Dear Sisters in the Great Exchange:
I just want to tell you how profoundly blessed and moved I was during this weekend retreat! I can call the “wardrobe exchange” I witnessed nothing short of courageous, miraculous, and humbly obedient. The Lord used you to move me and speak to my own heart.
One question someone asked Saturday night has me thinking this evening: “What does this movement of God in our hearts this weekend mean for our church?”
In short, “What now?”
Let me share what happened prior to my final talk Saturday night. I went outside to clear my thoughts and pray just before the talk. As I stood on the trail beside our bunkhouse, unsure of how or what to pray, I heard a sound that reminded me of rain.
But it wasn’t rain.
While I am no expert on nature, I did notice that the noise came from the dry, dead leaves of the rhododendron plants, falling to the ground with the gentle breeze. When the brown leaves were cleared, the green, healthy ones that remained became more prominent. They weren’t competing with the withered leaves anymore.
The Lord quietly spoke to my heart as I looked at this. This women’s retreat was truly HIS retreat, as the Holy Spirit gently blew away some of our “dead leaves” (our decaying wardrobe) to better display the work He is doing and the wardrobe He has given us.
My prayer, fellow sojourners in this faith walk, is that the changes—rather, exchanges—we have committed to the Lord this week will begin to do what Paul hoped: Give people ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus.
My hope is that over the next couple of weeks, each and every one of you will have someone—a husband, a friend, a child, a co-worker, a neighbor, someone at church who longs to be spoken to more than a “hi”—say, “I’ve noticed something different about you.”
And if the day comes that they ask us what has made that difference, we can tell them about our “wardrobe” makeover. Who knows? We might help lead them to the Designer Himself.
That is how the change begins. That is how the bride of Christ grows more radiant. One day, one exchange, one step of faith at a time. To quote Paul again: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (Phil. 4:23).
In Deeper Wonderment of His Ways,
Karen Dagher
I just want to tell you how profoundly blessed and moved I was during this weekend retreat! I can call the “wardrobe exchange” I witnessed nothing short of courageous, miraculous, and humbly obedient. The Lord used you to move me and speak to my own heart.
One question someone asked Saturday night has me thinking this evening: “What does this movement of God in our hearts this weekend mean for our church?”
In short, “What now?”
Let me share what happened prior to my final talk Saturday night. I went outside to clear my thoughts and pray just before the talk. As I stood on the trail beside our bunkhouse, unsure of how or what to pray, I heard a sound that reminded me of rain.
But it wasn’t rain.
While I am no expert on nature, I did notice that the noise came from the dry, dead leaves of the rhododendron plants, falling to the ground with the gentle breeze. When the brown leaves were cleared, the green, healthy ones that remained became more prominent. They weren’t competing with the withered leaves anymore.
The Lord quietly spoke to my heart as I looked at this. This women’s retreat was truly HIS retreat, as the Holy Spirit gently blew away some of our “dead leaves” (our decaying wardrobe) to better display the work He is doing and the wardrobe He has given us.
My prayer, fellow sojourners in this faith walk, is that the changes—rather, exchanges—we have committed to the Lord this week will begin to do what Paul hoped: Give people ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus.
My hope is that over the next couple of weeks, each and every one of you will have someone—a husband, a friend, a child, a co-worker, a neighbor, someone at church who longs to be spoken to more than a “hi”—say, “I’ve noticed something different about you.”
And if the day comes that they ask us what has made that difference, we can tell them about our “wardrobe” makeover. Who knows? We might help lead them to the Designer Himself.
That is how the change begins. That is how the bride of Christ grows more radiant. One day, one exchange, one step of faith at a time. To quote Paul again: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. (Phil. 4:23).
In Deeper Wonderment of His Ways,
Karen Dagher
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