Wear Your Safety Gear When You Climb the Heights

Oh, my gosh!  I can't even begin to express how amazing and wonderful the Relevant '11 Conference was.  All you bloggy ladies really need to plan to come next year.  There is a lot of information about blogging, but it's so much more!  Beth and I had a wonderful time getting to know each other in person, but also getting to meet some incredible and inspiring Christian women.  We heard from amazing writers and listened to singers who helped our souls to soar.  We networked to help build our blogs.  We shared stories and laughter.  And the free stuff!  We can't forget the free stuff.  I came home with something like 25 books, 2 of which I had to pay for.  We received jewelry, dishcloths, microwave jasmine rice, coconut loil, magazines, patterns....the list (and the pile on my kitchen table) seems to be endless.

My brain is so full of ideas for the blog, ideas to share with my daughter-in-law, ideas for the church, for the projects I have to do for my class.  I'm sure you've noticed a few changes already.  Beth was sweet enough to shrink the header for me yesterday before she left and show me a few things on Facebook since I've created a page for the blog there (see the link in the sidebar).  I'm also doing some general clean up and when that's done I'll begin adding links to the blogs of the people I met at Relevant.

So, why is it that whenever I go to something like Relevant, where I am immersed in the presence of God and my spirit is so refreshed and eager and excited and full of joy, that the "joy-suckers" of life seem to be waiting on the doorstep for my homecoming, ready to steal my joy?

That's a rhetorical question.  I know the answer.  It's because the enemy hates to see a Christian excited and on fire with a passion to share the Lord.  He will throw everything he's got at us to steal that away.  As believers we need to be prepared for this all the time, but especially when we are going to be having one of those mountain-top experiences, because satan is going to be there watching and waiting for the opportunity to strike.  This is why we have to don the full armor of God daily and as Paul cautioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 "...stand firm and hold to the teachings..."  Be intentional in putting on the armor every day.  To do battle you must be prepared.  We wouldn't climb a cliff without using the proper safety gear.  (Actually, I wouldn't climb it at all, but that's another story.)  We shouldn't try to reach the spiritual heights without the right gear, either. We can't just "wing it."

Events like Relevant raise us to those heights and show us how to use the gear, it's up to us to use it.