Going Beyond

"Act immediately and fearlessly in response to God" - Priscilla Shirer.

Brother, Sister it is time for us to take up our beds and walk.

This weekend I attended the "Going Beyond" Conference with Priscilla Shirer. It was called a "spiritual reawakening for women." God definitely jolted me from my spiritual slumber to confirm the direction He is taking me. Priscilla talked about leaving a place of comfort and leaving behind what we are used to doing. She illustrated this by expounding on the journey the Israelites took out of Egypt into Canaan (the land flowing with milk & honey).

Going Beyond is exactly what God wants for us to do. When He speaks to you, you must respond to Him quickly and do whatever it is he has for you to do. God is calling me to go some places I have never been and do some things this year that I have never done. I don't have all the experience. He has not given me Google Map street by street directions and I don't have a satellite view of the big picture.

John 5 explains where I have been to the tee. I have been sitting at the pool of Bethesda with the sick, blind, and lame waiting on the water to be stirred. Waiting for all the right signs, for all the lights to be green, for that perfect opportunity. I, like the man with the infirmity for 38 years, have made up excuses as to why I can't do what God wants me to do.

Jn. 5:7 says... The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

I have thought there are a lot of people who are better at these things than me. Or we say I don't have enough money, I am not worthy enough and what about my past. We find ourselves always coming up with one excuse after another. This is just the adversary putting fear in us, so that we will not do what thus says the Lord. But we must remember that God has not given us the spirit of fear but of Power, Love and a sound mind. If you have truly accepted the Lord as your Savior, he has moved beyond your past, so why don't you.

In verse 8 Jesus tells the man to "Rise, take up your bed and walk" and immediately he was healed. I am encouraging you Right Now, Today, to just pick up your bed and walk. Whether it be a sick bed, a bed of abuse, or a bed of financial problems, whatever your issue, just pick it up and walk. God will take care of it. Let us go beyond what we are use to and stop making excuses as to why we can't do something. God has said GO and I am going to take up my cross and follow Him.

I went to the conference with Kim Long. She is the mother of Tre's friend Kayla. Kayla also had Trisomy 18 and died only 4 months before Tre'. Kim and I met back in 2003 when Tre' was first born. She and her husband Juan gave us HOPE when the doctors didn't. They showed us what is was like to take care of a baby with Edward's Syndrome and also raise 2 other children. The strength and courage that Kim displayed was out of this world. I could truly see God in her and the love she showed her children. Both of us losing our precious babies only months apart wasn't just a coincidence. God has put us in each other's path for a reason. So that we can encourage each other through this journey that we are on. I thank you Kim and Juan for showing us how to love Tre', Joshua, Elijah, & Victoria and for giving us Hope.