Remembering…

As usual, Friday morning usually brings a weekend random blog. Mostly because I am usually heading out to speak or otherwise occupied getting ready for something pertaining to the weekend.

Today I am preparing my heart for the Design4Living Conference. And, as I reflect on the conference, it’s beginnings, and it’s sixth year to be held today…I am humbly amazed at God’s power to do restorative work in our lives.

You see, for those who don’t know, Design4Living was the name I gave the women’s ministry that I led, as a young pastor’s wife, many years ago in Bakersfield, CA. I liked the idea that God had a design for our lives, thus Design for Living!

We ran our Bible Study program through that name, and when I left that church in 1989, I was given it back…logo, anything written, advertised, recorded, whatever. All given back to me.  The women said, it was my vision and God would use it again someday...Right!!! I knew better.

I saw myself as a loser, a pastor’s wife whose husband did not love her. A woman who had failed. An embarrassment to God’s kingdom. Use anything I ever had vision for again? NOT! No way! My God was not that big. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my God was only as big as my ability to perfect and control my own life…In the name of Jesus! Ouch!

But, years into my healing process, and back in ministry in 1997, I began writing Bible studies for women, and when they were unexpectedly accepted for publication, I had to have a business license to sell the study books.  After much thought…I remembered the women giving it all back to me…Design for Living...I remembered the night I threw it all in the trash can…Design for Living…and I realized that it was His Design, to heal and restore every broken place in my life and in the lives of the women I felt called to minister to.

With that, I checked the business name search and found that I could not have Design for Living, as it was a decorating firm. But, I could have Design4Living, which I instantly knew was a God thing.

Why? Because, coming out of the divorce and depression, God began healing me with His Love for me. It came in the form of 4 core truths out of Psalm 139: He Knows Me, He Protects Me, He Made Me, and He Values Me.

He had also given me a 4 part life mission statement: Created BY HIM, Created FOR HIM, Created to LOVE HIM and Created to Love Others!

There were 4’s everywhere. So, Design 4 Living became significant to my heart and now the ministry God has called me to.

And, what is it? It is a ministry to support and encourage God’s people on their spiritual journey. This is done through teaching how to Live Up!

Living Up is:

• Living Under the Power and Promises of God

rather than

• Living Under the Pressure of our Problems.

It is a ministry of choosing the truth of God’s word and God’s way over my own selfish nature. It is a ministry of learning what it means to walk as HIS above all else.

And, just as a decorator works on the interior design of a house, God was busy at work on the interior design of my Heart…and still is today!

Well…better be going, there is a PARTY this weekend at Cornerstone Fellowship! There is a conference starting at 6:30 tonight. God’s girls are going to be refreshed, encouraged, and taught truth. God’s girls are going to worship and laugh. God’s girls are going to grow another step of faith. God’s girls are going to please God with their presence, their worship and their love.

Hallelujah! Get the Party Started.

Gotta Feeling…that tonight’s gonna be a good, good, night!

Trusting in His Design,

Debbie