Shannon’s SCW Blog

As promised, I want to rewind the tape and share a few highlights from my summer writing sabbatical, and the one that tops my list is the trip I made to speak at Amistad Y Vida church in Veracruz, Mexico.

This invitation came out of the blue, and I honestly thought it was a hoax.  I received an email the first week of May, asking if I could speak at their annual women’s conference of 400-500 women, which would be held the first weekend of JUNE – only 30 days away!

I figured surely she meant June 2010, but I was wrong.  Turns out the swine flu epidemic and the Mexican government’s ban on public gatherings forced them to postpone their annual conference by one month, and as a result they lost their keynote speaker.  Panicked, Susana (the pastor’s wife and women’s ministry leader) had thoughts of canceling the event altogether.

She told me over dinner, “I had cried and prayed so much about the situation and had no idea what to do, but one day I was in a bookstore and felt God leading me toward your book, Completely His, in Spanish.  I read it cover to cover, and when I got to the last chapter about ‘birthing God’s dreams’ and not ‘aborting’ the process, I heard God say, ‘Susana, don’t abort the conference.  Invite Shannon to speak.  She’ll come.’”

All the other church staff members thought she was crazy to try to email me on such short notice, but indeed, my speaking calendar just happened to be open that first weekend in June, and as they say, “The rest is history.”

I had also felt God’s supernatural leading into this event, and I was NOT disappointed once I got there.  In fact, in almost 20 years of speaking, I’d have to declare this one the most overwhelmingly amazing event I’ve had the privilege of participating in!  There is a spiritual hunger in Mexico unlike anything I’ve ever seen in all the other countries I visited.  On the first day of the conference, dozens of women approached the altar to receive Christ as their personal Savior for the first time.  On the last evening, over half of them flooded the aisles for prayer asking God to help them “give birth” to His dreams for their own lives.  It was a sight I’ll never forget.

I was honored to be asked if I could possibly deliver the sermon the following morning just prior to departing for the airport.  With amazing clarity, God gave me a complete message on “Sacred Sex” that night in my hotel room, and I delivered it through an interpreter at the early service the next morning.  Susana escorted me to the airport along with our delightful interpreters.  As we were driving, the pastor called to ask permission to air the videotaped sermon in the following two services that day, insisting that he “didn’t want anyone in the congregation to miss this message!”

As if that wasn’t honoring enough, Susana said to me upon departing, “I want to give you a gift – something personal from me to remind you of my love and gratitude.”  She took off her stunning pearl necklace and placed it around my neck… followed by her bracelet… followed by the ring on her finger… and just when I thought that surely she was done, she went into the airport restroom and removed her beautiful black chiffon exterior blouse and insisted she wanted me to have it as well.  Through tears, I laughed and said, “No one has ever literally given me the shirt off their back before!”  I’m not sure if that translated accurately or not, but her laughter and tears assured me that we shared the same kindred connection, and I left her with a few tokens of my love as well.

As I passed through the security gate and waved goodbye to my new friends (mi amigas), I uncontrollably sobbed tears of joy!  And to think that I almost deleted that email thinking the invitation was a hoax!

We simply cannot overestimate the sovereignty of our God, or the sheer delight that comes from following wherever He leads us!

May you always have ears to hear His calling, eyes to see His miracles, and a heart that yearns for His will to be done,

Shannon

If so, it’s because I’m doing triple back-flips in Texas over the package that arrived on my doorstep today – several copies hot off the press of Every Woman’s Battle in ROMANIAN!

Although both my children have been there on mission trips, I’ve never been to Romania.  I don’t speak a word of the Romanian language.  And yet God, in His goodness and sovereignty, allows me the awesome privilege of speaking into women’s lives with a Romanian translation of Every Woman’s Battle.  Blows my mind!!!

Thank you, Lord, for YOUR heart for women all over the world!  Help women in every country discover YOUR plan for sexual and emotional fulfillment!

Shannon

P.S.  If you know of missionaries in Romania who could use one of the five copies I received from the publisher, please email me at http://www.shannonethridge.com/contact.shtml and I’ll send one to them.  Thanks!

First, I want to say THANK YOU to all who sent words of encouragement for me to ENJOY my summer sabbatical from writing!  Indeed, I DID enjoy many sweet times with family and friends – and I’ll be blogging about some of those in the days ahead.

I thought that it is about time to end my sabbatical and return to writing, because my heart is so overflowing with gratitude toward God that if I don’t get it out on paper (or in cyberspace), I’m going to explode!

What am I so grateful for?  August 18th was a special day for me, Stephen Arterburn & Fred Stoeker.  Four of the books that we all worked so hard on several years ago were RE-RELEASED in bookstores nationwide: Every Man’s Battle, Every Young Man’s Battle, Every Woman’s Battle, & Every Young Woman’s Battle.

The cool thing about these new releases is that the WORKBOOK material is now INCLUDED in the back of each book, which saves readers and small groups from having to spend another $8 on separate workbooks.  If you’ve ever thought about leading a small group study, it’s easier now than ever!  Pray about it!

We’re so grateful to God for the multitude of miracles He has performed through the 3 million copies sold thus far!  He has radically transformed individuals… completely restored marriages… strengthened families mightily — and we pray He would continue doing so all over the world!

Praying for YOU as you continue pursuing a lifestyle of sexual and emotional integrity,
Shannon