Women at the Well Graduation Reunion

This weekend we held the first graduation reunion at WATW. The enemy fought us at every turn as we were planning this weekend. We picked our date and had originally planned to hold it at Camp Cherokee, Calhoun TN. We found out only a few weeks from the date that the Camp does not have heat in the dining hall. We had to try to find a new spot for the event. It's amazing how we can make things more difficult than they need to be. One morning God woke me up and said "have the reunion at the Well". Duh!! Great idea Lord. That settled that dilemma. Then it seemed like no one was coming. Which tends to bring discouragement. We decided that canceling the reunion was not an option since we felt that the Lord had directed us to do it. We pressed on and God sent seven ladies to the Well. Michelle Ballard, Renee Edwards, Melissa Knowles, Debra Bell, Geanene Baker, Holly Raulston, and Liz Lee.

The reunion began with a nice dinner shared with Board Members and Friends of the Ministry. We had a very nice time of fellowship between staff, students, graduates, board members, and friends.

Then Carrie Watson, Sharon Pierce, and myself led the graduates to the classroom for some time of sharing and getting reacquainted. This a very special time and God began to open up the communication. We had not talked to in this way to some of the ladies in a long time. I felt the Lord knitting us together. I led a devotion entitled "A Crown of Rejoicing". A crown of rejoicing is awarded to those who have invested their lives in sharing the gospel with others. I shared how Paul's encouragement to those he had disciple in 1 Thess. 2:17-20. This is how we feel about our graduates. There are six points to this message. 1. Paul rejoiced in the believer's obedience (Romans 16:19-20, Matt 10:16) 2. Paul rejoiced in the believers fellowship (participation of the gospel) Phil. 4:4-6, Philemon 6, Heb. 13:16 3. Paul rejoiced in the believer's unity. Phil 2:2 4. Paul rejoiced in the believer's support Phil 4:10 5. Paul rejoiced in the believer's love. 6 Paul rejoiced in the believer's future. 1 Thess 2: 19-20, Ps. 126: 5-6 Dan 12:3
Then we adjourned for the in night and went to bed.

We had a big WATW breakfast. Biscuits, gravy, sausage and fruit. Yum Yum. Then we met in the living room staff, students, and graduates for some anointed praise and worship. It sounded angelic as we sang some of the WATW favorites. Such as, Because of Him, This is the day, I will enter His gates, Holy ground, Because He lives, Victory in Jesus (of course), Sanitary, There's just something about that Name, Amazing Love and our theme song Because of Him.

Then staff and graduates began our first session led by Sharon Pierce on Prayer. Sharon challenge each of us to spend time in prayer. Times of Silence, Solitude,and Fasting. One very helpful suggestions were to prepare for yourself a quiet time prayer basket containing things like: Bible, Devo book, Journal, Old Journals, Hymn Book, Classic devo, CD player & Worship CD's, photos of people you pray for, pen, notepad for reminders, index cards. Then when you get up you can just grab your basket and go to a quiet place and you have everything you need. We had some time of reflection and prayer time. She gave us a hand out with the following questions.

1. As you sit quietly and think about who God is and what He has done in your life, what is He saying to you right now?

2. As you renew your commitment to a special time daily with the Lord, what would you like have happen in your life?

3. If you don't have a life verse, ask the Lord to begin to show you where He would like to begin taking you and what verse would sum that up.

4. What one thing would you like to see happen in your life ing the next six month?

5. Do you have a life goal? If so, what are you doing right now to help you reach it? Remember, though, that life is about the journey as much as arriving at your destination.

We listen a praise CD.

Next I led a session on Bible study. We started by listening to a song called "Finish What You Started. I encouraged the ladies to continue or start some kind of Bible Study. 4 methods of Bible study I presented were, quiet time, personal Bible Study, Memorization of scripture and reading the Bible as a whole. The benefits to reading your Bible is:

1. The Word will make you strong (1 John 2:14)
2. The Word will give you confidence and power in prayer ( John 15:7)
3. The Word will cleanse you from sin. (John 15:3, 1 John 1:9 John 17:17)
4. The Word will bring you Joy (John 15:11)
5. The Word will produce peace in your life ( Col 3:15)
6. The Word will guide you in making important decisions of life. (Ps 119:105, Luke 11:28)
7. The Word will guarantee your success. (Josh 1:8, Ps. 1:1-3)
Then we broke for lunch.

The students prepared lunch. Taco soup, grilled cheese sandwich, hot peppers (a WATW favorite right out of our garden) brownies and ice cream. Yum again.

Our last session was led by Carrie Watson on relationships. She wrote the following on the board: Children, Husband, Family, and Loneliness. This was things she had observed that the graduates has shared the night before they had been struggling with. She shared the scripture in Eph 6: 10-18 (Spiritual Armor). She pointed out that we are commanded to STAND FIRM four times. God wants us to stand firm (You think?) We talked about spiritual warfare and Carrie challenged each one to continue to fight for their loved ones by using their spiritual warfare. We had some time of praying for each graduate. It was powerful. Each one had some kind of breakthrough. I felt the energy of the Holy Spirit in such a real and awesome way. At 2:48 pm there is a break through like I had never experience before. I look forward to seeing what is going to happen next. God showed up mightily. I expect great and mighty things in the lives of the ladies that attend the event.

I look forward the next time we can be together again. I hope more can come next time. I thing we saw God move in such a way that who know what's going to happen. It was so encouraging to me. I told the ladies to go out swinging and I fully expect them and us to see things they never seen before. Praise the Lord He is Good.