Walking in God's Favor Part 2

Walking In God's Favor
Part 2 of 2

Walking in God’s favor is not something that just happens on a whim. It is a daily walk that devout Christians experience when they seek daily council from their savior. I am frequently asked what kind of hours do you put in as a minister, a pastor, and evangelist.  How do you do it? Do you ever want to quit, change professions, and move away?

My answer is always the same, it is a lifestyle. I do not have set hours; I am a child of God 24 hours a day seven days a week.  I cannot change the calling God has on my life any more than an eagle can change his feathers or a fish can change his scales. Yes, I am human and there are many days...I mean many...haha...that I want to give up - lots of different reasons, but then I get over it and keep moving forward. Usually getting over it comes with a swift knock to the head by God!

All of us are called by God in some way or another. As Christians, being a disciple, is a responsibility we all share. Not everyone is called to the pulpit, to be a Sunday School teacher etc...but sharing God's love, the gospel and living the life for others to see Jesus' light is something we are all called to do.

At times it can become daunting. We are warned in God's Word that we have become as sheep to the slaughter. To rise above the feelings of giving up, quitting and passing the responsibility off to someone else, I have learned that I need balance in my life. So whenever I get the chance, I take a timeout to recharge. I take off all of the other hats that I wear and I simply become "Amy" for a few days. An eager child of God ready to fill up on His Word so that I can continue to go into the world and share His goodness with others.

One of my greatest opportunities to recharge is when Joyce Meyer comes to town. My mom and I head to the solitude of a nice hotel where I can rest undisturbed from the constant demands of daily life. (If you read part 1 then you know it can sometimes be challenging for me to get away.) I head to the coliseum where Joyce Meyer waits to pour into me (and thousands of others) life changing bible teachings that bring renewal to the mind, refreshes the Spirit, and teaches us how we can increase our faith by living the Word out loud for all to see. It also helps to remind me of why I do what I do.

I knew my mom and I were going to have a blessed weekend because whenever we are together we have a great time. Going to see Joyce together is just a big bonus. What I did not know was what an amazing, anointed and favored few days God had in store for us.

I had been sick prior to our trip and I almost did not go. However I prayed to get my illness over with and God answered my prayer. (See Walking in God’s Favor Part 1)  What I had forgotten was that a week before I got sick I had prayed to have an amazing trip. I had a dream that lead to that prayer and in my dream I met Joyce Meyer herself. When I awoke the next morning after a night of celebrity encounters all I could think about was meeting Joyce Meyer.  I got on my knees and began to pray for our trip. I prayed for blessings and favor over my mother and I and that God would ordain our footsteps.  I prayed that everything we would do on our trip would be a blessing to the Lord and a blessing to us. I prayed to have the best trip we ever had in our many years of attending these conferences. I even prayed that we would get to meet Joyce herself. I would be reminded of that prayer about 5 minutes after checking into our hotel.

After a full day of shopping mom and I arrived at our hotel.  The woman at the front desk was very nice. I remember telling her she had a pretty smile and she acted like it was the first compliment she had received all day. As a Christian I feel like it is our duty to make God’s children feel loved, so I try to sprinkle compliments and words of kindness like confetti. This particular front desk clerk was so touched by my sincere compliment that she gave us a free parking pass for the days we were going to be staying there. Normally there is a fee charged per day to park in the private parking deck, or you can park across the street at the “free” lot. This was the first supernatural blessing that caught us off guard. It saved our feet and our pocketbook!

Mom and I excitedly loaded our luggage onto the elevator and headed to the room that would be our slice of solitude for the next several days. The room was immaculate. It smelled like lavender and the bed invited me to come take a nap. Like an excited child on Christmas morning I ran and jumped onto the over sized bed. I sank into the foam top mattress covered with a crisp white down comforter. The stress from the previous days seemed to melt away as I transitioned from overwhelmed wife, mother, and minister; to just, Amy.

The bible tells us to put on our armor every day. I admit I do not practice this like I should. I'm working on it. However, I can honestly say when I climbed out of that over sized bed and put my once tired feet on the floor, I experienced “shod your feet with peace”.  I felt like I was walking on a cloud. My mom and I could not stop smiling.  We were on vacation. We headed out for dinner. We found a great restaurant right around the corner from our hotel. We also found some trendy little shops nearby. We were having a blast!

We had adult conversation and I only had to fix my plate and take myself to the restroom. I had all the notifications on my phone turned off. It was MY recharging time. We returned to our room and drifted off to sleep. It was very uneventful, just the way I like it.

The next morning, we had breakfast, did some more shopping and enjoyed more adult conversation. This is where “Walking in God’s Favor Part 1” happens. We ended up in the elevator with Matt Redman and some of his band members. I will not elaborate in this blog but please read Part One for a good laugh. We returned to our room buzzing with giddy school girl excitement. We made several calls to rub it in...I mean to share our blessings. 😉

As mom and I headed to the first conference session, I told her that I had prayed for a chance to redeem myself from the elevator incident. I told her I was also praying that we would get really good seats. Our two friends that were at the conference too just at a different hotel got there before us and saved us excellent seats. We excitedly told them about our elevator encounter and then at our next session they saved us seats beside the band. Seriously! How cool...and how did they manage that...haha! God is good.

The first session of Joyce’s series was on prayer. She taught on sincere, effective prayer. I thought about the prayers that had already been answered leading up to our trip and I felt encouragement and excitement for my prayers that were yet to be answered. I left that night feeling recharged and happy.

When mom and I returned to the hotel, we went right to bed. We were physically exhausted from the day’s adventures but renewed in our spirit from the powerful word that had been taught. Shortly after we had climbed into bed my mom got a craving for some snacks and said she was headed down to the snack bar. She invited me to go with her and I declined. Seconds after rejecting her offer I had the thought pop in my head that she would run into Matt and the band and I would miss out. I'm not a stalker...really...just a big fan! Haha! I had already taken off all my makeup and put my pajamas on but I got up, got dressed and ran a brush through my hair. Who needs makeup, anyway, right? Well, it happened, but not quite like I imagined it. My husband called while I was waiting for mom to get her snacks. I stepped outside to get better reception and low and behold I locked myself out of the hotel. I figured mom would come let me back in, but she got side tracked by one of the band members, Jorge. I saw her talking to him through the sound proof glass that separated us. I am sure the night clerk debated on whether or not to let me in considering I was banging on the glass like a mad woman. He walked over and grinned as he took his time opening the door. I ran in and then God quickened me and I remembered this was my chance for redemption, not to make a fool of myself again. I slowed down, walked over to them and took a deep breath. I then proceeded to apologize for my earlier behavior in the elevator. He smiled and assured me no judgement was made. We chatted for a bit and then we parted ways. On the way back to the elevator I ran into more band members and repeated my apologies. They were just as nice and humble as Jorge, and I felt like a load had been lifted. God had answered my prayer for an opportunity to redeem myself. Seriously, read Part 1, you will understand why I needed redemption! LOL 😂

The next morning we found ourselves sitting with the band. I was so blessed. My new band friends didn’t even look scared. Ha-ha! They smiled and waved and I felt like we were old friends. When the music started I ran to the front of the stage where I got more smiles and nods. It was really a neat experience.  Joyce taught that morning on how we can hinder our prayers through all kinds of different ways. I soaked in every word, after all who wants to hinder their own prayers. We laughed, we praised, we had great fellowship and then we headed to lunch.

As we were preparing to exit the building I was stopped by a short middle aged woman named Louise. She had gotten there late and wanted to know what she had missed. The Holy Spirit once again caused me to pause and be in the moment. This woman needed more than to know what she had missed; she needed prayer.  I listened to her story; she had fought with her daughter that morning and her daughter has said some pretty hurtful things to her. She began to cry. My heart ached for her and I reached my arms out to embrace her. I asked her if it was okay to pray with her, she looked up, eyes red and wet and in a tired weak voice said, “please”.  I beckoned for my mother and my friend Teresa and we put our arms around Louise and prayed. When we were done, she looked up once again, eyes still red and wet and said, “that was the most beautiful prayer.” Out of the 10,000 people fleeing the coliseum on their way to lunch, Louise had stopped me.  I was exactly where I was supposed to be, in the moment I was supposed to be, so that God could use me.  The thought of God trusting me to pray with this broken woman blessed by heart more than I can say. My heart was so full of joy and love and peace that I smiled all the way to lunch, through lunch and then back to the coliseum.  I seriously could not imagine more great things happening, but little did I know God was preparing the grand finale, and it would blow me away.

You know the saying that says it is better to give than to receive. It is true. There is truly something magical in giving.  During all of Joyce’s conferences her ministry, Hand of Hope, puts together a local outreach. This year it was to bless all of the children who had parents in the military.  We were encouraged to donate books, puzzles, and games for all different ages, boys and girls.  After lunch, our friends, Jeff and Teresa headed back to the coliseum to try to get us some great seats again. Mom and I headed to the local Target. No - not to shop some more...although I love me some Target - but to buy the items we would donate to Hand of Hope.

We loaded up our cart with the desired items and headed back to the coliseum. When we walked in and placed our donation on the table it gave us a feeling of being a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.  We imagined the children that would receive our puzzles and games and how excited they would be. It really does bless you when you bless others.

After dropping off our donation we headed in to find our friends and our seats.  Our seats from the morning session were now reserved.  We sat down in the row behind them.  I began to praise God and thank Him for all of the blessings. It's a feeling that is hard to explain. We just felt like we were walking in favor everywhere we went. After soaking it all in, mom and I decided we needed to go and buy some books to take home with us. I guess this is considered shopping...but we did buy some to give away. 😁 Our amazing friends once again held our seats and we headed off to shop.  Well, the word was that Dave Meyer (Joyce’s husband) was coming out to sign books. I still cannot tell you how this happened, but where I was buying my books ended up being where Dave was going to come out and sign. They had not quite gotten everything in order but a security guard asked me if I was in line and I said I’d like to be, so boom, he put me first in line to get my book signed by Dave. Considering this line grew to wrap around and wrap around again...I really felt the favor. I ended up letting an older lady go in front of me because my mom went back to tell Jeff and Teresa. When God blesses you, you have to share it! I wanted my friends to get blessed too. Dave was really nice. He chatted with us and smiled for pictures. He didn’t seem rushed by the growing line of people waiting to see him to get their books signed. He was just as sweet as I had imagined him to be. Mom and I headed back to our seats, our valuable bounty in hand, grinning from ear to ear.

While we were walking across the floor arm in arm smiling so big our faces hurt, a beautiful blonde woman stopped in front of us. She threw her arms up and literally stopped the people around her, stood right in front of mom and I, and said in a very loud echoing voice “You are two beautiful women!”, she smiled and walked away. Mom and I just stood there, speechless. What had just happened, who was she, what made her stop traffic and say something so sweet. Mom and I agreed it was the glow of the Holy Spirit she was seeing. Like - really - what just happened! But - have you seen my mom? She really is beautiful! Inside and out. 💕

Mom and I had been walking in favor from day one and the Jesus on the inside was showing on the outside. We were so incredibly blessed. When we finally arrived back at our seats we saw Jeff and Teresa talking to a security guard. I got a little nervous that my reputation had preceded me. Word got out that I was the crazy Matt Redman elevator lady. (Seriously, read Part 1) That wasn't what was happening...but I did wonder! Haha! Jeff and Teresa were inquiring about our now reserved seats. They had asked him if no one showed up for the reserved seats could we move up. He said you just want to move up one row. We smiled, feeling a little silly and said yes. He said what about the front row. In unison we all screamed yes! Then, he just walked away. A little baffled at what had just happened I thought to myself there is no way we will get to sit on the front row. Then I looked up and watched as Dave, the security guy, proceeded to shift people around on the front row. I watched intently as I was still thinking there is no way he is doing that for us.  Seconds later he beckoned the four of us to the front row. He had moved and shuffled people all around to get us four seats together on the front row. I was once again speechless and blown away by God’s favor.

The music started but I didn’t have to run to the front, I was already there. I soaked in the praise and worship like a sponge. Mom said Teresa and I kept showing up on the big screens while in worship. She said she could see the Holy Spirit all over us. I was in awe. Joyce came out, looked right at me, smiled and paused. I really thought she was going to say something, but her look said it all. Teresa nudged me and said I saw that. Confirmation, I love it when God confirms things. Don't you!

Joyce continued teaching on prayer and once again I soaked up every word.  Her blunt personal way of teaching the bible keeps you hanging on every word. She knows when to use humor, when to be serious, when to call you out and when to be silent in the moment. She is amazing and I pray to be half as good as her one day.

When we left the Friday night session our night was far from over. We had another nightly encounter with our new friends. They were on their way to the restaurant we had recommended to them. Seems silly but we thought that was pretty cool. We also met Joyce’s personal pastor that attends all of her concerts with her, Pastor Mike. Yes, he too was staying at our hotel. He chatted with us for a while. Again the anointing on this group is just mind blowing.

Mom and I returned to our room overflowing with joy and honestly feeling a little bit taken back by all of these cool encounters. As we were drifting off to sleep that night I told mom, if we got terrible seats the next morning, if we had to sit in traffic and if we didn’t have another cool thing happen it was okay, I felt so blessed that I'd like to see others get blessed too. We were having such an amazing trip I really couldn’t imagine anything topping it. I turned over and said my nightly prayers. I prayed specifically for my mom. I prayed that she would receive a special blessing the next day. I know she had been blessed by all of the things I had been blessed by but I wanted something extra special just for her. I fell asleep during my prayer, but I know God heard my heart.

Saturday morning came fast. We had been having so much fun we really lost track of the days. We packed up our belongings and headed downstairs to check out and go see Joyce one last time before heading home.  We got downstairs early and sitting on the sofa waiting for the rest of the band was Davis the keyboard player for Matt. We took pictures and asked him if this happened all the time and if he had gotten used to it. He smiled and said, “Not to me”. We laughed and headed off to the coliseum. Honestly I did not know what to expect from the rest of the day. We were so full we could have busted. When we arrived at the coliseum, our seats were waiting for us up front. Bam! Blessing after blessing! We stood in front of the stage to have some pictures taken. As we were about to take our seats we saw a familiar face come walking across the floor toward us. When she got close enough to see her face I saw it was my mom’s first cousin Linda. They shrieked and embraced and laughed and smiled. I could not think of anything more special for my mom than to have her dear sweet cousin she calls her sister cousin be at this event with her. God knew. He had answered my prayer and I was floating way beyond cloud 9.  This was more than the cherry on top this was a supernatural blessing that had already been in the works before we had even arrived. You see we didn't think Linda was going to be able to make it and we had no clue she was there until we saw her.

Joyce finished up her teaching that morning and the biggest blessing I would receive that weekend came.  She spoke this phrase “you aren’t released the same time you are anointed”.  Then she began to speak on being called into ministry. I needed this more than anything. She shared so much on the struggles, the calling, how God equips you and so much more. Being an evangelist, and an empty one before coming to this conference, this was exactly what I needed to hear.

When Joyce started speaking on this I blocked out everything else and soaked up every word. I knew I needed to hear every word she was going to share. She would walk to our side of the stage and pause, stare right at our group and speak. We all looked at one another like what is going on. I felt God say, "You need this."

I was so encouraged by her teaching that morning. I felt incredible peace in my Spirit. God had answered so many prayers and had poured out blessings that I could not have imagined. Some of these may seem a bit silly but they truly were cool to experience. The atmosphere, the humbling Word, the praise and worship and soaking up God's goodness. We really felt like we were walking in favor the entire time.

There are so many small details that I know I have left out, but I’ve already typed four pages worth of blessings.  Walking in God’s favor is a blessing that cannot be taken away from you if you refuse to give up.  If you remain in Him, He will remain in you. I want to encourage anyone reading this, do not lose heart. Do not grow weary in doing good, because in due season you will reap what you sew. It has taken me a long time to really grasp this. I probably could have figured it out a lot sooner if I had not been so stubborn at times. But praise the Lord I've finally gotten it! I value my relationship with Jesus more than anything. Even though there are tough days I stay determined to choose Him. In return He keeps His promises. He gets me through every storm and then drenches me with blessings. This trip is just a little example of how He blesses me. It may not be your cup of tea...but the great thing about God...He knows how you like your tea. He blesses you your way...because He knows you best! Let me encourage you to take a timeout and soak up the goodness of God. Breathe in God's goodness and exhale blessings. Don't Give Up.