God-ordained!

This pottery necklace is called DANCE... I just realized her description is not on the website - so I have copied it off the packaging. She says: "I represented dance with lines and swirls in movement. God doesn't want a relationship with us that is plodding along, but rather an exciting dance that moves wtih grave and beauty. he wants us to follow His lead. he is the perfect dance partner. When you watch a couple dance, if they are good they move with grace and form together. One partner is the leader, and the other follows the lead of her partner, dancing this way is fluid and beautiful. if both partners are trying to lead,it is the opposite of grace. It looks awkward and painful We need to follow the lead of the Spirit within us, he is in tune with God, and knows the paths and steps we shold take. A life lived with the spirit is not meant to be a life of marching or plodding (following orders to the letter of the law.) It is to be intimate, graceful, loving an djoyful no matter what the circumstances are.... and she uses 1 Thes 4: 1-7 from The Message

This piece is called SHELTER. I took this off Tanis' website as she has put the description there: Shelter is represented by a bird

A few times in the Psalms David talks about the shelter of Gods wings. David longed for the shelter of God’s wings. The wings of a bird shelters their chicks during storms or the cold, or protects them from danger. We are safe in the shelter of God’s wings! What a picture of what it is like to be safe in God’s arms. We will
be protected, and kept warm, in the soft feathers of God’s love. I love the picture, and want to remember to run to the safety and shelter of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1-6 (NLT)
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.

The alarm went off today at 6. Alvin kissed me good-bye about fifteen minutes later, and left on route to Grand Forks with our friend Willy. Me - well - I reset the alarm and planned to get a few more zzz's in. And well, I did. In fact, I got MORE zzz's than I bargained for - and ended up being 10 minutes late for the meeting I had to go to! (before I left, I needed to clean the house, and leave it shipshape in case there was a showing today). Little did I know when I finally jumped out of bed, all that God would have in store for me today!

The meeting was good. Not too long. Straightforward. I am leading up the prayer team that has been meeting weekly over the past few weeks to pray specifically for the Beth Moore Simulcast that is taking place next Saturday at Eastview Church. It has been truly "sweet" to meet with women to pray over past few weeks. We can hardly wait to see all that God is going to do in the lives of women next weekend!

Anyhow - the first of the God-ordained meeting was with a new friend Laurie. For some reason, when we got to sharing with each other - we both noticed there was a uniqueness in how we felt like "kindred spirits"... we spent a while talking, sharing about what God has done, and is doing in our lives. I got into the car after we prayed together - and just felt so totally blessed! I look forward to getting to know Laurie more...

I picked up my daughter Ashley so that we could go to Scattered Seeds Craft Sale together and it was nice to be able to spend time together - her and I. It was while we were in the "Downs" looking at the different vendors, that we ended up in another God-ordained situation! I say that completely believing it was truly a GOD-thing. Back up a day... yesterday I had coffee with my good sweet friend Vi. That is a whole other blogpost. However - she was wearing a piece of jewelry, made from pottery. She told me it was someone from the same church as her, who makes this jewelry. Well wouldn't you know it - this is the little vendor we had found. This is where the story just gets so amazing. You see - I had seen some of the art before - please check it out for yourself - http://www.brokenclay.ca/

I introduced myself to the artist ~ Tanis Gray and it was so interesting, as immediately I just felt that God was in our conversation with us. Even in the little time, I realized she had an incredible story of brokenness and redemption, and that God was using her in such an amazing way. Ashley had already been sharing some of our story with her, as Ashley had a beautiful necklace in her hand with a bird on it.

I shared a bit of the story of our retreat vision with Tanis. I also told her that the girls and I have been thinking it would be wonderful to find a local artist, and to give each woman that comes, a "gift" to remember the visit to the retreat center by...

Ash, Leah and I have talked about a few things. It is such fun dreaming/brainstorming with my girls. Well - needless to say, when I saw Tanis' jewelry - my heart just resonated with what I saw. Very INTENTIONAL art... or as it says on her card "Jewelry with Meaning".

And, anyone that knows me - knows that when God laid the vision for Women Refreshed at the Well - He also just gave me a love for pottery - clay pots - and since then have collected some things for the ministry house - including a painting from our first trip to the Dominican Republic (which is another God-ordained story in itself) which is of a couple Dominican women - with clay pots. I just LOVE how God continue to just weave HIS touch throughout the retreat story! I love the bible texts that talk about God being the POTTER... we being the clay.

So, back to Tanis... what a gift God gave me today - to be able to meet her and her husband Cameron. And to be able to feel very "kindred" spirit with her too. As I hugged Laurie as I left this morning - as I left Tanis, she said she just had to give me a hug! I told her I had a feeling we would have to have coffee together at Sam's Place soon.

I am not sure what God is all going to do with these two sisters in Christ - but I KNOW that God has his fingerprints all over their lives, and their ministries. I also believe that God loves to surprise us, and use us in ways we least expect - so I am very very eager to get to know my new sisters better ! I will wear my new necklaces with great joy!

I had a hard time picking - but the pictures at the top are the TWO that I chose... SHELTER and DANCE. (but let me tell you that I loved all of them...) I think I need to ask Tanis about her ideas on SEASONS since that has been on the hearts of myself and my girls. I better make that coffee date!

Lord, for today - for waking after a good sleep - for the privilege of being involved in a Beth Moore Simulcast next week - for the joy of praying with women - for the chance to hang out with my daughter and go to the craft sale - and for the TWO God-Ordained meetings today with my two new "sisters" in Christ - I thank you Lord! You just love to surprise me!! God, you GOD and you are good!