This weekend my daughter and I were blessed to be able to go to a women’s conference together. It was the first one which I thought it would be OK for her to attend, and I was thrilled to be able to go and spend that time with her.
As the speaker, Elyse Fitzpatrick, began to speak on Friday night, I realized quickly that it was the same message the Lord has been speaking into my life for many weeks. Part of me was shocked, but definitely not surprised. It was very quickly apparent that God has a specific message for me.
To be honest, I don’t full understand what He is trying to say to me. I sat in the sanctuary and silently talked to God. I said, “I feel like I am the horse, and the message You have for me is the carrot which is hanging right in front of my face which I can’t quite sink my teeth into. I don’t want to miss this. Help me to understand what You are saying. Tell me what to do.” In the few moments after my prayer, the still small voice came which said, “You don’t have to DO anything.”
I think some of what God is trying to speak into my life is I am a Martha by nature. I like to have a plan. I am busy with many things. I start out tryng to be a Proverbs 31 woman, to be a good wife and mother, a good housekeeper, a servant, and a friend, because I love the Lord and His rules. I want to obey Him, and I want to do what He says is right. However, if I am honest, somewhere along the way, God starts to get left behind, and I begin to rely too much, as a lot of us do, on my own abilities. I think I hand over life’s problems to God and then decide to take them back if they don’t work out the way I want or in the time table I think would be appropriate. I think I want to have control. I think that if I obey all of the rules that He will somehow love me more or be more pleased with me.
On the way back to the second session which was on Saturday morning, I felt I wanted to listen to the song It Is Finished by The Gaither Vocal Band. Call me old school if you want to, but this song is one of my most favorite Christian songs. It is so powerful! So, as we got into the car on Saturday I plugged in my iPhone and played It Is Finished. I played it loud too, and teared up like I always do. I am not ashamed.
As Elyse Fitzpatrick spoke on Saturday, she talked about the cross and how Christ said three of the most amazing words in the bible which were, “It is finished.” It was a confirmation. It is a great reminder of God’s grace and the fact I don’t have to complete a long to do list for God to be pleased with me. These are the lyrics I love from It Is Finished.
It Is Finished
“Now in my heart the battle was still raging.
Not all prisoners of war had come home.
They were battlefields of my own making.
I didn’t know that the war had been won.”
How often do we wage wars or fight or try to take control or worry about things we were never meant to wage war on or fight or try to take control of or worry about in the first place. We should have laid them at Jesus’ feet long before and left them there.
Here a video of the It Is Finished song by The Gaither Vocal Band. The video is not high quality, but I dare you not to be moved or tear up or raise your hand in worship. Christ did it all on the cross for us! It is finished, my friends, and I pray God will help me to realize it more and more with every day, because I know I sometimes seek my own way.