Under the Arch- A Camera Phone Picture by Pete Weiss
I have to say that the phone picture color is a little off. The sky was actually blue that day and the sun was shining though the clouds so beautifully. It was gorgeous out, despite all the rain and flooding that we've had over the past week. Yes, we did notice down at Riverfront that the water level of the Mississippi was high. There has been flooding all over Missouri and more rain to come!
We had a wonderful trip to St. Louis this weekend. I was invited to speak for a Mother/Daughter Banquet on "Abundant Blessings for a Woman's Heart", which ended up being as much of a blessing for me as it did for others. We met many new friends, and hopefully I will have gained some new blogging/e-mailing buddies! I would like to thank the Women's Ministries Department and the pastors of First Assembly for extending us the invitation. The fellowship, food, and fun were tremendous. Thank you all and you will continue to be on my prayer list... especially those who came up for specific prayer. I pray that the Lord will further bless you in your personal lives and as a body of believers. He's doing great things!
As far as the trip goes, it wasn't too bad. The travel time was approximately 4 hours. That's from border to border! Going down, we didn't stop at all. Coming back, we made a few stops along the way. It rained cats and dogs halfway back, which I think subconsciously makes a person just have to go to the bathroom. Well, it does!
My in-laws decided to travel with us to St. Louis so that Patty, Celeste, and I could attend the banquet together. That, too, ended up being a blessing because the hotel we stayed at only allowed for so many people to be in a room. It had to do with fire codes in their particular county. So, Titus and Moses bunked with Grandma and Grandpa for the two nights in their room, and thus avoided any lodging trouble with the Big Weiss Family. The motel had an indoor pool, which we enjoyed (especially the boys- who swam the entire time we girls were away at the brunch).
The brunch was beautiful. The decor was pink, mauve, and white. The program was well organized and moved right along...keeping right at 2 hours from start to finish! Perfect.
First of all, I am convinced that this weekend was SO ordered of the Lord. Everything just flowed and we had a real anointing present at the banquet. Even the little flip books that I purchased were exactly the right amount for the number of ladies present and matched a pen/bookmark set that the WM's had supplied. It was GOD all the way. The topic I was asked to speak on was right up my alley and I felt "in the zone"!
I have always loved speaking on prayer and blessings, which tend to go hand in hand. When you really get serious about your walk with Christ (as well as your prayer & devotion to God's Word), blessings will follow. Not only blessings upon your life, but also what you speak will become blessings... life words.
My message dealt with the various kinds of blessings, but especially the spoken blessing. We retraced accounts of blessings throughout the Bible and realized that in the cases where God or Jesus blessed, multiplication or abundance followed. We reviewed a few of the blessings that we are afforded just by being in Christ (eg. we have peace, our names become written in the Lamb's book of life, we are justified, we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus, we become a new creature, and we gain eternal life).
My favorite part of the topic was the key verse, as we broke down the topic "Abundant Blessings for a Woman's Heart", which was found in Matthew 12:33-36 "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Abundant blessings only come from our mouths when our hearts are filled with the right kinds of things.
There is so much more that we covered in such a short amount of time, but overall, it's important for us to realize 1.) what our hearts are filled with is what will come out of our mouths and 2.) what we speak holds the power of life and death - are we speaking forth life/death; blessings/curses toward God, ourselves and our situations, and others.
The rest of our time in St. Louis was spent with the Pastor and his family. We ate together, fellowshipped, and went up to the arch. We drive past the arch all the time, but the kids needed to get out and really see it. We went to the museum underneath the arch and attempted to get tickets to ride to the top, but when Pete and Charles got to the counter, they only had 5 tickets left for the day and our group had 12 total. Bummer. BUT... we went down by the river and were blessed to hear a group singing Christian praise and worship music on one of the platforms. They were there to pray, etc. due to the National Day of Prayer, which was on Thursday. They prayed openly...and loudly... for God to bless the St. Louis area. Their prayers literally bounced off the arch and seem to radiate all over. What made it more compelling was that on the steps leading up to the arch was a sizable group protesting FOR the legalization of marijuana! They had a loud speaker and were spewing their negativity, complaints, and rebellion against the government, medical institutions, etc.
WHAT A TRUE EXAMPLE OF MY MESSAGE OF BLESSING AND CURSING! On one side you have a group blessing the area and speaking life... on the other... a message of death and destruction!
And where were Ben and Patty? Out antiquing...as usual. They found some terrific spots and had a good time doing their own thing. We all enjoyed our trip!
May blessings come your way today! Thanks for taking the time to come and visit! See you later, friend!
