Living at Home

Amanda, Emily, Mom and I were privileged to attend the annual Mother-Daughter Tea Christian Heritage puts on this last Saturday.
The tea was held at this elegant building!

Sisters are a treasure. I can't thank the LORD enough for my sisters who know me so well. We share so much together - God knew we needed each other! Praise the LORD for sisters!

I can't say how blessed and challenged we were. I came home with pages of notes that I have been reviewing the last few days, with new ideas to chew on, attitudes to change and SO much to work on. But that was the point of the tea - to challenge ladies to move forward and change. This was God's perfect message for me that day though, especially as He impressed on my to start studying abiding... and that was the exact focus of the tea!!! I would like to share a few highlights with you.
We girls were asked to share some music, so over lunch, we did about 7 hymn arrangements including duets, piano solos, and a couple violin trios with piano.
This was the beautiful table setting at each table. We girls arrived early and were able to help prepare and decorate the tables and help set up for the whole tea. That was a privilege.

Our first speaker was Mrs. Emily Hageman. The title to her message was "The Life-Giving Fountain". She shared that our lives are like a water fountain with levels - God is at the top.

• He is the source; His spring of life-giving water NEVER runs dry.They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psalm 36:8-9)

• He is the author of our salvation And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Hebrews 5:9)
• We are filled with joy through His saving plan for us Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

WE are the second level. His life-giving water is overflowing- into our lives if we accept Him as our Savior. We can NEVER NEVER fill our eternal thirst with anything temporal. It all must come from the source. We must come to Christ as broken cisterns - empty of ourselves so that we can come to Him and He can heal us and fill us with His life-giving water. We must be destitute of ourselves though.

• Once we come to the Source, we will never be thirsty again. We will be FILLED to OVERFLOWING with His everlasting LIFE!! But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)
• We must abide in the Source to receive the river that overflows to us. When we abide with Christ, we have JOY!! We can know we are abiding in CHRIST if we are REJOICING during the very mundane and menial circumstances in life. We could never possess this joy without abiding with the Author and Finisher of our faith! There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. (Psalm 46:4) Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.(Isaiah 12:3)
• The more we draw and thirst for this life-giving water, the more He fills us. Christ desires us to rest in His love and abide with Him. HE desires this intimate relationship with us, so He will allow circumstances in our life to draw us to Him- and often this means hard and difficult situations that we could never face on our own. When things are going well for us and we are living in success, happy and content on our own, we must look out - we serve a jealous God who desires FIRST place in our hearts, and He wants us to rely on His strength and abide in His fellowship. So this tells me that I need to embrace those hard trials of my faith- because the For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17)
• Someday, this fountain of life will be complete in us! And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)

The next level down is our family. We need to learn how to let the refreshing water flow to others. We don't want to keep all this refreshing life-giving water to ourselves - we are to let it overflow from our lives to others so that WE can be life-givers through Jesus strength.

• As I said before, we must be broken of ourselves - holding nothing back. We must come to Christ with broken and contrite hearts, deserting our own desires and embracing Christ's. He can never fill a vessel that is full of themselves. This is why we must come to Christ, denying our flesh so that He can have ALL of us. Those are the people God can use - those humble For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13) For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:2) The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:17)
• We need to be life-givers to our families by sharing words of love and encouragement. Words are POWERFUL tools to either build up or tear down. We must realize that things we say have effect on all those around us and we have a choice to encourage or discourage. Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. (Proverbs 14:1) There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. (Proverbs 12:18)
  
• The words of our mouth either bless or curse, and we are commanded to bless the LORD and praise Him. This praise flows from a deep love of God, which comes through abiding in Him. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long. (Psalm 35:28)
  

The next two levels we effect are the body of Christ and the world. The living water flowing through us can effect others we are around if we are consistently abiding in Christ. A lot of girls think they would need to go OUT somewhere to effect the world for Christ... but look around you. If you have younger siblings that do not know God, there is training ground and opportunity right there to share the love of Christ and come alongside our parents and disciple our younger siblings.

Anyways, this was the first session!! :) The other two were very rich and encouraging as well. I want to share a few points that stuck out to me.

• Trials are allowed in my life to strengthen my reliance on Christ. They cause me to rely on Him instead of my own resources to victoriously persevere. They are ordained by God and used to draw me closer to Him. When we are weak in ourselves, THEN Christ can show His strength THROUGH us! And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
• God wants us to use our time for the LORD - our WHOLE lives, holding NOTHING back, and as single young ladies in our father's homes, we can devote ourselves wholly to Christ and the things of Him, which include being faithful with where He has placed us in our families or wherever! There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. (1 Corinthians 7:34-35)This is one of my piano students. She and her Mom were able to share a table with us. That was special.
  
  

There is a whole bunch more I could share, but this post is already really long. I want to encourage you ladies though, to take a look at your lives. Evaluate if you are holding back anything from Christ. Are we empty of ourselves so that He can fill us with His life-giving water and thus flow through us to others? These are things for me to work on and think about as well. May we seek the LORD for help, because He alone can show us the way and how to apply these truths.


Blessings to you all,
~Dani