Testimony Tuesday ~ For Goodness Sake

Welcome to our very first Testimony Tuesday!! 

From now until Rise & Shine Women's Retreat '11 (October 29th), the first Tuesday of each month will be dedicated to sharing a testimony from a woman who attended the retreat.

This month we are sharing a beautiful testimony from our friend Starla Smith.

Please read Starla Smith's words below...and stick around for a GIVEAWAY at the end!!

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Starla (on the right) and her best friend, Tina, at Rise & Shine '09

For Goodness Sake by Starla Smith

Rise and Shine is a blessing to me.

My BFF and I have attended the last two years and loved it!!!

But something MORE happened this year for me.

At the end of the conference we were instructed to write ourselves a letter that would later be sent to us. I wrote it, addressed it, licked the envelope and shut it. .. and forgot about it. I didn't remember what I had written. I figured it would be revealed later the significance of doing that.

Off we went for the drive home, mulling over all the details, repeating to each other what we thought and heard within (so we can remind one another when a connection comes –so we don't miss puzzle pieces on this Holy Spirit journey train )

And we wondered why God gave us our particular fruit word –the fruit of the Spirit that is!!!

When I had left the R&S Conference I was armed with the word : GOODNESS (and I thought ME ..needing goodness…ME!!?? I'm GOOD!!!) HA!!…God was about to show me some stuff! and stretch my thinking of what is GOOD.

These sweet R & S ladies prayed this word over me months before the conference, little did I know what an impact this word would have on me. More of that in a minute…

So, Here is what I wrote to myself.

Starla,
Choose to do good.
Do the work…
What is Beneficial for yourself, for your husband, for your children?
Seek HIM in prayer about those daily things that seem to overwhelm you and let HIM be your daily portion!
See what is consuming you in thought. Is it GOOD? or BENEFICIAL to HIS work in me? and to that circle about me?
Be joyful for you are truly blessed, be thankful, cultivate it.
The Joy of the Lord is my Strength.
Starla

I got my letter in the mail. I read it. Thought HUH?? ( –ehem!! I mean selah ..lol) and tacked it up on my cork board above my desk. The other day I looked up and read it. I was AMAZED. In the months since R&S, God has brought me through situations that have cause me to have to answer these questions, and deal with these things.

(Did these ladies know that they had set up a situation for the prophetic to work in the writing hands of His Jesus Girls!!??) :0)

Now to this word GOODNESS. Not only was it all over my letter to myself and was my prayed over fruit but it would continue to BLOOM and GROW ….

CHOOSE TO DO GOOD and DO THE WORK

I found that after R & S I had entered the school for “Doing good” and I found that it is more than just smiling and being nice to people. Choosing to do good meant that I had to:

“Choose to behave like a Daughter of THE KING”...and that meant WORK!!

(Remember those dreams of being a princess, having servants, and living happily ever after … oh how we love the end result but forget the in between part!! A princess…a daughter means being a servant, loving others, and finding that this works joy into your life by not being a snobby princess---I think we learned that lesson with the element of evil step-sisters in the movie Cinderella...right??!!)

My first lesson turned out to be: Listening.

I have tried and failing and gotten up and tripped and tried again more times than I can count. But here is what God said to me: Say what I say, Go where I say go, Do what I say do! Have you ever tried to do this?? It is HARD. Sometimes it meant saying what I didn't want to say because I was afraid to say it. Or to Go where I was afraid to go. Or to Do what I was afraid I couldn't do.

“Doing Good” meant Listening to God. OUCH! ( you mean, I wasn't listening well??! :0/ ) I wasn't expecting that (because I was so good you know?!)…but what blessings have come. The relationships restored, the ability to be a blessing and be blessed, and I am stepping into places I had only dreamt that I could reach.

WHAT IS BENEFICIAL FOR YOU, YOUR HUSBAND and YOUR CHILDREN?

Beneficial means helpful, meeting needs, kindness. This one was hard for the HOUSEWIFE in me when I reread this.

(I was like WHAT!!, I do all that!?) But the truth is I am a lounge around in the house kind of gal. Yes, my house is clean and the laundry gets done and put away eventually. But I like to read, write, and listen to music. They are my favorite things. So I was LESS than ACTIVE. Exercise was NOT in my vocabulary and I didn't want to look it up either. Well back to that Go where I say go thing : I joined the gym. I LOVE IT!!! I have a lot more energy. I think better. I am not as stressed. It was HELPFUL to me…and my love life. I feel better about me and so I don't hid from him because I am feeling embarrassed if you get what I mean? So this one was “doing good” for MEETING NEEDS also. And for my kids... Momma was not, as my son says to me (because I said it to him) being “driven nuts” anymore. I was able to be more calm. Instead of being a drill sergeant and commanding my 12 year old to MOVE IT when she was not getting her chores done or wasn't ready for school, I began to ask and be more patient. ( training of the mind is also needed here…exercise alone didn't do that but definitely helped in the CALM department. Oh how I wish being patient was as easy as excersize. ..lol ) and I learned how to answer the infamous 3 year old question “BUT WHY MOMMY?” with because sweetheart ….. in a teaching and loving tone instead of “BECAUSE I SAID SO!” grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! ( anyone been there!!?)

Seek HIM in prayer about those daily things that seem to overwhelm you and let HIM be your daily portion!

See what is consuming you in thought. Is it GOOD? or BENEFICIAL to HIS work in me? and to that circle about me?

These two go together…

Learning to pray always about those little things… anger, irritations, racing thoughts, worries, hurts, and other peoples problems and issues. Doing this daily allows me the freedom to become a NON-VOLCANO!! It is wonderful!! Trusting that God can take care of anything better then I can. (What can we do with it anyway? - if we are hanging on to it –it ends up in the mind recycler and just drives us crazy!) Better to give it to God. Do what you can and let God do the rest. Learning this has given me less drama, less anxiety and MORE PEACE and JOY! A big part of this was reading the book THE GIFT IN YOU by Dr. Caroline Leaf and I started her second book called WHO SWITCHED OFF MY BRAIN? These books are all about how you think, how the thought life affects the body and what to do, to think well to be well. These books have been amazing tools in this part of my learning process. Gaining knowledge of what these thoughts do to the body, emotions, and soul has allowed me understanding that fueled change.

Be joyful for you are truly blessed, be thankful, cultivate it.

The Joy of the Lord is my Strength.

Just being thankful, allowing myself to see the blessings that I have in God. He has given me everything. Even Himself. I began to praise more, worship more, adore Him more. Realizing that the JOY of the LORD is my STRENGTH. There is A LOT you can deal with if you have JOY! Its not about "acting happy" its about PRAISING WHO HE IS even in the middle of a mess. He just starts to fill you up when you trust it is the right thing to do.

Life is not easy. We all go through valleys, cross rivers, climb mountains, suffer drought, famine, and even encounter death but through it all, this GOD who loves us…LOVES US ABUNDANTLY!!

Since R&S conference I have joined them in praying for the ladies who serve, those who will minister to us, and for those who will come next year. If you haven't been :

FOR GOODNESS SAKE - COME GET YOUR SOCKED BLESSED OFF YOUR FEET

AND FIND THAT WHEN YOU GET HOME YOU HAVE BEEN WASHED IN THE WORD,

ENCOUNTERED CHRIST AND MEET SOME AMAZING WOMEN!

For those of you, who have enjoyed the pleasure of attending R&S …I know I will see you there again.

Until then…

Starla Smith

To connect with Starla, you can visit her blog by clicking here.

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We are so incredibly grateful for what God did in Starla's heart at Rise & Shine '09 and '10..and what He has continued to do since!!  He answers our prayers!  He deserves all the glory, all the praise and all of honor! 

Thank you, Starla, for sharing such a personal part of yourself...and encouraging each of us to "Rise up" and "Shine" as daughters of the King!

Looking forward to what the Lord will do at Rise & Shine Women's Retreat '11!  We are praying and believing that women will once again be blessed by what takes place that day.  We are especially looking forward to hearing Susie Larson, our Rise & Shine '11 guest speaker, share with us!  We know she is going to share messages that are powerful, relevant and encouraging to women in all stages of life!

To enter to WIN a copy of Susie Larson's, message

"The Uncommon Woman" on CD 

(believe us, you want this CD!!),

answer ONE of the following questions,

either by posting a comment here on the blog

or on the link to this post on Facebook. 

How did you relate to Starla's testimony?

or

What was your favorite aspect of Rise & Shine '09 or '10?

or

Why do you want to attend Rise & Shine '11?

We will announce the winner on Friday, June 10th...so come back to check that out. Better yet, sign up (in the right hand sidebar) to receive e-mail announcements each  time we post on our blog, so you'll never miss a thing!  :)

Then, don't forget to join us next month for Testimony Tuesday on the first Tuesday of the month, July 5th.

(If you have a testimony you would like to share, please e-mail us at riseandshineretreat@yahoo.com)