Wow. Wow. Just got back from Beth Moore’s Living Proof event in Richmond. Not only did I get to see her teach for the first time, I also had the great honor of serving on the prayer team..praying with women who wanted to come forward to receive encouragement. It was amazing. This is the dollar-store version (read: cheap), because it would take me all night to try and recap those three great hours of teaching. But here’s some highlights:

Check out my second row seat, and the awesome blue Wal-Mart vest on my fellow “encourager” (prayer team):

During praise and worship time:

Now some teaching points:

1. Did you know that in John 1:1-18, Jesus is described eight different ways. This is followed by eight different miracles that point to believing that Jesus is God. Each of those eight names of Jesus would absolutely sing to the Jewish people who knew the Old Testament: that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are evidence of the fact that God “made his dwelling among us.”  That Jesus truly was the embodiement of God, that John 1:18 says Jesus “made [God] known,” meaning Jesus is the translation of God’s glory…if we want to know God, we need to know Jesus. Awesome.

2. I loved finding out that the Greek word for “made his dwelling among us” translates as the tabernacle or God “tabernacled among us.” In the Old Testament book of Exodus, God leads his people out of slavery and when He is going to make his dwelling among them, He tells them to build him a tabernacle (like a tent). The people of John’s time would get this, they would understand that what John is saying is that Jesus is the glory of God “tabernacled” in a person. He is the living, breathing “tent” of God.

3. All of this just speaks to the perfection of scripture…the amazing depth and mind-boggling intricacies that we could spend a whole life studying and only graze the surface of God’s mystery, majesty and magnificence.

4. Jesus stretched out his arms toward grace and truth. Too much truth = legalism, too much grace = license. We  need to return to Jesus as our middle if we are to grasp both of these. We need him to keep us holding onto both.

Other cool stuff:

I got to pray with women who came forward to receive prayer. I returned to my seat to scribble down their names, and even tonight I’m overwhelmed by their burdens. Infertility. Life Transitions. Job Loss. Homelessness. A teenage girl, foster child, recovering from sexual abuse. It breaks my heart to even write this down but renews my desire to pray for these women by name in the coming week. Jesus can dispel even the deepest darkness, the thickest shame and the strongest despair. What an  honor to witness the peace of the Holy Spirit resting on this beautiful women.

Check out this picture: at the end of the night during the final worship time, these girls rushed the stage. I was standing right behind them so I couldn’t see what their shirts said, but I’m guessing they spelled something out (very organized girls! like a regular cheering squad!) Whatever it was, Beth turned around on the platform and caught a glance and just had to march over, slide off the four foot stage, jump the barrier and come sing with them. She had her arms wrapped around them and then she motioned for them to huddle up with her on the floor while she prayed with them. I loved it. I loved her even more, for her genuineness, for her ability to minister even in a moment’s time with those girls.

Woooe, what a weekend! Want to give a shout-out to my girls Anne Gaskill and Katrina Sinift who had me visit over on their blogs yesterday. Anne is a great photographer and captures the joy of everyday life in her family, and Katrina blogs about God, life and writing (I particularly like this post on “If I Came With An Owner’s Manual”) 

Thanks, my bloggity friends, for the visit! Now, off to continue to digest the teaching from this weekend. Quote of the night from Beth Moore “you gotta eat it before you tweet it.” I’m just doin what I’m told!