A week ago, I was at Southeast Christian Church completing early registration for Summit VII and attending the Free To Live Tour. I was blessed to have my BFF Jane with me. It was great to have the road time to and from to chat and catch up with one another. I was also able to meet up with Kristin - a special member of our AWAA family. Why so special? She met and loved on our Ethiopian cuties before we ever did, because her family delivered care packages for us. It was wonderful to hug her neck in person, and I'm ecstatic to know that within a few weeks she will be relocating to Lexington. I look forward to getting our whole families together!
I was so blessed by the Free to Live Tour. The Desperation Band and Meredith Andrews led us in worship, sang songs exposing their compassionate and voracious hearts for the vulnerable and oppressed, and spoke with conviction and power. (Let me just say... I was particularly blessed by Meredith Andrews. She is an itty, bitty, little thing, but oh my - she can flat out wail! That girl is anointed and what an incredible heart!) Tom Davis, presented some harsh realities and statistics using a few objects to help the info really stick. He challenged us to respond as the church. He also had a special guest in attendance. With the help of a translator (aka - his daughter), Tom interviewed Sasha, a young woman who had a difficult child, grew up in a Russian orphanage, and reached out to Children's Hope Chest in her teens. It was so uplifting to see the change in her life and the desire of her heart to speak to others so that young girls won't have to endure what she did.
Finally, each member of the audience was asked to pick up the marker/tagboard at their seats and create an I AM statement. Another object lesson, a moment to stick out in our minds... When all the cards were held up high, Tom Davis read "I AM JUSTICE!" "I AM MERCY." "I AM HOPE." "I AM KIND." and on and on. My response... "I AM BROKEN..." and because I have a hard time following the rules and was always annoyed my word count limits I added "... by what BREAKS the heart of GOD!"
I started out SUMMIT VII with the phrase "I AM BROKEN" but I finished with "I AM WRECKED!" Yes, I know it has been a week, but seriously, I'm still processing all that I saw, heard, learned, and felt. God is doing a number on my heart that is for sure. Let's just say, I came home trying to sell my hubby on a larger vehicle and house, or at least, some modifications that can be done to our existing home :-) More to follow...
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