Joel 2:28

"And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions." -Joel 2:28

I've been praying this verse for me and my family over the last few weeks. You know I've had this feeling (as you can tell from the Matters of Life and Death post) that I'm not taking hold of all that God has for me, and I so want to change that. I want to be walking as closely to God as I can, hearing everything He wants to say to me, seeing visions of all He wants to bring forth in my life and the lives of my children, dreaming dreams of what He wants to birth in our lives. I believe Scripture tells me there are certain things He has for each of us to do, if we will listen to Him:

 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" -Romans 12:2

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him. . . Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." -1 Corinthians 2:9, 12

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." -2 Corinthians 9:8

"For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." -Philippians 2:13

So anyway, the Spirit impressed upon me a desire to get on with this abundant life that's full of plans and good works that God has prepared for me. And God is totally rocking my world with ideas and plans! A dear friend of mine recently planted a vision in my head about forming a small group of families within the church to serve each other on a regular basis, much like the old "barn raisings" where families helped each other build, repair, harvest, etc. We're putting that plan into action. I'm SO PUMPED about it! I've also recently been placed on a task force at church that's part of the Building Faith at Home ministry. I've been tasked with planning a church-wide trip to The Creation Museum in Kentucky. I'm telling you, if this had come from anywhere but God, I would be overwhelmed and heavy burdened by it. Instead I'm thrilled and can't wait to see this thing come together!! I've also been so blessed by the Above Rubies ministry (www.aboverubies.org), that I'm beginning talks with their ministry about bringing an Above Rubies retreat to Alabama. Wow, God!! I thought He might stop after the millions of tiny ideas He's planted in my head about ways to get Scripture into our kids' brains. Nope. That was awesome, now we're ready for a higher step. Wow. God is so good. Please stop and listen to God. He has so many wonderful things planned, and He's just waiting for us to ask Him about it.