No, you did not get removed from the WOW email list. And yes, it has been four months since I have sent out a WOW newsletter. Ecclesiates 3:1 tells us, ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’. Well, thank the Lord for giving me time for the ‘activity’ of writing to you!
It seems like just last week we were gathered in Estes Park for the Quite Places Retreat. Oh what a sweet time we had with so many women as we basked in the presence of the Lord together. I heard several stories of transformed lives and renewed thinking. God also touched my heart very deeply. Even as I poured out in ministry, I was being filled by the Spirit. I was led to Isaiah 42 where I read:
“See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare.”
God is doing a new thing and I’m not sure what it is yet! He is doing a new thing in me, a new thing in our churches and He is definitley doing a new thing in our city and in the organization of Women of Worship.
Many women in this ministry have had their hearts stirred toward discipleship, shepharding and mentoring women who are hurting. It is no secret that far too many women have been hurt by painful events in their past. Unhealed and unforgiven areas of pain cause bitterness, anger, jealousy, shame, resentment and the inability to love completely. Past areas of pain can also lie to us and tell us we are less than who God says we are, causing an altered sense of our true identity.
God is calling us deeper, both as individuals and as an organization. We will continue to follow His call and offer opportunities not only to attend life changing conferences and worship events, but also provide followup for those events. Most sustained change and growth happens when we can share our heart with trusted people in a safe environment. We are exploring what this means for the future of WOW and we are praying for God’s leading in our upcoming events and city-wide Bible studies.
Our next conference follows in the steps of this ‘newness’. Rewriting Your Emotional Script is a conference designed for women to find hope and healing from the messages of their past. Author and speaker Becky Harling empowers women to embrace the emotional and spiritual vitality that is rightfully theirs in Jesus Christ. Based on the Beatitudes, the Conference includes four uniquely designed sessions that equip women with the skills to recognize and combat false messages and replace them with truth.
No matter where we have been, no matter what we have done, no matter what has been done to us, we have hope. We have the hope of complete physical, emotional and spiritual healing because we have the hope of Jesus.
I wrote this poem several years ago for a very good friend. I share it now, with you.
Hope Always…
Our hearts begin as perfect
When they’re born on that glorious day
Unblemished, shiny, golden, smooth
Oh if only they could stay that way.
Heartbreak here, disappointment there
Leaves a heart ripped, beaten and battered
We feel the pain will never ease
Can God heal a heart that’s been shattered?
Do we have a choice, what else can we do
But let our Father hold the pieces
His caring hands bind up our wounds
His love for us never ceases.
Though a heart may always bear the scars
Of loneliness, grief and rejection
God holds it in His tender care
In the comfort of His perfect protection.
It takes time to create a heart of gold
Refining it in the fire
‘Til its molded by The Craftsman’s hands
Before the sound of his heavenly choir.
Within you beats that Golden Heart
Held together by the scars of your past
You are able to love with a heart now whole
Could you imagine a love this vast?
Dare to feel, be courageous now
You will not be torn apart
For the Hands that will cradle your fearless love
Are the same Hands that reshaped your heart.
Begin your life from this day forward
Trusting you can be happy
For His prayer is inscribed on your Golden Heart
“Hope always. Love, Daddy.”
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,
for he who promised is faithful.
Heb 10:2
His worshiper,
Kathy
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