Meetings Big and Small

Many women travelled hours by bus or car to attend the meetings. They gave three to four hours of their valuable time to enjoy worship, listen to my teaching on Kitchen Table Counseling, a Q & A session and a time of prayer ministry. Many stayed beyond that to have their books signed, fellowship with friends or to have a private question answered.

In this picture I am not pouring myself a glass of water but giving them an example of what it means to have our lives "hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3

The church meetings ranged in size from 250 to over 700 women. The women were attentive and many took copious notes, something that surprised and pleased the organizers of the events. At every meeting hundreds of women streamed forward for prayer. I couldn't pray individually for each one, so I walked among the crowd, touching their, heads, arms, or shoulders as I prayed, lifting them up to the Father. You can't see them, but there were many tears. I told them that I couldn't go home with them but Jesus does. Please pray that God will continue the work that He started in their lives through those times of prayer ministry.

Many women shared that the questions they had been asking of God were answered during the teaching and Q & A times. Nearly every woman passed a question forward. Imagine have close to 700 questions and only a half hour to try to address them! My hostess would start me on a question that applied to a broad section of the group and try to find others among the piles that would answer some of the bigger questions that women carry.

Many women were dealing with unfaithful husbands, rebellious children, children or spouses threatening suicide, or recovering from the loss of a loved one due to suicide, etc... There were single mother, many single women longing for a spouse, tragic illnesses, unfaithful ministers of the gospel whose sin had splashed on many....and on and on. The pain that women carry is enormous.

The smallest meeting was in a violent, poor section of Santiago, the capital city of Chile, where God is raising up a light through a Baptist church plant. About 20 women came, nearly half had never been to the church before. The faithful church attenders accompanied the non-believers in following me in the sinners prayer. The group was so small that we let them ask questions rather than writing them. One woman with hard tears and gritted teeth told how she was angry with God for letting her Christian husband die, leaving her with a son in prision, a daughter living with her home with small children and trying to provide for the family. The other women watched and listened as I wept with her and did some "Kitchen Table Counseling." Before we finished, I crossed the room, got on my knees, put my arms around her and let her sob as I told her how sorry I was and how God grieved for her too. Afterwards she told me that she had come so upset and she was leaving with great peace. She said, "I don't know when I will give my heart to Jesus." and I replied, "Don't wait, don't wait." One reason I had everyone repeat the salvation prayer was so that they would know how to do it. For those believers, I felt it was important that we all affirm what we have chosen to stand on. I am praying for that grieving wife and mother and trust that soon, if not already, she will give herself to Christ.

The woman with crutches that you see in the picture, needed some encouragement as to how to teach her family to consider her and her needs because of her disability. She was excited and encouraged by the spiritual and practical ideas I shared with her.