When Life throws you Mud bombs

For the last several years, my church holds an annual women’s event called “CAPTIVATE”. We are always blessed with great speakers, not the least of them being our Pastor’s wife Ginelle Payne. Or as her husband likes to call her “Nellie on Fire” because she is 100% a “firecracker” for God! Gosh I love that woman!

And while it’s always a thrill to sit at the feet of Ginelle and the other powerhouse women who speak to the theme of that year’s event – they added something new to Captivate 2019. That year, SEVEN WOMEN from our church were invited to preach for SEVEN MINUTES, completing the phrase “My one prayer for you is (insert)” in whatever way God put on their hearts to respond.

Miss Erika encouraged us to throw out the moldy spiritual bread we have been holding onto, and allow God to give us fresh (Rhema) bread to sustain us in time of need.

Miss Harelyn painted a beautiful picture for us on what it looks like to worship through the trials that are part of life.

Miss Allison invited us to embrace genuine friendship, and inspired us to pursue an intimate friendship with Jesus.

Miss Julia can preach people! She uses the acronym H*O*P*E to inspire us to never give up hope in our God!

Miss Helena candidly spoke to our struggle with performance and challenges us to not let perfectionism kill our joy, because God isn’t interested in our performance! Amen!!

Miss Joy passionately invites us to discover our true identity in Christ as His most precious treasures.

I am deeply honored to have been part of that panel of women. My prayer was and still is that we “don’t throw out the baby (with the bathwater)”. And I started off (at approx minute 12) by talking about “MUD BOMBS”.

We all experience them, don’t we! The enemy of our soul is always lurking behind shrubs lobbing mud bombs at us, hitting us on the back of the head or slamming into the small of our back. Pfft!

Other times, he is out in plain view – albiet in disguise. We think we’re in a safe environment with nice people, we let our guard down. And then SLAM! A mud bomb right to the face! WTHeck!

You get the idea.

It’s kind of amusing to me now, as I to try to recall the mud bombs of 2018 and 2019. What were they?

Loneliness? Financial pressure? Fear of failure? Doubt? Frustration?

It’s November 2021 now. We are coming out of a global pandemic, but we are not out yet. The enemy has not just been throwing Mud Bombs, he launched a global attack using automatic weapons that fire a continuous stream of Mud Bombs! Millions have died as a result of this cursed virus. Economies have been turned upside down. Thousands of businesses destroyed. Fear is rampant. Dream-Seeds have died. Distrust abounds. We are, in many ways, the walking wounded.

If any of this resonates with you, then may I invite you to listen to our “7 in 7” panel. And when the enemy throws “Mud Bombs” at you, I pray you hear the voice of the Father saying “Change the water daughter (or son), but keep the baby!”

And for MORE inspiration, please grab a cup of coffee and open your heart to hear Ginelle speak in her own words, calling us to “get up off of the mat” to fight again! And be sure to listen til the end, for she is (as she always is) on 🔥 !!!!

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