Family Friendly Wednesday: Hillsong Conference - Healthy Homes (Part One)

I need to apologize for this blog post being a day late. I had it written and ready to go for you all, and clicked 'publish', but didn't realise until now that it didn't actually publish! So sorry about that! Here's the post for yesterday, hope you enjoy! ...


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The speakers in the 'Healthy Home' elective at Hillsong Conference this year spoke to us about how we can be more effective in our families in our day to day lives. I thought that I would share some of my notes from this session with you.

 

The most pertinent point that they made was:

generosity is the key to a healthy home.

 

Are we generous in our homes with:
 

our respect?

our trust?

giving praise?

giving our time?

our listening?

our teaching?

 

We were encouraged to have an excellent generous spirit.

Generosity is not about us.

 A wise man (or woman) devises ways to be generous! How beautiful is that?! We have the opportunity to purposefully plan ways to actively show generosity to those in our own homes to the glory of God.

To live with a readiness to give.

 

Reminders of simple, yet vital practises were given.

 

Be an active listener - for someone to be heard is a way of esteeming, respecting and honouring them.

 

Give eye contact when you speak with family members; this shows that you have a sincere desire to hear the other persons heart.

 

When you are an effective listener and you give eye contact, you can really hear how that person is thinking and feeling and be more able to guide them.

 

Generosity flies in the face of self.

 

As we sew into our families generously, we reap so much more than we can ever imagine.

 

We need to do whatever we can to show our husbands we love them.

 

She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

Prov 31:12

 

 

We need to be generous within the house in every area and for everyone within the home.

 

What a beautiful privilege we have as wives and mothers! To be daily showing (with God's help) generosity to our family members and providing tangible ways for them to know we love them.

What do you think about their advice? Would any of it be helpful to your beautiful family like it has been for mine?

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Here's a couple more photo's I made with Instacollage of Conference ... did I mention it was a brilliant time?!

 

Have a fabulously generous week!
 Part two will follow in the next couple of weeks in Family Friendly Wednesday! Would love to have you stop by.

 

I Heard You Lord

While I was at Hillsong in a 'Creative Team Night Elective' the lady who heads up the writers guild (whose name eludes me) was talking about ... well, writing! She encouraged us to write daily, to love writing, to keep writing, reading, learning and speaking words (I've got that part covered!) She told us to write with purpose to represent God's glory. To not bury our gift under a tree. She encouraged us to bring what we've got and give it to the Lord. Then she said something that stopped me in my tracks; I felt like the only person in the room. She said to 'blog as an act of worship even if I think no one reads it'. I heard you Lord. I have felt like giving up on this blog many times, actually thinking that it's 'silly and petty' to keep writing here. I don't get much feedback and it has lead to doubt of it's effectiveness, but now I am assured that I am to do this, for His glory alone, and hope and pray that someone hears His heart through my words.

 

Inspiration Overload (Hillsong Conference Sydney Part One)

Well, I am back from Hillsong Conference at Sydney, and I have been blown away, to say the least. I was so inspired and so challenged. It was exhausting and yet beautifully refreshing. I enjoyed going with a larger group (the music team from Church) this time because it was so good having the time to get to know these people even more for who they really are. There was so much laughing and encouraging and friendships were strengthened.

I  want share with you some of the amazing things that we heard from the brilliant preachers that were there. I took pages upon pages of notes (as we all did) and now I have the great job of sifting through them all and letting it sink in deeply so it can be applied and lived out in my life (only with His help!) We all felt it was 'inspiration and information overload', but we weren't complaining!

God really spoke to me in new and fresh ways over the week, and for this I am so thankful. He is an amazing God who loves us all and I feel so privileged to come home and share these things with all of you! So bare with me as I find my way through my notes (while drinking many cups of tea no doubt) and work out how to possibly do justice to the amazing revelations God spoke to us through His servants. I've learnt so much through His words to me, that I can't not share these things with you. I have no idea how may parts there will be to these posts! I'm just letting God lead; there may be one, there may be ten, I just don't know! 

I do hope though that as you read the posts that you see past me to Him and what He is saying to you; after all, it's not about me or any of us, it's all about Him.

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In the words of Fraulein Maria, "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start".
The conference began with us hearing a short word from Bobbie Houston (one of the founding pastors of Hillsong Church). She spoke about 'For the Sake of Thy Kingdom Come'.

Isaiah 54:3   For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

Bobbie stated that we 'don't raise children to hold on to them - we have to release them to walk the destiny path set for them'.

I searched the meaning of the word 'release' in my dictionary (this is one of my favourite things to do while studying) and by definition it means to: free from bondage; from anything that restrains; to allow to be known, used. We are to enable our children (and others) to be free from bondage, and anything that restrains them and give them room to make known their calling and gifting/s from God, and then allow them to use them for His glory! What a privilege!

For the Sake of Thy Kingdom come, we can't be afraid to:

1. Live with a Spirit of release.
Be thinking expansively (unrestrained, free or openly) and generously (unselfishly, free from meanness or smallness of mind or character; largely, abundantly)
We can't be afraid to release what is precious or best for the sake of Thy Kingdom come.

2. Increase.
Increase territory (sphere or field of action), stride (vigour and haste) and embrace (clasp, ideas, opportunities)

2 Samuel 5:9   David then took up residence in the fortress and

called it the City of David. He built up the area around it,

from the terraces inward.

 

God asks us to be diligent with the path that He has ordained for us, and to not be afraid of increase.

 

3. Bring God into full view.

Heighten (increase amount of; to strengthen, deepen or intensify) our passion (intense emotion or strong feeling) to bring God into full view now more than ever! We need to work harder now more than ever to deny evil and to release people from it. Work hard to be more persistent (lasting endurance; especially in spite of opposition, obstacles or discouragement; constantly repeat), passionate (expressing, showing or marked by intense or strong feeling) and sold out to bring God into full view.

 

 

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This message was so challenging and I don't profess to have fully begun to live this out in my own life, but I want to more and more. We were encouraged to hear that we don't have to be fully arrived before we begin sharing with others, we just have to be on the journey.

 

I hope this has encouraged, and even challenged you! I'm reading new books that are fantastic and hopefully, when time permits, I'll do some posts about them as well. I believe it does us good to keep sharing the inspiration, challenges and encouragement with one another. To God be the glory!