- Well I can't believe
it's last session together. I know, right? How many of you could
just sit here and study God's Word all day? Yes? (audience applauding) Yes. Well, I will tell you
that my prayer has been, long after I pack my bags and I go home, that you will stay intimately
connected with God's Word, and I'm so thankful for
what this Church does, to help get women into God's Word. I so enjoyed the video, and what you do to encourage women, and facilitate bible study in this Church. That is a gift, that is a rare beautiful,
beautiful thing to have your women's ministry, directors
and your pastor's wife, so, so committed to teaching God's Word, so thank you for that. (audience applauding) Yes. And Kathy and your team, could you guys stand
up so we can thank you for all of your hard work? I know you don't want me to do this, but, everyone involved
stand up, stand up, yeah. (audience applauding and cheering) They're being so shy. Yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It is no small feat to put on an event for this many women, and to get the opportunity to deal with this many
female personalities. Isn't it so fun, okay that's awesome. Well, you know I love
the table of contents so let's just go ahead and it up to the table of contents, and we are actually going to
be again in the Old Testament. I've really wrestled with
which section to take you to in this last session together, but I've decided we're gonna
stay in the Old Testament, and so we're gonna be in 2 Chronicles, so if you find where we were in 1 Samuel, you'll see just a few chapters down, you have 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, so if you wanna turn in your bible to 2 Chronicles chapter 20, 2 Chronicles chapter 20, and that's where we're gonna be in this last session together. Lord thank you so much, again for the gift of Your Word. We acknowledge that Your
Word is alive and active, living and breathing. Lord help us to connect with Your Word, so that we receive a word from You personally and intimately. Lord, don't let us just
be inspired by Your Word, we don't just want inspiration, we don't want just information. We want that inspiration and information to lead us to practical application, where we apply Your
Word and live Your Word, so that we will experience transformation, and that's really want we want, so we give our hearts in a vulnerable and tender way to You right now. Have Your way Lord. Your way, that is what we want. In Your Holy name, we pray, and God's girls said Amen. - [Audience] Amen. - In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, we find this, very wonderful story, that starts off in a very concerning way. Remember if you were here last night, we talked about how we started off in the perfection of the Garden of Eden, and it was so funny, one of the worship guys
came backstage this morning. He said, "Wow, last night you really took "us through the entire bible". And I was like, oh imagine
if we had a few more hours, all that we could have done, right? But remember we talked
about how our hearts were created for the perfection
of the Garden of Eden? But we don't live there. Now, we have great anticipation, that if we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, His blood covers our sin, therefore we are headed to an eternity, with God and the last
chapter of Revelation, chapter 22 is Eden restored. So, while we were created
for the perfection of the Garden of Eden, we don't live there. We will return there, but we're in this in between time, and I love how between
Genesis and Revelation, is all that we need, for how to do this thing called life, in the midst of the reality of living in a broken and sin soaked world. I love this story of King Jehoshaphat. King Jehoshaphat was not a perfect king, but he was a king whose
heart was dedicated to honoring the Lord. Now, even though he was
dedicated to honoring the Lord, he still had issues that arose. And when we find him, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, we find a very disturbing, potentially life-threatening situation that he has found himself in. He wakes up one day, and three countries, three enemy countries
have banded together, and are now marching against Jehoshaphat, and his much smaller country. He and his fellow men will be outnumbered, they will surely be slaughtered, unless the hand of God, dramatically intervenes
in their situation. So King Jehoshaphat has a
very understandable reaction. If we start in 2 Chronicles
20:3 it says this, Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved. Now honestly I could preach
the rest of our time, just on those three words. I love that his name is
book ended in two realities. First of all, he is alarmed, and he absolutely should feel alarmed, because he is in a very
dangerous situation. Not only for him personally
but his entire country, and I imagine he looks at
the women and the children, and all the people who
revere him as a leader, and he feels such tremendous pressure, because as he looks into the
eyes of these people he loves, he knows they will die, if he does not get
instruction from the Lord. If the Lord does not intervene, and if he does not lead them well, what pressure. He absolutely should feel alarmed. When things happen and
maybe we didn't wake up this morning and have three countries, enemy countries banded together that are marching against us, but we can wake up some days and feel like life is marching against us. That hard things are happening, big things, small things, I mean, it could just even
be a moment of PMS right? Princess must scream syndrome right? (audience laughing) I mean, that can make
you feel like the world is marching against you. I don't know about you but
I have one day a month, where I just feel like
the whole world hates me, and then I kinda get over it the next day, and I always tell my husband, I forget. I forget every month, that happens every month, and it's just this one day, where my hormones are going crazy and it's just life is terrible, and then I wake up the next
day and life is much better. But whatever it is, it can be big, it can be small, you know? I remember when my kids were very little, and I went to go pick up
my oldest daughter Hope from preschool one day, and I discovered she was the class biter. Now, there is, (audience laughing) there is no shame quite
like that kind of shame, when you realize in the
two-year-old preschool class, that your child has been
labeled as the biter, right? And I just remember walking down the hall and thinking she's so angelic at home. Like what in the world, like I gave birth to her. She was perfect and she was amazing, and now something has happened, and sin has entered in her. What has happened? And now she's biting. And I just remember feeling the weight of the other parents
starting at me, you know? (audience laughing) As if they were shining their halos, like they knew the secret and I did not to effective parenting. And so it can feel like the
world is marching against you. It can feel like the world
is marching against you when you've been asked to be a bridesmaid again and again and again and again. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, and you just think, you know, Lord, like when is it gonna be my turn? And it can feel so heavy. It can feel like the world
is marching against you when the realities of your bank account don't line up with the
realities of your spending, and it just gets very complicated, right? I mean, I know that pain too. When I was young and not as
in tune with my finances, I thought as long as I had
checks in my checkbook, I must have money in my account. (audience laughing) And so then it can feel like the world is marching against you, when those two realities don't line up, and so it can feel very hard. It can feel very, very hard and like the world is
marching against you, when you know that your
husband is dabbling in things that he
shouldn't be dabbling in, and you don't even have
one safe person to tell, and you don't know what to do, and you don't know where to turn, and it can feel like your world is crumbling and crashing in on you. Or maybe it's loneliness. You know the pain of
loneliness is so, so difficult, because sometimes when you're lonely, it can feel like the earth could open up and swallow you whole, and would anyone even notice or care? And it can feel like the
world is marching against you. Jehoshaphat, he had his issues, we have our issues, and when issues arise, a natural inclination is to feel alarmed and that is what he felt. I love that he had that human reality. But while he had that feeling, we must always remember that feelings are great indicators of whatever it is that needs to be addressed in our life. Feelings are great indicators, but should never be dictators
how we act and react. And so while Jehoshaphat
absolutely feels alarmed, at the same time, the other reality that his
name is book ended with, is that he is resolved. He has already pre-decided where to go, and to whom to turn, when life starts falling apart. Alarmed yes, but completely resolved, to inquire of the Lord. And so when he inquires of the Lord, he proclaims a fast for all of Judah, so that they can seek the Lord, and His answer first. Not as a last resort, but as the first one that they turn to. You know it used to be
so problematic to me when people would talk
about praying and fasting, because I did pray, and I would fast every now again, in some small way, but not like a real fast. And then, last year, my daughter married a pastor, who is a pastor at the
Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, which is where Colette goes to church, and every January her church does 21 days of prayer and fasting. And so I felt like to support my daughter, and to be a good mom and mother-in-law, I'm very committed to be
a very good mother-in-law, and so I told my, and I'm so thankful my
daughter married a pastor, because this daughter is that daughter. She could have gone either way, prison or the pulpit, really. (audience laughing) Colette knows, she could testify, like for real. And so I was so thankful, so thankful this daughter
has now married a pastor, hallelujah, and so, (audience laughing) and so I decided you know, I need to try to do this
prayer and fasting thing. But here's the thing about me, is that when I get hungry, I get very mean and so, (audience laughing) so, I really, I've always said to the Lord, you know, if really, if a person like me is supposed to fast, but I'm just angry at You Lord, and the world when I'm fasting, that sorta negates all the spiritual stuff that's supposed to happen when you fast. And so, you know, I don't know, maybe I'll just fast with
my attitude, you know? (audience laughing) But the Lord really,
really spoke to my heart, and said Lysa, there's
this prayer request, you keep bringing before Me, and so why not really do 21 days of intentional prayer and fasting. Now I did not do a
complete like juice fast or water fast or anything like that, but I did cut way, way back. I did a lot for me, and so I was feeling very good. So I did this 21 days
of prayer and fasting, and I kept waiting for my breakthrough, and I kept waiting for
the Lord to speak to me, and I kept waiting for this
big aha moment with the Lord. So we get to day 21, and I'm like well, I never really heard this big revelation from the Lord, and I never really got my breakthrough, but at least today I can go to the movies and eat popcorn and milk duds, so I mean it's all good. (audience laughing) And so I'm really excited on day 21, and as I'm praying and
wrapping up my fast that day, and thinking of all the wonderful things that I'm gonna be able to partake in, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Seven more days". And I said, oh God, that
is such a fabulous idea, but see the church, (audience laughing) no, the church set the rules, like they said 21 days
of prayer and fasting. (audience laughing) I know, I know God, it gets kind of confusing, but yeah, so, (audience laughing) the church said 21 days, and I'm a rule follower, totally, so I can't extend past 21 days, (audience laughing) and the Lord was so clear, "Lysa seven more days". And I was not happy about it, but I decided to be obedient, and I did seven more days, and then on day 28, the Lord spoke to me so clearly. And he said, "Lysa, "this thing that you've
been praying about, "I am absolutely going to answer you, "not today, but in the coming weeks, "in a few short weeks, "I'm gonna give you your answer, "but Lysa, you have to pre-decide, "you have to commit something to Me today. "That you will absolutely trust Me. "When I give you your answer, "you have to got to be in a
place of complete trust in Me". And I remember tears starting
to fall down my cheeks, and I just wrestled a
little bit with the Lord, and I said, I really am
a detailed girl Lord, I would really love, I know you say in Your Word
that You won't like come and appear in the flesh but, I promise God, if you
will make an exception, and just drop down, just stand here, I won't tell a soul, it'll totally be our secret. (audience laughing) And the Lord did not come
and stand in front of me in the flesh and give me like, all the stuff written out so
my heart could be assured. He just simply said, "Decide today "that you're gonna trust
me, no matter what". And so on that 28th day
of prayer and fasting, I decided, I pre-decided, I resolved in my heart, to trust God no matter what. And then a few short weeks after that, I completely understood why God had taken me on that journey, and I remembered the day that finally, finally I realized, and God gave me the answer of what I had been praying about. I realized how crucial it was, that I had decided in advance
how my reaction would be. Because my reaction in the flesh, I'm Italian by nature, let me just tell you, my reaction in the flesh, would be absolute chaos. I would have absolutely had
such a chaotic reaction, I would have with my words, and with my attitude and with my actions, I would have completely
come unglued on this person that hurt me so deeply, but because the Lord had
already spoken to my heart, because I was alarmed
but absolutely resolved. I had already decided, no matter what, that my reaction would be one that would honor the Lord, and I am so thankful. That time of prayer and fasting, that decision that I made in advance, I believe it completely, completely, and radically saved this
situation that I had to face. Alarmed, Lysa, resolved, to inquire of the Lord. I wonder if there has been a time, where you have really, really, really, pre-decided in advance, how your next reaction will be. Because I'm telling you, if you leave it to chance, your flesh can sneak in, and it can derail you in such crazy ways. But if you decide in advance, then this thing will march against you, this hard event will come at you. Jesus said, "You will have
trouble in this world". If you don't have trouble today, just wait a few minutes, and you will have trouble in a few hours, I promise. It's just part of living in this world. It's part of living with other people, it's part of doing life
with all kinds of dynamics and people with different backgrounds, but think of how different
our life would be, if we made the decision right now today, that we are gonna be a
little less offendable. Like that we are going to be women that will honor God with our actions, and even more so our reactions, so that when life happens, and life will, that we can feel alarmed, absolutely, but be completely resolved. To be the kind of woman, that stands in the face
of hurt and uncertainty, and honor God there. I promise you, a woman who honors God in the midst of a very hurtful situation, that woman shames Satan back to hell. I promise you, it is true. It is true. (audience applauding) Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolves, to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all of Judah. Verse 5, then Jehoshaphat
stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at
the temple of the Lord, in front of the new courtyard and said, and he prays this very
honest, heartfelt prayer, about how, how much he needs
the Lord to intervene in this, and look at the very last
line of what he says. In the very last part of verse 12, Jehoshaphat says this, "For we have no power
to face this vast army, "that is attacking us. "We do not know what to do, "but our eyes are on You". Verse 13, then all of the men of Judah with their wives and their
children and their little one, they just stood there before the Lord. What a beautiful scene. I love that King Jehoshaphat
just readily admits, God, I don't have a plan. I don't even feel like
I have power to do this. I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on You. Let me tell you what I like to do, in situations like this. I like to say, okay well God, obviously
You're kind of busy with stuff, I mean all the thing, the big, big, big things of this world, and so Lord, I'm just
gonna sort of gather up all of my strategies and I can manipulate and control things, and so here's all of my plans, and this is how I think it should go God, so, I'm just gonna bring you my answers and my solutions and, and I've got it all right here, so God if you could
just bless all of this, don't mess with it, right? (audience laughing) Don't mess with all of my plans and my strategies and the way, that I like to control things, so God if you could just bless this, but don't mess with it. And I think the Lord
is saying to all of us, open up your arms and just admit, you don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, Lord. I don't even know how to
make suggestions to you. I really don't know what to do, so I'm just going to keep my eyes on You. I'm gonna look at Your Word, and I'm gonna see that Your
Word is the perfect instruction, for whatever it is that I'm facing. I'm gonna get with other women, who have completely
sold out hearts for You, and I'm gonna sit with them, and I'm gonna pray with them, and I'm gonna ask them
to help me understand these scriptures, because God I don't know what to do. I don't feel like I
have power to face this, but I am absolutely committed
to keeping my eyes on You, and then I'm just going to stand Lord. I'm just gonna stand and
keep my focus on You. I will not run ahead, I will not lag behind, I will just simply stand with You. Verse 13, so all the men of Judah, with their wives and their
children and their little ones, stood there before the Lord. And then a man in the assembly, stands up and he gives some instruction, verse 15. Half-way through verse 15, this is what the man says, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, "because of this vast army, "for the battle is not yours but God's". You remember what I said
in the story of Abigail, that our job is to be obedient to God. God's job is everything else. But how many times do we
get up from our prayer life, and we just said, God,
I just, I trust You, I know that You have all of the answers, and then we finish praying, we say Amen, and we rush in our day, and we just become very, very determined to fix everything and
everyone around us, right? And we completely forget
that we've prayed. We invited the God of the Universe to come in and do life with us, but we are so forgetful. What would happen if we
got up from our prayer, and we said to the Lord, okay Lord, I'm going to intentionally look for You and Your hand of activity all throughout my day, because I know I have
invited in to do life with me today and so I
am going to look for You, because these battles
that I'm facing Lord, they really don't belong to me, they completely belong to You, so Lord my job is just to be
obedient to You today, God. Your job is everything else, and I'm gonna watch you Lord, and I'm gonna honor You, and I'm gonna wait and see what You do, because I know You are
working on my behalf. What might happen if we get up and start looking for
God's hand of activity, intentionally, expecting
God to do life with us? And then it says in verse 18, Jehoshaphat bows down with
his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, fell down and worship before the Lord. Verse 21, and after consulting the people, Jehoshaphat finally announces
his great battle strategy. He says that he is going to appoint men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him, for the splendor of His holiness, as they go out at the
head of the army saying, give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever. So let me get this straight, okay. So, this is gonna be his
great battle strategy. That of all the people, if I were in charge, and I was King Jehoshaphat, I would surely go get the
Varsity football players, with weapons, right? And I would say, you need to
march at the head of the army, so that you can intimidate our enemy, so that you can really kill
as many of them as possible, before I have to face them, so that's what I do, but that is not what Jehoshaphat did. He did not go get the
Varsity football players, he went and got the boys from Glee. That's what he did. (audience laughing) And he said this is gonna
be my battle strategy. I want those that will sing to march out at the head of my army, because I want the praises of God to my first line of defense. King Jehoshaphat was so wise. And so that became his battle strategy, praise will be first line of defense, wow. When my husband and I met our two boys, they were 13 and 14 years old, and they were part of a singing choir, that came over from Liberia. We met them in a church, and God moved in our hearts, and said these two boys are yours, and a first I was like la, la, la, la, la, I'm not listening to you God, and I started looking around the church, and I was like, God, I
can show you some family's that would be so set-up
to adopt more children. Like You know I'm completely overwhelmed with my three little girls right here, and Lord, You know, like
when I read to them at night, I skip pages, (audience laughing) I know, and I wait until like
it's absolutely necessary that we bathe them, you know what I mean? (audience laughing) And it's like, not an
every day occurrence, and Lord, I don't feed them organic, I mean, like my kids go to school and sell their sugar snacks to the kids that come from family's with like, all the healthy eating so, Lord, You know, like
there are some family's that they just have it altogether, like all their kids match, and they've got like stuff, altogether, and then there's us, and so Lord, You know, I could see
that family over there, and that one over there Lord, they would be much better
for this assignment. And then God so clearly
spoke to my heart and said, "Lysa, I'm not looking
for someone who's perfect, "I'm looking for someone who's
just willing to say yes". And so my husband and I prayed and, it became very apparent that this was gonna be our assignment to adopt these two boys, and so we brought them into our home, and it was not easy but it was good, and I took two years off from ministry, and homeschooled the five kids, not because I wanted to, like, there are some people
who are really equipped to do homeschool right? I was more like, let's get in the minivan today guys, and drive around and y'all
find the speed limit signs, add up the numbers and that's math. (audience laughing) That's all I got people, that's is all I got. (audience laughing) But God was so faithful and He just, I mean, God really is faithful,
y'all if you could see, like my kids turned out okay, and it is miraculous that they did. (audience laughing) And so it was really amazing what God did, and so after a few years, I asked my son Jackson one day, I said Jackson, how, how is it that you got
to be part of that choir that came to America from
the orphanage in Liberia? How did you get chosen for that? Because you were in that choir, and you came to America, and you got adopted, and then when our friends
started meeting you and Mark, and getting to know you guys, then our friends, who thought we were crazy at first, they all started getting interested, and then they wound up
adopting the rest of the choir, and as of right now, over 45 families have adopted children from that orphanage, praise God. (audience applauding) And so I asked my son Jackson, I said Jackson, how is it that you got chosen for that choir? Because you got chosen for that choir, so much changed, so how did you get chosen? And Jackson said, "Mom, it's a very interesting story". He said, "You know, every
day life was really hard "in the orphanage". He said, "We would wake up in the morning, "and there wouldn't be
any food for breakfast, "and we would get ready for school, "and then we would have to walk really, "really far to school". And because Liberia was in
a civil war at that time, they would often step over dead bodies, as they went to school. They would have to make sure to navigate their route so that
they wouldn't encounter any of the rebel forces. And then they would get to school, and they'd go to school all day, and then at lunch time, when it was time for lunch, all the kids came out onto the courtyard, and they would make the orphans
sit along the rock wall, on the outside of the courtyard, because they didn't have
any food to bring for lunch, and all the kids that came from family's, they would sit on the picnic
tables in the courtyard, and they didn't want
the orphans begging food from the other kids, so the orphans had to sit on the rock wall and just look in. And then, they would have to
finish their rest of the day, their school day, and then they would make the long walk back to the orphanage, and when they would get
back to the orphanage late in the afternoon, the orphanage workers would
gather up all of the boys, and they would tell them, that they were gonna
have a time of prayer, and a time of bible study and a devotion, before they would have
their one meal of the day, which usually was just
a small bowl of rice and if they were fortunate, a little sliver of chicken. And so Jackson said on
this one particular day, the orphanage workers gathered them up and had them all in the little place where they would do their devotions, and the orphanage worker
stood up front and said, "Today I didn't plan a devotion for you, "instead I'm gonna point to one of you, "and I want you to stand up
and say why you're thankful". Jackson said, "Everyone's
eyes darted down mom, "no one wanted to be called". He said, "Mom, you know in America, "you pray thriving prayers, "like God thank You for today, "help me be successful today, "keep my family safe today, "and help us to honor You today". He said, "That's what you pray in America. "In Liberia, we don't
pray thriving prayers, "we pray surviving prayers. "God, will You give me
one more breath of life, "one more meal, one more day to live". And he said, "Mom, when life is that hard, "it's so hard sometimes to
say why you're thankful, "and so no one wanted to be picked". And the orphanage worker
scanned that whole crowd and then pointed straight
at my son Jackson, and said, "Jackson, stand up
and say why you're thankful". And he stood up and he said, "Mom my mouth went dry, "my heart was beating fast, "and I couldn't think of circumstances "for which to be thankful. "Instead, I just decided
to sing a praise song, "and just thank God for who He is, "and so I just started to
lift up my praises to God, "just for who He is". And then the next day, the orphanage worker did the same thing. They gathered up all of the orphans and scanned the crowd and
pointed at another boy, and told him to stand up
and say why he was thankful. He stood up and he was
so flustered and nervous, that he couldn't think of anything to say, so he started to sing a praise song, and then Jackson stood up to support him, and the two of them sang. And on the third day, the same thing happened, and three boys were standing. On the fourth day, there were four boys standing. On the eighth day, there were eight boys standing. On the tenth day, there were 10 boys standing. On the eleventh day, there were 11 boys standing, and on the 12th day, there were 12 boys standing, singing praises to their God, and an American consulate
happened to be visiting the orphanage that day. She heard the 12 boys
singing praises to their God, and she said, "I will work
the miracles necessary, "to get those boys to America, "so that they can sing
and they can raise money, "and raise awareness in
the churches in America, "and help feed these orphans back home". And because one orphan boy, in the midst of the hardest circumstances that we cannot even imagine, because he dared to stand up
and sing praises to his God. It set off a chain of events that saved his life and their life, and so many other orphans, (audience applauding) because that is the power of praise. That is the power of praising our God. Not for our circumstances, but in the midst of our circumstances. If we will dare to just
lift up praises to our God, praises to God changes everything. Even if our circumstances don't change, lifting up praises to
our God will change us, and Jehoshaphat knew that. And so watch what happens. So he sends these men singing, give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever. Marching out at the head of the army, and as they began to sing, verse 22, and praise
the Lord sent ambushes against the men of the three countries who had banded together, who were marching against Jehoshaphat, who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. And then it says in verse 24, when the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and look toward that vast army, that vast army that they
were so terrified of. That vast army who they
could not on their own, defeat at all. The Lord had caused so much confusion, that those three armies started
fighting amongst each other, and when Jehoshaphat came and looked over, to see the object of his fear, he saw nothing but dead
bodies lying on the ground. Not one of his enemy army was alive, and King Jehoshaphat did not
even have to lift a sword. Amazing. It says that when they came to the place that overlooks the desert, verse 24, and look toward that vast army, they saw only dead bodies
lying on the ground. No one had escaped. So Jehoshaphat and his men went
to carry off their plunder, and it was just this glorious moment. And verse 29, it says, and the fear of God came upon
all the surrounding kingdoms, when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel, and the kingdom of
Jehoshaphat was at peace, for God had given him rest on every side. King Jehoshaphat, he was alarmed, but completely resolved, to inquire of the Lord. And he cried out, "Lord
I do not know what to do. "I feel like I have no power
to face this vast army. "I do not know what to do, "but my eyes are on You". And then the man in the
assembly stands up and says, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, "for this vast army that is attacking you, "this battle, it does not belong to you, "it belongs to God". And then King Jehoshaphat says, "Okay, "our battle strategy will be "that we will lead the way into battle "singing praises of our God
as our first line of defense". And God gave them victory and peace and rest on every side. And we read stories like this, and we think wow, Jehoshaphat must have been quite a guy, and he was but remember the very first word that we read in this story, that he was alarmed. He was quite a guy, he was quite a normal guy, but he discovered something so profound. This past summer, I was in the midst of three
of my kids getting married, I told you that, two daughters and a son, so three of my kids getting married, all in the same calendar year, and it was crazy and chaotic. I was releasing a book and that was very, very busy, and in the
middle of all of that, I was facing a crisis, that had taken so much of my attention, and in the middle of all of that, I wake up one Monday morning, after my husband and
I had just gotten home from being in Colorado, and I wake up in Charlotte,
North Carolina at 5:00 a.m. on a Monday morning in
June of this past year. In the middle of all the
chaotic realities of life, and I was in so much pain. I had never known pain like that. I woke up and he pain was so
overwhelming in my stomach, that I went to step out of bed and I collapsed on the floor, and I started screaming, and I told my husband that I was dying, and he needed to get me to
the hospital right away. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I knew something was terribly wrong. So he rushed me to the hospital, and the doctors ran tests for four days. Meanwhile by abdomen swelled to the point where it looked like I
was about six, seven, eight months pregnant. They couldn't figure out
what was wrong with me. Everything was going haywire in my body. They transferred me to
the intensive care unit, finally a surgeon came in and he had run one last test on me. A CT scan with contrast, and he came in and he said, "We finally know what's wrong with you, "and you're gonna have to
have emergency surgery". He said, "What's happened is
the right side of your colon, "has ripped away from the abdominal wall, "it has wrapped around your stomach "on the left side and it
has cut the blood flow off. "Your colon has distended, "what's supposed to be four centimeters "has distended to 14 centimeters. "At any minute, your colon will rupture, "and your body will turn septic, "and you will probably die, "if we do not get into surgery". I was shocked, and I was stunned, and I could not believe
what was happening. Well they rushed me into surgery, and they cut me all the way up the middle, and they were able to fix
what needed to be fixed, and though I spent 15 days
in the intensive care unit, the Lord did spare my life. And I remember going home after that, and I remember thinking, God, (little laugh) I really don't understand
what the point of that was. (audience laughing) Like, I'm all about life lessons, but Lord, (small snickering) that just seemed a bit
unnecessary, I mean, (audience laughing) it's not like I was real
prideful of my body, and like prancing around
in string bikinis, and all that and so you
had to give me a scar that now I'll no longer
wear string bikinis. Newsflash Lord, I had no plans to ever
wear a string bikini, ever. (audience laughing) Ever. So it really couldn't
have been about that, and Lord, You know, I, You know, whatever, and maybe I just don't
even need to know why, but, but this is one thing that I'm really wrestling with God. I laid in that hospital bed, for four and a half days, in so much pain. Why did there have to
be that much pain God? God I love You, and I serve You, and I teach Your Word, and I try so hard to honor You
in the midst of everything, and I'm already facing
a really hard crisis, and I'm trying to help three of my kids get married this year, and I'm trying to continue on in ministry. And so Lord, I can totally understand that
I had to have this surgery, you know, whatever, but, but why did I have to lay
there in so much pain, for four days, why? 'Cause that seems a bit cruel, and I'm trying, I'm trying God to match that reality with who I know You to be, and I don't understand. The pain was so intense
when I was in that hospital, that at one point I literally
grabbed my husband's shirt, and I pulled his face close, and I said, I know you have a gun at home, and if you have any mercy
in your body at all, go home and get that gun. I mean it, now. And thank goodness he does
not let me boss him around. He doesn't. (audience laughing) But the pain was so severe, I was on a morphine pump, and it wouldn't even take
the edge off of the pain. They were giving me
enough pain to knock out, pain medication to knock out an elephant and nothing would happen. They finally had me, to put on a pump of dilaudid, which makes you hallucinate, so now I'm not only in my pain, but I'm a crazy woman. (audience laughing) I mean, people would come close to my bed, and I literally would see
them fly across the room, and I'm screaming. I said, put a sign on my door, that if anybody comes in my room and starts flying they
must leave immediately. (audience laughing) So the pain was, was maddening. And so I'm sitting on my bed one day, as I'm recuperating back
at home after the surgery, and I'm wrestling and
wrestling, wrestling, why so much pain? And the Lord spoke to my heart finally and he said to me, "Lysa, "if you wouldn't have
been in so much pain, "you would have stood up "and you would have packed your bags, "and you would have left that hospital, "because you don't like to stop ever, "and you would have gone home, "and your colon would have ruptured, "and you would have died, "and I still assignments for you to fill, "and the people in your
life still need you, "and the people in your
life still want you around, "and so that pain is actually "what helped save your life. "If you wouldn't have had pain, "you wouldn't have kept
pressing the doctors "to figure out what was wrong, "and you would have died". I had the right surgeon, at the right time, all prepared, and his life could not intersect your life until you'd been in that hospital before four days, and you had to stay in that hospital. "So yes Lysa, "it broke my heart to see you in pain, "but it would have broken my heart more, "to have you go home and die, "so the pain is actually
what saved your life". God loves us too much ladies, to answer our prayer at any other time, than the right time. God loves us too much, to answer our prayer at any other time, than the right time. So what we do, in this between time of feeling alarmed and trying to get resolved? We lead the way by praising our God, not for what we're going through, but in the midst of what
we're going through, lifting up praises to our
God changes everything. That is the only thing
that helped comfort me in that hospital bed. When they would turn on the praise music, and for just few brief seconds, I could forget about all
that was happening to me, and focus on the reality that my God is still there. And my God sees and my God knows, and He cares and He loves me. (audience applauding) So we read stories like Jehoshaphat, and we think, wow what
an inspiring bible story. But don't you know, that he was a man, who had fear and frailties, and shortcomings just like us. It's not a neat, nice bible story. It's the story of a human that surrendered his heart, and pre-decided he would
trust God no matter what. We've made so many decisions
at this conference. Last night, we made the choice, my will or Thy will, and I prayed that we walked
out of here last night, believing and choosing God's will. Not my will but Yours be done God. And this morning with
the story of Abigail, making this choice, God Your job, Your job is everything, my job is simply to be obedient to You, and Your job is everything else, so I will trust You. And in this session, might we make the decision to decide right now, before we walk out those doors, before we go home, before we face another moment of our life, may we make the decision, God, I will pre-decide, that even when, especially when, I'm alarmed that I will
be completely resolved to trust You and to fill
my life up with praises for who You are. May we be that kind of woman. Let's pray. Lord, thank You for this time that we have had to focus on You. Lord when life gets chaotic, sometimes we make You the last resort, instead of our first priority, and we wanna change that today. Lord, we dedicate, our decisions, we dedicate our mindset, we dedicate our thought life, we dedicate our hearts, we dedicate our actions
and our reactions to You. And God we say have Your way in us, change us. Re-arrange our thoughts, mold us and shape us into the person, that You want us to be. Lord help us to think, along the lines of truth. Help us to act along the lines of truth, help us to react along the lines of truth. God remind us to get into Your Word, and let Your Word get into us every day. And Lord may the atmosphere of our life be filled with praises for who You are, because it does change everything. We love You Lord, and though our circumstances will not have changed as
we were sitting here today, may we be the ones that are changed. May people recognize
something is different about us because we spent a
little bit of time with You. In Your Holy name, and all God's girls said, we pray, - [All] Amen.
