FPT (Front Porch Therapy): Women Of Faith 2012 part 2

Alright here are my notes. As always, they may not flow as well as the speakers did. I am just not a speed writer and I don't feel like I need to collect every word. I hope that something I collected helps you with some thought that has been following you.

Our God is Stronger
Pray for us
Isaiah 43 - I am doing a new thing

Ken Davis was our first speaker of the weekend. We laughed and cried with him.

Minnesota is filled with a robust people.
He was born in Virginia, MN. He remembers the local saunas where you got all hot and sweaty and then jumped through a hole in the ice. He also remembers his dad telling him to never stick his tongue to the flag pole. He never thought of doing that before so there must be something magical about it....his tongue is still there today.
He share with us his new book Fully Alive. He asked the crowd if we wanted to live. There was almost no response. I think we were waiting for the follow-up question. Then he asked again and the auditorium reverberated with a "YES".
He shared pictures of him through the years and shared with us what each stage of life meant to him.
He was bullied in high school.
He shared a picture of him looking very suave in a pirate shirt and this modeling pose. He called this the idiot stage and told us not to "oooo" at it. It's the stage of life where you are searching for self worth and acceptance. You want to find value. You are not here by accident.
Then comes the confused stage of life where you spend more time looking for the tool instead of doing the work. You end up doing the air port macarena when leaving anywhere to make sure that you have everything. You need to do the shimmy at the end to take account for what's in your pockets.
He thinks the best place to keep your car keys is in the ignition because if you find the car, you find the keys. You can't lose the car in the couch cushions.
What is God going to do today?
1. Believe that God is the author of joy. He's the one that created everything.
He shared that there are some Christians out there that don't act like God created joy. He said that some need to send missionaries to their face and let it know about it.
Satan attacks everything on Sunday which is why your kids act up as much as they do.
"I find great joy that you won't always be 19." There was a young girl in the front row who was really paying attention to him speaking. It was a very touching and funny back and forth between them.
2. Believe with all your heart.
Perfection is not a requirement
He shared with us about his experience running a triathlon. He came in second, in his age group, there were only two in his age group. But he finished and he was proud of that fact. He pushed through and left nothing on the road.
3. God is good all the time.
It comes down to relationships so lighten up.
As long as Moses kept his hands up, there was a way across the water.

Cece Winans came out and sang to us and with us. I love it when the singers pull the headset out of their ear so that they can hear all the women sing. It is an amazing sound to hear.

She shared the story of the woman with the alabaster box. The woman who entered where she wasn't accepted because she needed to bathe Jesus's feet with her tears, dry them with her hair, and anoint them with the oil in her alabaster box.
He takes all of your attention. Jesus focuses on you at that moment just as he did the women. She was the only one that mattered at that moment.

Shelia Walsh was our next speaker.

Romans 12 (and again I had a God-moment because I'm studying Romans 12 on Thursday mornings)
Paul was speaking to people who lived under the law all of their lives.
May I introduce you to Grace verses 1 and 2: Jesus changes everything.
Until kindergarten you dictate who comes in and out of your children's lives. Then you send them off to school and you lose some control of their influences.
God is in control all of the time.
You can't just disappear as a mom, you have to be there all of the time.
Felt like she was something wrong. Thought that nobody's coming to get me.
We are not made for survival or existence but life.
Zaccheaus was curious and just wanted to watch. Jesus wanted to have dinner at his house.
Luke 19:10 - came to seek and to save these lost/ruined people
Bummer lambs: the lambs that the mothers reject and the shepherd takes home, nurses to health, and then returns them to the flock. These lambs don't just believe in the shepherd, they know his kindness and love.
No matter who wins this election, our hope will never be in the White House. Our hope is in Jesus.
This is not our home, we are aliens in a strangeland (which took me back to a sermon I heard recently and was really inspired by)
The lie of the enemy is that you are not enough.
Luke 4 - Jesus was baptized. He was led by the spirit to the wilderness. We were only told about the last three temptations. Jesus simply quoted the Bible in order to defeat Satan.
Conviction draws you closer to God, condemnation takes you away.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
John 16:33
Hebrews 13:5
2 Corinthians 12:9
John 14:27
Peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ.
God is calling us to grow up.