Balancing Your Life - March 4, 2009

“A Heavenly Bath”: My Westin Experience

   A lot of families gave their children Wii’s or IPod’s for Christmas this year but the Salter boys got tickets to the 75^th Sugar Bowl to see the Crimson Tide of Alabama  play the utes of Utah.  My husband, Rusty, is an incredible organizer and trip planner. Nothing is ever left to chance.  He had planned for us a quick and rather inexpensive trip when it comes to going to New Orleans.  Our plans were to leave at 7:00 sharp on Friday morning, check into the Hilton Riverside by lunch, tour the French quarter, meet friends for dinner at 3:45 at the ‘Gumbo Shop’, leave from there to the game (this is where I go back to the hotel as any good Auburn fan doesn’t want to spend money watching Alabama) and then depart on Saturday after eating beignets at the Café Du Monde followed by a tour of Tulane.  The schedule was set and discussed and we pulled out of 1707 Wentworth Drive at 7:08 (not too bad).  We walked into the lobby of the Hilton just on schedule but then the plan took an unexpected turn. It seems as if the Hilton had greatly overbooked and there was no room in the inn for the Salter’s. It was like an episode from ‘Seinfeld’.  They obviously didn’t have a problem taking the reservation but it was the holding of the reservation that had failed.  Sort of like hearing the Word but not doing it. The boys and I were of course imitating Jerry Seinfeld, “Anybody can just take the reservation but it’s the holding of the reservation that matters.”  God used it for our good.  We ended up in a free room down the street at another hotel so that is how this story about my Westin experience began.

   Fast forward to game time at 7:00 pm.   The three Salter boys were in the Superdome and I was having a Jerry Clower moment in my loose fitting pj’s propped up in the comfortable down-feathered king size bed in Westin Room 2030. Away from the crowds of the French Quarter and the 75,000 fans clad in red and black and white hounds tooth ‘I didn’t want anybody messin with the deal I got.’ My quieted mind ended up thinking ahead to January 10^th, the date set for the next Firebranded Ministry ladies function.  I was sure that I had received the message I was to teach that upcoming Saturday- “Will You Abort the Word in ’09?”  It had already been written in my heart and in story form and I knew there was no going back.  Never underestimate the enemy’s ability to try to snatch truth from you-especially if you are planning on delivering it to another.  The father of all lies will throw them out there more plentiful than Mardi Gras beads in the French Quarter.  Our job is not to receive the lies but to stand firm and fight with the Word. Well I failed the test and ended up with a few strands of those beads around my neck.  As harmless as it seemed I began to doubt if I was to share one part of the message, simply put that the Word and the Spirit are inseparable and must be restored in their fullness for the church to manifest the glory of God and for us individually to fulfill the destiny and purpose of our lives.  I had heard and have shared before that there is a silent divorce in most churches today. As with a divorce some of the children go with the mom and some with the dad.  Some churches have focused on the Word with negligence on the fullness of the Spirit and some have so focused on the Spirit to the negligence of the power and authority of every verse of the Word. Man has forever been trying to dissect the Trinity only taking what pleases him or lines up with traditions or his denomination.  It’s time for the remarriage of the Word and the Spirit. It’s time to restore balance and the fullness of Christ as He intended and died for His church to have. The enemy’s job is to snatch the fullness of the Spirit or the Word  or get one or the other way out of balance. The Word without the Spirit you’ll dry up. The Spirit without the Word you’ll blow up.  The Spirit with the Word you’ll grow up.  So back to the Westin Room 2030. You see I chose to doubt that I was to share what I just briefly shared with you.  The primary message was about aborting the Word. I spoke on flowing with the Spirit the time before.  I’m sure they can connect the dots I told myself. … I’m sure that you will tell them Lord. Do I really need to stand up there and say what is  happening in the great majority of the churches in our nation?  Lord, you know many of the ladies coming are part of these churches. .. Isn’t it amazing the dialog we can actually have with the holy sovereign God of this universe as if He really needs a news scoop about any of His children or His bride.  He ever so gently took me back to my life verse from 1997 which I have tried to ignore until a few months ago. “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them or I will terrify you before them” (Jeremiah 1:17). What a gentle verse to have for life. Thanks Lord. Now for the love test. “If you love me you’ll obey me” (John 14:15).  Of course I’ll share what you’ve put in me…I really don’t want to find out what being terrified before them feels like. ……….. Fast forward to early the next morning. Our God is so good and speaks ALL the time through ANYTHING. I should have woken up in the Hilton but remember I’m in the free Westin. I woke up and just laid there for a few minutes praising Him for another day, praising Him for the end of another football season (this is more meaningful to my fellow Auburn fans!), praising Him for the Godly man beside me and the two growing young men on the floor (no rollaways which doesn’t seem too important when the room is free and you’re not the one on the floor).  My mind then went to the struggle of the previous night. I was resolved to speak His truths no matter the cost but oh how I needed to “know that I know” that it was the right timing and venue. The seed He gives us must be scattered at the right season into the right soil to grow.  I headed to the bathroom and picked up the hotel’s shampoo. Guess what it said. No, I’m not crazy the bottle didn’t speak like the donkey in the Old Testament. What’s written on it is what I mean.  In black and white (actually in olive green): White Tea Aloe Shampoo-‘RESTORE BALANCE’.  Thank you Lord.  Restoring balance is it. You knew I needed that confirmation after my struggle with the Word and the Spirit truth. It gets better. I got in the shower, looked up and saw two separate but joined Water-Pik showerheads. The utes from Utah may have been familiar with this fancy shower setup but this gal from Alabama was impressed.  Both shower heads were large and connected by a small pipe coming from a larger pipe. Talk about a shower. Complete coverage. Fullness. The analogy is obvious - The Word and The Spirit from The Father.  As if I needed more confirmation after the shampoo bottle and the double showerheads I reached for a towel and my eye caught a large tag on the side. Guess what was written on it- ‘A Heavenly Bath’. I certainly had a Mandisa ‘God Speaking’ song moment-“He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to.”  I’m sure He would have gotten through to me at the Hilton in some other way but He chose the Westin bathroom!  He is speaking ALL the time through His Word, someone, or something if we’ll just be still and listen.  I learned a valuable lesson that morning. The enemy will do whatever it takes to steal, kill and destroy what God is putting into you. Refuse  to catch the beads.  Resolve  to stay in the Word; don’t grieve  His Spirit and listen so you can hear and promptly obey His still small voice. He’ll speak to you in the oddest ways if you’ll  just  listen. I’m so thankful for my ‘heavenly bath’  that morning. One night at the Hilton in New Orleans: $200.00. One night and shower at the Westin: Priceless.                                                                                                    Ann Allen Salter