I believe I’ve had an out-of-body experience.

You know what I’m talking about; the kind where you step back from a situation and view it as if from outside yourself. Mine occurred on Saturday, during the prayer conference, as I watched myself worship with 350 other women in my home church…as I watched myself soak in some incredibly simple, yet so profound, principles that will radically change my prayer life…as I watched myself cry as woman after woman made their way past me to pray at the altar.


Saturday was a culmination of a bunch of could-only-be-God moments. It was the outcome of immediate acts of obedience on Debbie Williams‘ part and my own. You see, on April 2, 2008, Debbie was awakened by God and told to get a pad and paper and write down what He told her. By the time she was done with her “divine dictation”, she looked down at a plan to take the principles from her book “Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion” to every state in the country – free of charge. In order to make sure she was hearing the Lord correctly, she asked Him to confirm it through her blog. Meanwhile, April 2nd found me getting ready to leave on my trip to Hawaii, cleaning my toilet as I readied my house for the couple who was going to house sit. In mid-swish, the Lord very plainly impressed upon me to “go read Debbie’s blog”. So, I did and found myself typing as fast as my fingers could move, that YES, we would love for her to come to Florida (even though I’m NOT on staff and hold NO position of authority in my church!). My email, quickly followed by another from Georgia, was all the confirmation she needed to take the idea to her board, and thus, P.R.A.Y. with Passion Across the Nation was born.


As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not always stellar in the “immediate obedience” department. In fact, when Debbie looked right at me during her talk (eyeball to eyeball, as she would say) and said this,

Partial obedience is not obedience

I sheepishly smiled. I’m pretty good at partial obedience and GREAT at justification! But, when I looked around at that room full of women whose lives were being changed, I wondered why in the world I haven’t, at other times, been immediately, fully obedient – especially now that He’s been gracious enough to show me what He can do when I’m faithful to follow through. The areas where fear or other factors have held me back, now seem, well…silly.

So, if you’re in the not-so-stellar department as well, I will encourage you to step out, by sharing a few of the comments that we got from the conference. May it spur you on to be used of God!

Just wanted to write it down – so much is always said, but not written. I SO appreciated this session! So very needed personally and I could tell I wasn’t alone in the need and enjoyment. Thanks for this blessing.

I just wanted to thank you so much for your obedience in bringing today’s conference to Grace Family Church. I cannot tell you how deeply this message spoke to my soul, and how my spirit has been renewed through it. This last year has been a struggle for me, and audibly hearing from God today has closed that chapter for me, allowing me the freedom to seek Him with certainty.

This conference is wonderful! This is my first event I have attended other than church and church plays. I think this was the best thing I could have done with my Saturday. Debbie is a wonderful speaker. I love that she doesn’t sugar coat everything and that she is honest. I felt so close to God. I want to thank you so much for this wonderful event.

God has big things planned for all of us sweet friends! May we be “yes men” – right away – when He calls. Oh, and THANK YOU for your prayers! They were felt that day, and they were ANSWERED to be certain!!

I love you all to pieces!