“My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him.”  Psalm 28:7 (NKJV)

I love how my Lord will assure us when we need it.  In a couple weeks, I will be speaking, along with four other wonderful ladies, at The Warrior Event presented by Encouragement Cafe.  This will be my first time speaking at an event like this.  Teaching Sunday School or community college classes to a small group of people was nerve wracking enough for me, so I am presently scared to death.  In the process of preparing for the event, I’ve worried that I’m writing down things to say from my own thoughts instead of hearing from the Lord.  My prayer is that God will be speaking through me the words that He wants the ladies that are there to hear, not my words.  As I have strived to make sure I’m following the Lord’s leading, God has graciously given me confirmation multiple times.

One day God’s presence became so overwhelming, I had to keep stopping what I was doing, my eyes filling with tears, to take the opportunity just to praise God.  I told the Lord I didn’t know what He was up to, but that I praised Him for it.  I needed that time of just feeling His presence to calm my anxious heart.  Later that day, I finally got the opportunity to call our Encouragement Café’s prayer line, on which our prayer warrior, Mary Kay, records a prayer each morning. That day she had referred to this verse:

“The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”  Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)

In the course of her prayer, she asked the Lord to be with us, to allow us to feel Him rejoicing over us.  Was that prayer by a Godly woman the reason God’s presence was so real to me that day?    All I know is that my Sovereign God spent some time with me, giving me the assurance of the words He is preparing for me to speak.

The past few months, there have been other moments when my Pastor and my Sunday School teachers have made comments that were almost, word for word, things my Lord has been speaking to me.  On Wednesday night, our worship leader led us in the song, “Shout to the Lord.”  We have not sung that song in quite a while.  It took me back to the first women’s event I ever attended.  It was at a large coliseum and there were several thousand women there.  When we stood and sang that song, I had goose bumps.  It was awesome hearing all those ladies, lifting our voices in praise as one body, one voice.  I told my Lord then that I wanted to be a part of something like that.  Now here, years later, through a song we haven’t sung in quite a while, God is reminding me and giving consent to my heart’s desire.

There have been other things that have happened, giving me opportunity to praise Him for His presence, His faithfulness, and his confirmation of where I am.  Please know I am not seeking recognition or accolades for speaking at an event.  I just know how God has spoken to me before at events like this.  And I pray that God will use me, speak through me, and move in the hearts of the women who will be there. I want each lady to leave at the end of the day in awe of what the Lord, not me, spoke to her personally.

I also want to stress this truth.  God has given me confirmation and affirmation by using the obedience of others.  Mary Kay is a true woman of God who knows the Lord intimately and prays powerfully for those who God puts in her life and brings to her mind. Pastor Stoney, and my teachers, Kenny and Tim, are all Godly men that speak the words God places on their hearts.  Monica allows the Lord to guide her as she selects the music that leads our church into corporate worship.  Through these individuals, God has worked and spoken to me.  Yes, I spend time with my Savior in His Word and in prayer, and I have had wonderful moments alone with Him.  But it is humbling and fills me with awe that He will use others to give additional proof of what He wants me to do.  But it also makes me wonder — am I being obedient enough to God, so that I may be doing something, saying something, that God is using to confirm some matter in someone else’s life?  I pray that I am. 

What about you?  May we all be obedient and sensitive to His leading. When He prompts us to do something, when He leads us to speak a word to someone, we may just be offering words of confirmation to someone’s heart that they have been praying for. 

“I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.”  Psalm 9:1 NKJV