Speaking at Easter celebration for women

On March 25, I was the speaker at Easter celebration for women. It was a glorious day that turned out much better than I expected. God prepared me for this event several months in advance. 

End December me and husband went for our 10^th wedding anniversary trip. Our first flight took us to Singapore. Once the plane was in the air, I started to feel inspiration and saw myself as speaker at women’s Easter eveni that I knew we will be holding. Speaker was not chosen yet, but I felt already that God started to impress on my heart message for women at this occasion. Upon return, I shared with one of leaders at our women’s ministry that God has been giving me desire to speak at the event. She felt that the way I experienced this was from God and said: “You will be the speaker!”

Over the next couple of months, I was dropping down some ideas, Bible verses and examples little by little in a Word document. At first, I felt I won’t share personally much, but towards the end God reminded me of some powerful experiences with Him that I have had and I felt guided to include those in the speech as well. We also had agreed that a more experienced speaker from aside will have a look at my content and give some feedback. However, there was no answer, which was probably connected to her moving of apartments. Few days before event, I sent my speech to a lady from our group who has some speaking experience in similar contexts. She returned to me with some valuable suggestions, which were incorporated just the day before the event.

During preparation, God gave me a special and very concrete encouragement from the book “Experiencing the heart of Jesus” by Max Lucado that we are currently studying in our women’s group. It greatly ministered to another woman who was about to perform a dramatic monologue at the event and was fighting nervous sweating even thinking of it: “Peter faced the growing crowds, waiting for the milling mob to settle down enough so he would be heard. He should be fighting butterflies in his stomach and nervous doubts. There he was, ready to address this great assembly. He was no orator. He had no prior experience. Even so, Peter stood calmly. He was no slave to the doubts that tried to plague his mind. He was free in Christ, and nothing could turn him away from telling these people the truth – the wonderful good news. So Peter cleared his throat and lifted his voice. The crowds fell into rapt silence as the words poured out over them. Words of life. Words of hope. Words of salvation. An invitation to freedom.” (based on Acts 2,14)

I did not sleep too well the night before event due to some disturbances with kids, but nevertheless got ready and went timely to the hotel which hosted the event. I had good time with those I had invited and some friends from groups I attend. We had a beautiful backdrop of open cave facing towards hill of crosses and rising sun. Several ladies worked hard to make table arrangements with wonderful decorations and handout materials. It looked like entering a wedding place.

The event started and I felt I gained strength in praise songs. We had gathered over 100 persons, students and children included. When my turn came and I stepped on the stage, I felt amazing. Words came out smoothly and confidently, and it had almost supernatural flow. I am sure that this was effect of many prayers over event and the stage. As I shared, I felt the audience was also totally silent in concentration. Towards the end, I saw tears in many eyes. I was talking on the topic of how crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus relates to our walking in the newness of life, which we had chosen as the theme of the event (based on Romans 6,4). Dozens of women approached me afterwards to thank for sharing and some said they will take my personal experiences for their own relationship with Jesus. All in all, the speaking experience and feedback I got certainly overtook my expectations. “It was God!” - said our main organizer from the stage just after my speech. “We felt so loved by Jesus and you took us into Holy of Holies. The silence after prayer in the room was electric,” commented another woman in our team. A friend said to me she believes my speech impacted many lives that day.

Afterwards, I felt quite tired as if I had been doing heavy physical work. Some other ladies in our organizing team also shared that feeling, and one said that certainly more was happening in the spiritual realm then we could see with our eyes. I also later had a feeling like I had been pushing back spiritual darkness in superhuman strength. It was wonderful to proclaim freedom and be free in that myself. I believe, as it was also said by our leader, that this is just the beginning and there will be more opportunities for me to minister this way. The text of speech at women’s Easter celebration will be published in upcoming blog entries.