Moriah's Story and GIVEAWAY winner!!

Welcome to this very special edition of Testimony Tuesday. Not only do I get to share a testimony from Rise & Shine Women's Retreat with you, I also get to announce the BIG WINNER of our giveaway!! We wish we could give 2 free registrations to each of you, but we had to pick just one winner! We couldn't choose, so we used http://www.random.org/ to pick for us.

And the WINNER of two free registrations (one for you and one for a friend) is...

Congratulations Rachel Kauten (and her mom Miriam)!!!

(Expect an e-mail soon with details)

Our 2nd place winner gets a “Susie Larson Bundle”~ 1 copy of Susie Larson's message “The Uncommon Woman” on CD and 1 copy of her book “Balance That Works When Life Doesn't”

and the winner is... lin.smith@dnhcsd.org !

Our 3rd place winner gets a copy of Susie Larson's message “The Uncommon Woman” on CD

and the winner is... Robin!

Congratulations ladies! We hope to see all of our reading friends there on Saturday, October 29th! Remember to get the best registration rate you must register before Saturday, October 8th!
To print a registration form click here.

Now, on to Testimony Tuesday...

Today I am sharing Moriah's Story:

Strangely Moriah's testimony is intertwined with a testimony of my own. Let me explain.

The first time I heard about 14 year old Moriah was weeks before Rise & Shine Women's Retreat '10 when Moriah's loving mom, Cheryl, left a comment on our Giveaway post. Last year we also gave away two registrations...and Cheryl entered to win one for her and her daughter. Cheryl shared that their family had moved to Iowa only the year before. Although the move was a blessing, Moriah had faced some challenges that are typical for girls in high school. Cheryl shared only a few details and her longing for Moriah to feel comfortable and confident in who she is in Christ. The first time I read Cheryl's comment, my heart went out to Moriah. I prayed for her right then and there.

A few weeks later I saw Cheryl and Moriah's registrations come in the mail. It put a big smile on my face. They didn't win the giveaway, but they were coming!

Last year we prayed over every woman who attended Rise & Shine Women's Retreat specifically by name. We prayed many things for them...for their spiritual walk, for their relationships, etc. We also wanted to pray specific Scripture over each of them specifically by name. We felt directed to Galatians 5:22-23, The Fruit of the Spirit.  “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS and SELF-CONTROL.”

As registrations came in, we prayed the Lord would direct our hands to assign their names to a specific “fruit” that would be especially meaningful to them. Although we didn't know many of them women who were attending, we knew God did (and does) and He knew right where their names needed to be on that list. It seemed we were doing it randomly, but we know God doesn't do anything randomly, He is specific and personal! Boy, did He show Himself faithful to answer!

It really struck me that Moriah's name ended up under “Faithfulness”! In fact, one day when a few ladies and I were praying together for the women who would attend Rise & Shine, I mentioned to the others how this struck me...and we all prayed for her an extra length of time. Moriah's name stood out to us every time we prayed after that.

Rise & Shine '10 was wonderful! Lysa TerKeurst was our guest speaker. I knew God had answered our prayers. Still, I never got to meet 14 year old Moriah and I wondered what God did in her heart that day. I decided to e-mail her mom, Cheryl several days after the retreat.

Here is Cheryl's response:


Thank you, thank you for your faithfulness in praying for Moriah and myself. I have to tell you how I first heard about your retreat. I had been desiring (for some time) to attend a women's conference. So I looked on the P31 schedule site and found Rise & Shine. I was very confident that the Lord had led me to that and I was even more confident that God was going to do something really great in Moriah's life as well as mine. So I prayed and prayed (and you all prayed and prayed) and as expected...the Lord truly answered the cries of our hearts! He is so Good and FAITHFUL!!

I also was amazed when I saw that "Faithfulness" was the fruit of the Spirit that Moriah came under. You see, her middle name is Faith....& years ago when we were choosing her name, Faith jumped out at us so strongly and this was, has been, and is our prayer for her! She was also struck by this too!

Let me tell you about the work the Lord is doing in Moriah. Four years ago, November 5th, Moriah made a profession of faith in Christ, prayed the prayer, was baptized. Brian (her daddy) is a pastor, so she has 'heard it all' and seen the truth of Christ and His Word lived out in Brian and myself, but yet we never witnessed a real change in her, no evidence of Christ at work in her life, although she had all the 'right' answers to most of the questions you'd ask her. I realize only God knows her heart, whether she is a true follower of Christ or not.

As I found your retreat I knew that I was going to take Moriah and when I asked her about going she seemed really excited (kind of surprised! she's a teen you know!). So Moriah and I and another mom and teen daughter from church came on Sat morning. After Lysa's first session, Moriah turned around and looked at me with such conviction and tears. She talked and did a lot of confessing about the 'double life' she is living at school, bad language, thoughts, ideas, and choices and asked for forgiveness and said "as soon as I get home, I'm going to take all the garbage music off my i-pod" (something we have asked her to do since she bought it last December). We talked about her relationship with Christ and her need to 'grow up into maturity in Him' and not remain a baby.


She seemed to respond to God's leading with absolute obedience, but Brian and I were somewhat reluctant, waiting to see if these were just words or truly a 'heart' change. I am exceedingly joyful to tell you that we have both seen a great change in Moriah. She is in the Word daily and reading Lysa's (TerKeurst) "More than a good Bible Study Girl" and we have seen evidence of Christ at work in her life daily! It is amazing how just the change of one persons life in our home has created a more gentle environment. You see, we have 2 more daughters (younger than Moriah) and they were usually constantly bickering or fighting about something. But now there is a peace and gentleness throughout the house (Most of the time!! We are all still sinners, saved by God's Marvelous Grace!!).


So once again thank you!

Wow! Lord, you are soooo good!! You faithfully hear and faithfully answer!! Thank you for answering our prayers (and Cheryl's prayers too) for this precious young lady, Moriah, (and many other women) last year.

Thank you, Cheryl and Moriah, for sharing your Testimony with us and giving God the glory! 

We are anxiously anticipating all God will do at Rise & Shine Women's Retreat '11!! This year we are praying Promises from Scripture over each woman who registers to attend. We pray YOU will join us...and be blessed on Satruday, October 29th!! Our guest speaker, Susie Larson, will focus on our theme "Making An Ordinary Life Extraordinary"! We are thanking the Lord in advance for all He will do!

Maybe you have a teenage daughter you would like to take to Rise & Shine Women's Retreat '11! Did you know there is a student discount in place this year? Check the details out here. Remember ALL women (even young women)...women of ALL ages, in ALL stages and from ALL places are welcome to attend!!

Lovingly,
Rachel (and the whole R&S team)