Behind The Scenes & A Little Revelation

This semester Beth Moore has been going through Revelation during our Tuesday night Bible Study. It has been riveting to say the least. I know so many of you have been asking me how it was and most times I don’t have a reply for you because it’s just that hard to explain. But lucky for you, they are selling this series starting now on the Living Proof Website. If I were you, I’d get my hands on it pronto.

However, last night as we got started, I got to thinking about a few things. So many nights I just wish all of you could come join us at bible study. We always start out with praise and worship, and then get into our study. It is so neat to watch that thousands of ladies worship together even though we all come from different walks of life, seasons of life and generations. It’s truly something that can’t be explained and I know anyone that goes to Tuesday Night Bible Study would agree. What makes it so unique and neat is that it’s not something that just happens every few weeks or months, but that worship happens weekly. Weekly we gather together as fellow believers for one reason. To worship our Jesus. The Spirit is so welcomed there. As Beth said last night, I think God really likes Tuesday nights. And I so agree.

That’s just one part of it though.

The other part that you don’t see is the actual taping of the series.

I don’t know diddly squat about what goes on after a series is wrapped up, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s far more than I could probably imagine. Just the work that goes into taping it makes me want to sweat a little.

Everything and I do mean everything has to be set and ready to go in order for you to get a copy in your hands. You get the finished, polished product. You don’t actually see what goes on behind the scenes.

I may not see what goes on behind the scenes either, but I can guarantee you that during Tuesday night bible study, I have sat through many a taping and the minute one thing goes wrong, everything is put on hold.

Take for instance last night.

Sweet Beth had literally just said about 10 words when her microphone went all wonky. It was a doing a little echo sound which in return sounded like a little jig. Immediately she stopped talking and the crew went to work on fixing whatever issue was at hand.

For the time being, Beth was having a little conversation with the people in front that could hear her and the rest of us just sat waiting patiently. When they finally got her microphone working, we had to start over again. Thankfully, like I said, she’d only said about 10 words but we were all so tickled, as was she.

We had to begin again like nothing ever happened. Like everything was a-okay.

Of course just getting off of the retreat chaos, my mind immediately resorted to this past weekend because that is exactly what my retreat was about.

Behind the Scenes was the theme and we just talked about how all of us (myself included) go about doing our day to day things, making it look like everything is fine and dandy, when in reality, we have more going on behind that smile, outfit or joke than we ever care to admit to. We put on a façade that leaves us terribly empty and void of living a life to the full, yet everyone thinks we are just fine. And we like them to think that everything is just fine.

The retreat was amazing! Everything about it went so smoothly and the girls responded so well to the weekend.

Four girls accepted Christ which was just enough to send me over the edge. I was so overwhelmed watching those girls worship our Jesus. I want them to “get it” so bad. I want them to fall head over heels in love with our Jesus and my prayer is that they see that in my life. I want it to be contagious and genuine. No, I am not perfect and am so far from it, but I do love Him. And I love that He knows what He’s doing with my life.

My prayer for them the whole weekend was that there would be a paradigm shift in their thinking. That they would know that there is freedom and acceptance to be real with the Lord and with each other when everything is not going okay.

I don’t think its okay to raise up a generation and train them in thinking that they need to always have it together. Not, it’s not okay. Life is hard. We sin. We go through stinky situations. And the truth is, we can’t do it alone and we can’t ignore the fact that our life isn’t perfect.

So many of the girls, I think, got that this weekend. They are perfectly loved by God and since they are perfectly loved by Him, they have nothing to lose when it comes to being authentic and genuine in how they live their lives. I pray they got it. During the retreat I was overwhelmed to the point that I could have bawled. I cannot believe I get to do what I get to do. I can’t believe the Lord would let lil’ ole me serve these precious teenage girls. I don’t take it for granted one bit. He deserves and is so worthy of all of my praise. His grace is more than I can fathom.

So, in a few weeks when you get the new Revelation series on DVD, don’t think for one second that those sessions were recorded with no bumps. There is so much more going on behind the scenes than you’ll ever see. Fortunately, that’s how it goes in the process of making a DVD series.

Unfortunately, we like to let it fool us. That is not how it should go down in our real lives. We are so good at fooling people it’s scary. I’m afraid I fool myself sometimes!

If you prayed for the retreat, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. They were so heard, appreciated and answered. The Lord is so good and has overwhelmed me with His goodness. He knows what He’s doing, y’all. I can’t manipulate one thing, but I can certainly pray that I’m serving and encouraging a generation to live in front of the scenes instead of behind it. And I can strive to be one, imperfect example of that.

You never really know what is going on behind the scenes. Because things really aren't always what they seem.

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.”And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” Psalm 32:1-5