Up Close and Personal

Last night I came away from women’s ministry empowered, provoked, exposed and challenged. God got up close and personal with us and the magnifying glass was placed on our hearts exposing our issues, fears, triumphs, hopes and dreams. What a sight to behold! We were amazed at what we saw and also shocked at the things we saw in our own hearts.

We gathered together as women of different nationalities, women of different age, of different walks of life and women of different faith levels. Mothers, daughters, sisters, friends. A kaleidoscope of diversity in every sense of the word, yet when sat together and shared on the things that pressed, weighed and were carried in our hearts the differences dissolved away as we realised that these things are carried by all women and are the concerns, issues and hopes of women universally.

Examples that came up included a desire for adventure, a desire to be closer to God and to know his plans for our life, a desire for the welfare and salvation of family, a desire to be intimate and close to God. Some of the things that seemed to be clogging up the arteries of our hearts and if left unattended would lead to cardiac arrest included: fear, insecurity, worry, anger, and unforgiveness.

We were challenged to purge the negative things that dwelled within our hearts that came out of experience, out of situation, out of the wrong things spoken over us as children and were challenged to see ourselves the way God see’s us. We were challenged to change our perspective by adopting God’s perspective.

We were all created fearfully and wonderfully and before experience and situation came in and altered our view on ourselves and the world we were already fashioned into women of influence and were created for destiny and purpose. We were challenged to reacquaint ourselves with that woman and throw out the things in our hearts that kept us from being that “ultimate woman God has created us to be”.

I looked around the room and marvelled as these women readily ripped open their chests and let the open heart surgery begin. Women were allowing themselves to be broken and as we left we were challenged to continue to allow this breaking to occur so that God could give us a new heart and a new spirit….HIS.
Ezekiel 36:26, 27
26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
20that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.