Dear friends,
Good afternoon and welcome to Women of Peace blog site.
I have exciting news today and I want to share it with you in the form it came to me. I received a letter from my friend, DeDe, who was in the same Retreat in Daily Life (RIDL) group that I was for the past six months and also participated in the Women of Peace Retreat Day in March.
She's the “woman of peace” for today. I witnessed her transformation that she describes below and it was awesome to behold. DeDe was set free through RIDL and the Women of Peace retreat by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here’s what she wrote this morning:
"Good Morning my precious Sister in Christ!!
I tell you the truth, after last night, I feel like a bird that has been set free to soar the heights of heaven. HALLELUJAH.
The “Harbor of Peace” posting on your blog site was such a tremendous anchor for me yesterday. Work has been extremely upsetting for me since last week and this helped me to focus on what is necessary.
Another interesting thing that God is doing concerns the material I brought home from the retreat with you. Sunday, as I was thinking about RIDL coming to an end, I was drawn to go back through the booklet and review my notes. As I did, God stirred my heart to use it as a study and led me specifically to the "ATTRIBUTES of a Woman of Peace."
http://www.becomingwomenofpeace.com/2011/02/attributes-of-peace.html
I slowly drank in each one listed, thinking to myself that certain ones would be good to focus on. The one that I wanted to skip over is the attribute that the Holy Spirit would not let my eyes discard. And this is it – DRINKING NEW WINE.
The Holy Spirit instructed me to be quiet and meditate on that phrase – “do not try to figure out what it means or what God might be wanting to say to you…forget everything you were taught, every scene you are recalling, and be quiet. When I told him I was a bit afraid and apprehensive-afraid of the unknown- he said it was unknown to me, but it is not “unknown to God, now, is it?”
As I sat quietly this came to me:
Open wide your mouth,
Lift high your arms,
I am doing a new thing in you.
I have spoken it,
And it will come to pass.
You will go out with joy.
The mountains and the hills shall
Clap their hands;
The birds shall sing for joy.
For the Lord has made something old
New again.
The Lord will allow his glory to shine;
The Lord has done it.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
There is none like Him in all the earth.
Then when I asked the Lord how long I was to meditate on this phrase, He told me until he tells me the next step. What a humbling experience for me.
I pray your day is penetrated with the peace of God that passes all understanding.
Always,
DeDe"
My spontaneous response to DeDe:
Wow! First of all, I mean it—I rejoice that you have been set free! The glory of God is all over you. And it’s so exciting for me to witness. God wants that for all his people.
Now you can go forth, DeDe, with new gifts for others because you have gained the victory. Like a marathon runner you ran the race and came to the finish line—at least for that marathon. J
God, our Father, draws all of us because he wants to touch us and make us whole. Give glory to Him!