Goodness Golly! For those of you a bit skeptical about the power of prayer, about the power of God to take the suffering you experience and change it into a beautiful and lovely Blessing….this one is for you!!
Sheila Wray-Gregoire has a ministry helping Christian women to build and develop their speaking ministries.
Shelly Brown
I was skimming the discussion board today, and found this prayer request from Shelly Brown. It was posted 3 months ago, so I asked for a report..so to speak. I know God is All-Knowing, but sometimes a little peek into how He actually operates in our lives is uplifting. A thank you to Lee Ann for praying. With Shelly’s permission, I present to you Shelly’s, “The Rest of the Story!” To you Shelly, I say, God Has Chosen YOU! which is one of my Favorite Songs!!
This will be my first “official” ministry opportunity (outside of my church and partnering with local friend’s churches) in over 2 years. What’s significant about that is, just over 2 years ago, through a series of very difficult circumstances, it seemed quite obvious to me that God was “freeing” me up to pursue my ladies’ speaking ministry on a full time basis. (I had been doing it part-time for about 5 years). Little did I know that not only was God not going to “burst open wide” my ministry, but it would become virtually non-existent. Even my part-time opportunities dried up. It was as if God put me on a shelf. It was hands-down, the most agonizing period of my adult life. Dealing with all the difficult circumstances while wondering how I had missed the mark by so much. Wondering at times how I could ever have thought that God would really use ME. Telling myself, “who do you think you are?” more times than I care to admit.
I spent those 2 years seeking God’s face like I’d never done before. I wrestled with Him and there were some days that the only prayer I could muster was Mark 9:24, “Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.” Finally … God brought me to a place I never expected in a million years … and now it all began to make sense as to why He put me on a shelf …
He put me on a shelf so that (when I was ready), He could empty me of myself and pour all of Himself into me, so that the story of my life that I had shared dozens and dozens of times, would no longer be “my” story, but His story. (Example: when I lost my mom at 5 years of age, I was told to stop crying and talking about her and was disciplined if I was caught crying or talking about her. So … here I am, 42 years old and I had never grieved my mom’s death). I had so much brokenness in my life that I had no idea existed. I really thought I had it all together. I handled my past with great ease. But, apparently God wanted me to deal with all this brokenness as the Holy Spirit brought it to light in my life. And putting me on a shelf was what He needed to do to get me to come into His healing presence. He brought me to the end of myself, and now, it’s HIS powerful story.
And … I share all of this with you so that you can pray more effectively as next weekend is the first time I’ll be sharing my story (God’s story) from an entirely different dimension than ever before. My prayer is that not one woman leaves that retreat the same as when she arrived, that God would transform hearts and minds and that they will never be the same again.
Sorry to have been so lengthy, but THANK YOU for taking a few seconds to lift me up …
Thank you!
Shelly Brown ( note: her website is NOT working right now. Prayers appreciated for this too!)
www.shellybrown.com
I will be praying!
Lee Ann
During my 2nd main session message I shared the process that God took me through to forgive my adopted mom, Brenda. She chose me to be her daughter when I was 7 years old, only to reject and abuse me for the next 5 years of my life. I shared the process of how through intensive prayer, I released Brenda from any judgment I’ve held over her throughout the years and forgave her for the insurmountable pain that she inflicted on my life. I shared how at the very moment I released her, God redeemed that area of my life (freeing me) as I realized that Jesus didn’t just die for me, and Jesus didn’t just love me. He died for Brenda and He loves her just as much as He loves me. As Lewis Smedes said, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.” Then …
Before moving onto the next part of my message, I asked this question to the ladies, “Do you have a Brenda in your life? Someone you need to release and forgive?”
After the session one of the Retreat Organizers walked up to me with tears streaming down her face. She went on to describe some horrible events from the last 2 years and how she had been betrayed and used. She said, “Every day I become more bitter and angry at her.” And then she said, “Guess what her name is? Her name is Brenda. YES! I have a Brenda in my life that I have to release and forgive.”
Anyway … thanks again for asking Patrice. I love sharing God stories! After all, it is all about Him and Him alone.
Many blessings to you!
Shelly
Absolutely, feel free to share. )
I personally think there is some confusion concerning spiritual gifts…what they are and whether or not we should have them. Earlier in my life, at least, all this was a real mystery and a topic not really discussed. I believed in God and Jesus and could sing “Jesus Loves Me” from a very early age. But the Holy Spirit was not real..not really.
A “gift” was something more easily connected to Santa Claus.
I had a dream recently that was rather humorous. But I knew it had something to do with the Holy Spirit and His gifts so I remembered this dream, which rarely happens. Here’s the dream.
Santa and his helpers were busy loading the sleigh with gifts. There among the helpers was a son-in-law of a friend of mine. The friend is a rather ornery guy, outspoken, but has a generous spirit. His son-in-law was taking the gifts and changing all of the name tags to his father-in-law’s name. That’s the dream.
I KNEW there was a message there. I could not quite make the connection. My friend Marsha helped me to connect the dots.
God (Santa) is the giver of all gifts.
He gave us the Best Gift, Jesus.
The Holy Spirit (the son-in-law) is also a gift, from God and Jesus. The Holy Spirit continues to give us gifts.
I am wondering why the name tags were being changed…. (I know, it’s just a dream..but I can wonder)
God offers us ALL the whole list of spiritual gifts..but we have to ask. Have you made a list of gifts you’d like to receive from God? From the Holy Spirit?
Ask and it will be given to you….Matthew 7:7-11
Another consideration: are we naughty or nice? We need to be “nice”, to be in communion with God, to be 
following His ways, or the spiritual life will not be there for us. We cut it off ourselves. We choose to turn away from God and His gifts. James has a lot to say about this in Chapter 4. We should not presume we will get any gifts.
Perhaps the name tags were being changed….to give more to the one using the gifts (talents) to help the poor and not burying them in the sand. Matthew 25:14-46
This New Year brings many new days …offering many opportunities to
ask
receive
use
the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35
Lord, I pray for your Gifts. I pray that I use them for Your Glory, to bring forth Your Kingdom.
 Wrinkle RockWorry and stress are a normal part of my day. Agree or disagree? I am so tempted by everything..that’s just the way I am. Agree or disagree? I have to work hard and do all I can to provide for my family. No one else cares. Agree or disagree? I am a worry wart, I [...] |
 Side-tracked from WorryNews for the Day… New photos for the blog. My daughter took some photos and I did some Photo Shop experimenting. Playing the piano, with the grandchildren around is always exciting. I had to crop and do some other things that I can’t remember what they are called…oh, yeah. One was a clone tool. That’s [...] |
 Fundraiser Open House for ABCIn a “previous life”, I was the director of ABC Pregnancy Help Center. Tonight I was honored to help with an Open House fundraiser. One of our supporters just moved into her new home, and offered this as benefit for the Center. The new Director, Shelley Allred, is doing a “makeover” of the Center and [...] |
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