I was with Jesus Women all day today. When Kory told his cousin Odd that I was at a Jesus Women conference in Oslo, Odd said, “Is there something called THAT?” And the answer is yes, there is. I’m not sure how many women were there, but they came from all over Norway and Sweden to gather together to sing songs to Jesus, hear women talk about Jesus and to pray to Jesus. I’d say they were Jesus women alright.
If there was just one message that came through loud and clear today, it was that we must PRAY MORE. It’s kinda funny because Kory told me shortly after we met twenty years ago that whenever he would go to his mother with any kind of problem, hoping she’d impart some worldly wisdom to him, all she would ever say is, “Kory, you need to pray more.” No matter what the problem was, that was her standard reply. It was the dreaded two word response he hated, but now realizes how right she was.
The first speaker we had today was Georgina Dufoix, the ex-health minister of France. She spoke in French, which was then translated to Norwegian, and then in my brain, translated to English… but her message was very clear – pray for our politicians! She gave her own “testimony” of how she became a Christian while holding a political office, and all the spiritual attacks that came right along with it. She holds out hope that her homeland will turn back toward Jesus, as they have such a rich history of so many important spiritual things happening there, but currently, they have their backs turned away from God. She told us how we should not be critical of those in authority, but just pray for them, whether we agree with them or not. God is bigger than they are and He put them there for a reason so we need to respect that. She was an impressive woman and I could totally see her running for the position of Prime Minister of France someday – who knows. That would certainly shake things up a bit there. I liked her a lot.
We had two speeches today from Fern Nichols, the founder of Moms In Touch – a Christian group that organizes moms to pray for their kids and their schools. Fern is one tough prayer warrior. She’s a funny lady, especially when she started wielding a sword. She told all us mothers that the Bible is a sword and when we pray prayers for our children using words right out of the Bible, it’s like coming at Satan with a weapon. She acted out the part and hacked him into pieces while yelling at him to stay away from our children. It was easy to see the mother bear in her, protecting her young. And that’s how she looks at spiritual warfare and she fights the battle with the word of God, and prayers prayed with other women. She also told us why we should pray, how we should pray and what we should pray. It was all pretty basic stuff for me, but she made her point. I liked a picture she shared of many kinds of powerful military weapons, and then one mother on her knees. The caption of the photo said, “Which has shown the most impressive display of power?” How can you argue with the power of heaven and earth unleashed in a mother’s prayer. Point taken. I guess I need to pray more.
We didn’t have much free time today because all the seminars ran at least an hour over their scheduled times. There is something about getting a bunch of women together in one room and when they start talking… well, it’s just hard to get them to stop, I guess. But during the afternoon break Kari and I walked around town a little and then on down to the new opera house by the fjord. It is such an incredible piece of architecture and even more impressive when standing next to it, on it, in it. I don’t know how people come up with these ideas, but this one is a doozie. It’s along the same lines as the Sydney Opera house in terms of the impact it makes to the landscape. We didn’t have time for the full blown tour but we walked around it and in it and up on top of it. It’s pretty cool, literally, as it’s all white marble and it looks completely different from every side. What a task, building that thing (see photo).
Kaleb woke me up at eight this morning, wanting to know how much time I’m using on his computer so he can adjust the costs he’s charging me accordingly. Now if I asked him how much time he’s going over his allotted one hour a day on his Nintendo all I’ll get is the standard, “Time flies when you’re having fun” response. He spent the day with his friends and is on a sleepover tonight so I’m pretty certain he’s not keeping an eye on the clock, as he expects me to do.
Kory was invited over to Odd and Turids for dinner tonight. He said he spent the day packing up a few things, as well as cleaning house and grocery shopping. I guess all those prayers I said for him really hit the target! God is good- all the time. And all the time – God is good. Hallelujah!
If there was just one message that came through loud and clear today, it was that we must PRAY MORE. It’s kinda funny because Kory told me shortly after we met twenty years ago that whenever he would go to his mother with any kind of problem, hoping she’d impart some worldly wisdom to him, all she would ever say is, “Kory, you need to pray more.” No matter what the problem was, that was her standard reply. It was the dreaded two word response he hated, but now realizes how right she was.
The first speaker we had today was Georgina Dufoix, the ex-health minister of France. She spoke in French, which was then translated to Norwegian, and then in my brain, translated to English… but her message was very clear – pray for our politicians! She gave her own “testimony” of how she became a Christian while holding a political office, and all the spiritual attacks that came right along with it. She holds out hope that her homeland will turn back toward Jesus, as they have such a rich history of so many important spiritual things happening there, but currently, they have their backs turned away from God. She told us how we should not be critical of those in authority, but just pray for them, whether we agree with them or not. God is bigger than they are and He put them there for a reason so we need to respect that. She was an impressive woman and I could totally see her running for the position of Prime Minister of France someday – who knows. That would certainly shake things up a bit there. I liked her a lot.
We had two speeches today from Fern Nichols, the founder of Moms In Touch – a Christian group that organizes moms to pray for their kids and their schools. Fern is one tough prayer warrior. She’s a funny lady, especially when she started wielding a sword. She told all us mothers that the Bible is a sword and when we pray prayers for our children using words right out of the Bible, it’s like coming at Satan with a weapon. She acted out the part and hacked him into pieces while yelling at him to stay away from our children. It was easy to see the mother bear in her, protecting her young. And that’s how she looks at spiritual warfare and she fights the battle with the word of God, and prayers prayed with other women. She also told us why we should pray, how we should pray and what we should pray. It was all pretty basic stuff for me, but she made her point. I liked a picture she shared of many kinds of powerful military weapons, and then one mother on her knees. The caption of the photo said, “Which has shown the most impressive display of power?” How can you argue with the power of heaven and earth unleashed in a mother’s prayer. Point taken. I guess I need to pray more.
We didn’t have much free time today because all the seminars ran at least an hour over their scheduled times. There is something about getting a bunch of women together in one room and when they start talking… well, it’s just hard to get them to stop, I guess. But during the afternoon break Kari and I walked around town a little and then on down to the new opera house by the fjord. It is such an incredible piece of architecture and even more impressive when standing next to it, on it, in it. I don’t know how people come up with these ideas, but this one is a doozie. It’s along the same lines as the Sydney Opera house in terms of the impact it makes to the landscape. We didn’t have time for the full blown tour but we walked around it and in it and up on top of it. It’s pretty cool, literally, as it’s all white marble and it looks completely different from every side. What a task, building that thing (see photo).
Kaleb woke me up at eight this morning, wanting to know how much time I’m using on his computer so he can adjust the costs he’s charging me accordingly. Now if I asked him how much time he’s going over his allotted one hour a day on his Nintendo all I’ll get is the standard, “Time flies when you’re having fun” response. He spent the day with his friends and is on a sleepover tonight so I’m pretty certain he’s not keeping an eye on the clock, as he expects me to do.
Kory was invited over to Odd and Turids for dinner tonight. He said he spent the day packing up a few things, as well as cleaning house and grocery shopping. I guess all those prayers I said for him really hit the target! God is good- all the time. And all the time – God is good. Hallelujah!
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