and I am glad that He allowed me this time to see all of that! We stayed at a very nice Inn just outside of St. Jacobs and I would love to return to this area a little earlier in the fall another time to breathe in the uniqueness and beauty that exhibits itself there. Again, I digress. What I really wanted to post was that as I caught up with the things at home after a very long...nap...I read the news release about Ted Haggard. This just reminded me of how precious this life in Christ is and how when one focusses on self and not on Him....no matter who you are...no matter where you are.... how that can change your life, how you must live with the consequences of failing to look to Jesus who is the very Life you live if you know Him....really know Him. We who know what our true identity in Christ is ....know that the flesh can rise up in a man...or a woman...and that has nothing to do with who that man or woman is in Christ....and only God knows the heart of this man... but the enemy is chuckling today....what a blow to the 'evangelical' circles....another broken life .... we can accept this and know that yep, we all can allow these things to interfere with our relationship with Christ and know that it is not anything to do with who we are in Christ...that this is brokenness in raw form....and we all come to that place and sometimes over and over again....we have all been there in one form or another...and how Haggard responds is entirely about His relationship with Christ but it hurts 'the church', and gives ammunition to those who do not know .....and that makes my heart ache for this man....for his family....for all who are brought to their knees ....because of the flesh....because of self....whatever you want to call it....and for all those who turn away from 'the church' because of this. We know that this brokenness is sometimes not only necessary but beneficial.....and yet this shakes us still.....But God, will work this for His good .....idols of man are tumbling down....and God is still God and we are not.....and He is still on the Throne. May He take the Haggard family and the Haggard 'followers' through this time of brokenness.