The women's retreat last weekend went very well! Thanks for all your prayers during that weekend. Unfortunately when I came back from London (2 days before the retreat), I had a pretty bad sore throat, and it continued on into the weekend and all last week! It was only by God's grace that I was able to lead worship for the women's retreat. He gave me my singing voice just when I needed it, and according to the women at the retreat it sounded pretty good! :) There were some great talks over the weekend, and the theme was Ephesians 3:17, which says, "Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you." We talked about where our roots are...whether they're in things of the world or in God. It was very challenging but I got a lot out of it. I got back from the retreat feeling exhausted, but it was nothing a good nap couldn't fix. :)
The week after the retreat was the Spirit Radio (see link) pledge drive. This is where the radio presenters say something to the effect of "People! People! We need your money!" (Little Rascals movie reference). Spirit Radio is a listener-supported radio station, so we depend highly on the financial support of the listeners to keep the station going every day. We ran the pledge drive for 4 days last week with a goal of €40,000, and we raised around €37,000. Pretty good! It was exciting to be there answering the phones. It was such a blessing to pick up the phone and hear someone say, "I want to donate to the station." We got a couple of really big donations from people, too, and we were pretty much dancing around the station. Praise God for His provision during the pledge drive!
The Kairos Weekend (see link) is coming up this weekend. I am on the planning team and we have been preparing for this weekend for months now. Lots of work has gone into everything from finding a venue, to deciding on a theme for the weekend, to recruiting speakers for the talks and workshops. There will be over 100 people ages 17-25 from all over Europe coming to Dublin for the weekend, so I'm looking forward to meeting new people and reconnecting with others whom I've met on my GAP year so far. I'm expecting the Lord to do great things over the weekend! I know He's going to do great things because I've been experiencing a bit of spiritual warfare lately. Not only was I sick for quite a while, but I was randomly in a really bad mood a couple of days ago. It was nothing anyone did or said...I just was feeling really angry. It was over the silliest thing...washing a bunch of cups from childcare. Normally it's not a big deal...I just wash them and get on with my day. But this time I felt really angry for some reason. I had to leave the kitchen when I was done and go up to my room to pray for a while. I think this was an attack from the devil because he knows there are going to be good things happening at the Kairos Weekend...so he's trying to bring me down before it happens. Please keep all of us in your prayers---both the staff and the participants!
I had a really great prayer time yesterday. The Lord brought Ephesians 6 to my mind...verses 10-18 in particular, where Paul talks about putting on the armor of God. I read through these verses several times and I could really visualize myself putting on God's armor and being strong enough in Him to be able to fight off the devil and his tactics. It was exactly what I needed to hear after my random bad attitude. Here's what Ephesians 6 says (with some things underlined that struck me):
"[...] 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."
Whew! Every time I read that I get pumped up! In my mind, I put on all of that armor and feel ready to conquer any problem or bad attitude that might come my way. I love how it says, "When the day of evil comes" and not "If the day of evil comes". God never promised that we wouldn't have difficult days or experience attacks from the evil one. He does promise, though, that He'll be with us when those days come. Good stuff. I've written down that passage from Ephesians and put it up on my wall in my room next to my mirror. I'm going to try and memorize it because I know there's so much power that comes from memorizing scripture. As Paul writes in Ephesians 6:17, the "sword of the Spirit" is the word of God. So if I memorize scripture and keep it always in my mind and on my tongue, it actually sharpens my sword!
I've been growing a lot spiritually during these last 5 months of my GAP year. I've had ups and downs in my prayer life, but for the most part it's been great. I've really been blessed by having time in my schedule for daily Mass and personal prayer. The Catholic church I go to is only about a 10 minute walk from my house, so I love the short walk in the mornings. I'm not able to go to Mass every morning, but it's been a great way to start my day when I can go. :)
Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement, and other ways of supporting me during my GAP year. I wouldn't be here without you!
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