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Anna Watson commented that she, and all of us, could have stayed in our seats and been changed because His love was just flooding Dove during the awesome time of praise and worship that was led by Chris Chua from ICPE. (Truly we did hit new heights as His glory fell and the fire of the Lord was present and many prophesied.)
Anna confirmed that the words spoken reflected the talk that she was about to give on ‘the old things have disappeared’ and she felt this had happened already. Talking into Wellington Dove’s scripture for the year ‘He who was seated on the throne said ‘I am making all things new! Then he said ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’. Anna reflected that some of us needed to hear that we can trust the Lord’s words – we may not trust our friend or husband but we can trust the Lord and stand on His word and his promises never fail – they are new every day. He wipes our slate clean – we may regurgitate stuff but he doesn’t.
The Lord gave Anna three things to share about her own life. The first was that her independence from God has gone and she has learnt that her God is totally dependable. Anna is not dependable as a wife, mother or friend but God is totally dependable. The Lord wanted her to share that her fake faith has gone – doing things to please others, being correct in the church etc., has disappeared by His grace and now she loves the celebration of the Mass, Adoration, reconciliation and the rosary.
Anna no longer relies on her own strength to do His work and she has a new openness to the Holy Spirit and is responsive to his nudging and promptings and that includes stepping out of the boat. The words spoken at the meeting in prophecy were very precious to Anna as they reminded her of a time when the Lord put words on her heart at a meeting and she didn’t speak them out. She went bright red and decided she would wait for one more song before declaring them and as she waited and waited a lady about three rows in front of her said those exact words. She inquired of the Lord ‘what was that’ and He said ‘My word will be declared out now’. She learned that if she was not going to say it, the Lord would use someone else. That was a big lesson for Anna. She repented immediately and said she was sorry. Words don’t need to be written in the sky, we just need to say ‘yes Lord’. She felt the Lord wanted us to encourage each other – after all, we are His bride. It can be tempting to hide back in the past, and we can imagine it was better than it was and there is sometimes a danger in looking back. God has created us to journey forward. It is freeing not to have to keep going over the past. Anna knew that she didn’t lead an exemplary life at times – at 14 she was singing ‘Just a closer walk with the Lord’ and at 18 she was saying ‘I don’t want you Lord’ – but the Lord used other people to bring her back – and today her husband was praying for her and she has children who love her.
Today, Jesus wants to liberate us from the bondage of old ways and patterns. Sometimes we get up and we try the same thing day after day and yet we know deep down inside us, in our spirit, that it is not working and we need to hand it over to the Lord.
Anna then asked Sandra to declare the founding scriptures for Dove Wellington and to elaborate on some of the ‘old things’ of Dove Wgtn fellowship that have gone. Sandra noted that she stood on the shoulders of the presidents that have gone before as they have paved the way. She knew within herself the growth that had taken place over the past 2 ½ years as she continued to trust in Him and listen to His voice in her heart. Not always an easy time – especially when he has not revealed the next speaker or the music team for the upcoming meeting – but she has learned to wait and trust and grow in the process. She noted the many times she has had to stand on the founding scripture “The joy of the Lord is my strength” and she has found it truthful - she can do all things through him who strengthens her. Handing the meeting back to Anna, Sandra thanked everyone for their support.
Anna commented that in one of the songs it says ‘Lord I give you my heart’ that is actually a choice to let go of the things of the past, step out of the comfort zone, receive God’s love – love so deep he doesn’t want us to remain the same - He wants to transform us and make us new.