3rd Time is a Charm

36 eggs
+2 lbs. of sausage
+2 lbs. of bacon
+2 lbs. of lunch meat
+ 1.5 cases of water
+ 2 cases of Gatorade
+ 2 batches of brownies
+ sleep deprivation for 2 days straight
=
A very successful Disciple Now weekend!

Last weekend was our best DNOW yet, I think. We had freshman boys, and by the list above you can see that they weren't small boys! We spent a lot of time driving back and forth to the church, watching them play basketball, dodging air hockey pucks, and prepping food in the kitchen. But is was all worth every minute!
It's funny how you go into DNOW thinking that you are there just to provide a place to sleep, transportation, and food, but you realize the Lord has more in store for you! This years theme was the "Waiting Revolution". The speaker, Moses was discussing the wait time between when you lift up a prayer request and when you get an answer. I think this is something everyone struggles with, since we live in an impulsive society. We expect things to happen on our time and forget, God is in control. He gave an analogy that really hit home with me and has really lightened my load of "burdens". He said that prayer is like fishing, we throw our prayer request into the "throne room" of Christ and sit and wait. While we wait we continue to jerk the line to make sure He hasn't forgotten it's there. Sometimes we pull the line all the way in and cast again. While this is a good fishing technique, it's not so good with prayer. What we should be doing is casting our prayer into the throne room and then cutting the line. That is how we truly surrender our prayer to the Lord.
I must admit, that was mind boggling to me. Not the process, but why I hadn't figured that out before! What a simple concept! He followed this analogy up with, "when you finish praying you should feel joyful and happy". Really???? Who would have thought! Another Ah-Ha for me. I can't tell you how many times I pray and then turn my prayer into worry, which then leads to sadness, because I haven't truly surrendered! It all seems so simple and makes sense now! So he challenged us to stop and lift up a prayer that we hadn't "cut the line" on. I followed his direction, visualized cutting the line, and you can't imagine the weight that was lifted from my shoulders! It was so amazing! I have to say that I haven't worried about that prayer one time this week, and believe me there was plenty of opportunity! I just reminded my self that I cut the line on that one and I don't own it anymore.
Corey and I were so blessed to be a part of DNOW this year again! I am so grateful to Matt, our youth minister for trusting us enough to be involved in his ministry and help guide his students. But not only that, I am thankful for the ministry that I received this past weekend and the growth that I experienced in my own faith! What a wonderful weekend!