Testimony Regarding the Exodus Northeast Regional Conference, 2004

Below is something I read this morning in a book I bought at the Exodus conference. It is just a verse in the Bible that can sum up in the Words of Truth from Scripture that was given me this weekend:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
II Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

Grace and peace are in abundance over me through Christ Jesus after this weekend with God and with people who love Him so much and love me in the truth so much.

This weekend was a total Jesus Celebration, Father Celebration, Spirit Celebration, where nothing but the truth was the focus, the truth of the sacrifice of Christ for us and the truth of the reality that vulnerability about our same sex struggles is okay, because when we are weak, we are strong in Christ. We are more than conquerors when we lay it all down at the cross, lay down our thoughts of sin, our actual sin, our lusts, our swearing, and make the conscious decision that it's now time to begin growing up and to leave these things at the cross where Christ takes them up and washes them away, in the Father's eyes, from us.

It occurred to me at like 7pm last night driving home from the conference with a friend that, Hello!! I had only one issue the whole retreat with not making God the total focus, a stupid attraction in thoughts to one person, but it was so minor that God swept it away from filling my thoughts during the times that he was relevantly teaching me and speaking in me. I did not think at all about anything else painful distracting me from coming very rawly in honesty before Him during any of the meeting times this weekend. He kept me alive in Him. He allowed me to begin stating what I need and He began showing me that what I want and what I need are two completely separate things. And more importantly, what He needs for me and what He wants to give me and has given me freely are beyond great, so I need to step up and say, "Yes, I want all that stuff." Lord, thanks for making such an offering to me.

I need to give a shout of thanks to the Lord for giving me my new good friends. I need to say thanks to them also for being real with me over the entirety of this weekend and for just being there, being themselves, being vulnerable, for praying for me to step away from my weaknesses and for being ministers of the truth that we are totally more than conquerors in Christ!

A good friend described the weekend in a little note he wrote me to best sum it all up:

"We can do all things with Christ Jesus who strengtheneth us."

And in my friend's own words:

"What a Weekend! What a God! What a Life!"

Couldn't have said it better myself.