Grace Notes

Sarah and I were greatly encouraged to see the Lord’s hand at work in girls’ lives last week at the Daughters of Destiny camp at Mountain Top Youth Camp (in North Carolina).

Many girls made comments such as, “I felt like Sarah was speaking directly to me because she was addressing the very thing I’m dealing with!” or “I’ve been believing ‘that very lie’ and didn’t know it!” It was sweet to see their sensitive hearts to the Lord. Of course, this is all the LORD’s doing, and we’re so grateful for the MANY who were praying!

John 8:31-32 sums up our theme for the week:

“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'” (John 8:31-32).

It is awesome to witness how the “Truth sets free” – not only in salvation but in all kinds of life struggles! One of my prayers for the girls was that burdens would be lifted as they realize the Truth about God’s character in relation to their current trials.

Lining up for dinner

For example, we might believe fearful or discouraging thoughts about circumstances such as, “God isn’t paying attention to my current circumstances,” or, “Everything is going wrong.” Yet, the Truth is, “God works all things together for the GOOD of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28). And, “No purpose of [God’s] can be thrwarted” (Job 42:2), and, God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11).

The mountains were beautifully displaying colors everywhere we looked.

One topic that Sarah focused on quite a bit was “lies we believe about sin.” It was VERY encouraging to see girls resolve to confess hidden sin to parents–praise the Lord!

One lie commonly believed is, “I should conquer this sin on my own before telling anyone else I’m struggling.” But the TRUTH says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

There are many other lies, such as, “That happened so long ago, it doesn’t matter anymore,” or, “The only one I was hurting was myself,” or, “No one will ever know,” or “My parents would be so disappointed it would be better for them not to know,” or even, “This is just the way I am now, and I have to live with it.”

Those are all lies from Satan! Lies have always been his strategy, and they are damaging weapons. The truth is that total VICTORY can be experienced in Jesus Christ. But it won’t come by hiding our sin. It comes by bringing our sin out into the light! Yes, it takes great humility, but the pain of confessing doesn’t even compare to the joy and freedom of a clean life — forgiven and now able to be transparent — nothing to hide! It’s WORTH IT to confess your sin!

If you want victory, if you want healing, then “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

This young lady, Hope, was in a Bright Lights group for many years before she moved to North Carolina. She shared with us how much the Lord used her Bright Lights leader in her life, and how now SHE is praying about beginning her own group! We were so excited to hear that, and we think she will make a wonderful Bright Lights leader!

“… what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2).

Sarah and I were amazed by the intricacy of some of the crafts the girls were doing!

We were especially grateful for the bread-making class as we got to eat the delicious breads they made.

This fall at home Sarah is writing Bright Lights Set 9 on this very topic of “lies and truth.” Hearing the girls’ feedback last week at camp was a huge help, encouragement, and confirmation that this set would meet a need.

On Tuesday night, Sarah spoke on “Lies we believe about ourselves.” This was one session the girls commented on the most.

Some common lies girls believe about themselves are, “I am worthless and insignificant,” “If I looked like so and so, then I’d be happy,” or “I’m a failure and a disappointment.”

The Truth is NOT to tell yourself “I am beautiful; I am talented; I am special.” No. The Truth is that we are desperately wicked! (Jeremiah 17:9).

But once we are IN CHRIST we have a new identity–we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We find sweet rest and security when we understand who we are in God’s eyes once we are in Christ!

The Truth is that IN JESUS “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). We are “seated with Christ in heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:6), we are valuable to Him (Matthew 10:29-31), we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9-10), and as we abide in HIM we can bring forth much fruit (John 15:4-5)! The list goes on and on.

As our lives bring praise to our Creator and Redeemer we find satisfaction–not in our own value but in His! We find joy, not in our own worth, but in falling before His Throne worshipping Him with gratefulness for His great love.

There’s a little peek into what the next Bright Lights set will be. We’d really appreciate prayer as we’re working on editing it this fall!

Banquet the final evening

After the camp, we went with Bill and Marj Longstreet to Charlotte. Together with their daughter Jan, they hosted a “Bright Lights Seminar” on Sunday afternoon at Fairbluff Bible Chapel. We were very blessed by them.

Quite a few moms and daughters came out to learn about the Bright Lights ministry at little seminar they hosted at Fairbluff Bible Chapel. It sounds like some more groups will be starting in that area, praise the Lord.

Grateful to Jan for all she did to host us!

Last weekend four friends and I drove down to the “Vessels of Honor” conference, held at a college in the Kansas City area. It was humbling and encouraging. I gleaned a lot. And as I look through my notes, I am still gleaning. 🙂

I received much rain, both physically and spiritually. 🙂 The physical rain was because I forgot an umbrella. The spiritual “rain,” the rich teaching, was the preferable part, but getting wet was kind of fun too.

Scott DeGroff taught about being mighty warriors for the Lord today and walking in victory. Sometimes we have a pessimistic attitude, thinking that a struggle we’re having will just linger on and on. But if we belong to Christ, we don’t ever have to live like slaves to various struggles or sins, because Jesus powerfully frees us from sin’s grip. We need to “wake up” (Romans 13:11) and ask Him, trusting Him for the victory. We must be delivered from living a wasted life that we’ll be ashamed of at the judgement seat of Christ.

Mr. Attwood talked about seeking after a more intimate walk with Christ. The more we fall in love with our Savior, the more things that used to captivate us lose our interest … because of the explosive power of a new affection. The closer we get to the Light, the more corrupt we see ourselves … but this makes us love Him more as we experience His forgiveness and grace.

There is always a danger in becoming so busy, even with “ministry,” that we don’t spend quality time in the presence of the Lord, worshiping Him, studying Him, enjoying close fellowship with Him. Yet, it’s these times that change us most and enable us to encourage others most!

Scott DeGroff and Mike Attwood, answering questions

When speakers are willing to spend much time with the attendees, it demonstrates how much they care. And that says a lot.

In between the 12+ hours of Bible teaching, we had some free time for extra activities. I love being with people who love to talk about the Lord, and that was the atmosphere of this event. It was a mature group of youth and young married couples (who don’t want to quit coming 🙂 ).

One of the guys attending (Chris) initiated a door to door witnessing outreach in the nearby neighborhood. A group of about 20 joined him, and some exciting things happened.

Much of the teaching was in break out sessions. I really enjoyed Mr. Attwood’s (left) breakout sessions on rightly dividing the word of truth. He spoke of all the problems that have arisen because Christians have failed to distinguish between the church and Israel. It was an excellent session. I also enjoyed Lynn DeGroff’s session on discernment, especially in popular Christian literature being published today.

The singing in the main sessions were nice, but many wanted to keep singing more …

… so an attendee (Danny) coordinated a hymn sing one evening. It was beautiful!

Abby and Guy

Many of you know Abby through Bright Lights conferences over the years. In this picture she and her husband Guy are singing “Complete in Thee.” It was a sweet conclusion during the last session of the conference.

“…in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete … ” (Colossians 1:9-10)

May we run after the Lord Jesus in hot pursuit, confident that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6)!

Last month I had the privilege of being part of the “26 Below” retreat, run by CMML (Christian Missions in Many Lands) the missionary sending organization of the network of New Testament-patterned Bible churches that I have grown up in.

It was a very challenging and refreshing time.

The speaker was Nate Bramsen, missionary to Niger. The day of the conference he got word that religious extremists were burning churches in Niger and burned a place of worship in his village (a stone’s throw from his home), and almost burned his home and teammates’ homes. His team had to leave the area.

I think Nate’s Christ-like response to this news made an even stronger impact on the retreat attendees than his messages.

“Some call them terrorists, but I call them blind,” Nate mentioned, emphasizing that when we look at the cross we can’t help but “fall in love with them” and pray for their salvation! I’d encourage you to read the article he wrote for the Gospel Coalition about these events.

We had a one-hour prayer meeting for Niger, asking the Lord to use these events to draw people to Jesus. I normally don’t pray for just one country for an hour, and doing so reminded me of how much you can think of to pray for regarding one country simply when you just keep praying!

In the Q and A time, one topic that was addressed was this: following Jesus sometimes means you will be alone and may not always have the fellowship you desire. But you will have Christ, and He is enough.

I really enjoyed my roommates. =)

The fellowship at this conference was so sweet. Raw, honest, Christ-focused, and energizing – it’s such a gift from the Lord to enjoy fellowship with other like-hearted young people who are excited about the gospel and using their lives to proclaim it.

Girls breakout session on purity called, “Satisfied in Jesus: Purity and Struggles of the Heart.” I was blessed by the sharpening comments the girls contributed. One girl spoke of the “idolatry of the heart” that a crush can be. Another emphasized the simple cure of looking at the cross when we’re struggling with getting our focus right.

The topic of the conference was “Transparency.” I appreciated Nate’s point that a Christian’s transparency shouldn’t be simply “being real” or “just being you,” but rather “being clear” or “being invisible” so that the world can see Christ IN you. How much do people not see Jesus in me because they simply see so much of ME? Transparency is getting out of the way so that they see Christ.

To hear the messages from the conference click here. Or, to hear Nate’s podcasts on Matthew click here. (Some of my favorite podcasts have been “Shut the Door”, “The Anatomy of Anxiety”, and “The Answer to Anxiety”)