Romania "Beautiful to God Conference" Invitation Video

Romania "Beautiful to God" Conference Invitation Video from Loving the Lord Ministries on Vimeo.

We are so excited to seek the Lord with you in Romania this August and September!

You and your friends are invited to join us for the “Beautiful to God” Young Women’s Conference ~ with speaker Amy Vest!

This is a special time of encouragement in personally discovering the fulfillment of a relationship with Christ, the power of basing your life on the Truth of His Word, and the joy of living a life that is beautiful to Him!


Dates and Locations:
~ Timisoara, Romania ~ Saturday, August 31th, 2013, Bethel Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church (Biserica Baptista Betel), Timisoara, str. Ady Endre nr.20, Contact: Alina Birgean 5 0766 468 248
~ Oradea, Romania ~ Wednesday, September 4th, 2013, Centrul Crestin Betania, Oradea, Str Doinei Nr.19 (zona Decebal), Contact: Mihuță Vasile 07420 025 922
~ Sebis, Romania ~ Saturday, September 7th, 2013, Holy Trinity Baptist Church, Street Castanilor, Number 31, Contact: 0744544996

We will be updating details here and on the website - www.lovingthelordministries.org!

The Wonders of God's Hand - doors opened to bring the "Beautiful to God" Conference to Romania! ~ by Amy Vest

Sometimes there are not words to express the wonder of the hand of God... and the joy of His plan for our lives!

Over the past months, the Lord has been doing a deepening work in my heart in surrender to His will for me.  It has been a time of laying all the plans that I even thought were His will at His feet and learning the sweetness of living satisfied in Him and embracing as much of His will as He shows me - whether it be for the next moment, for the next year, or for the rest of my life.  This time has been so good in refreshing in my heart my hope in Jesus as the source of all that I need and the reality that He is my Master that I must receive all of my direction from for His glory alone!  My heart sang, "Jesus and His will are all that I want!"

In the mean time, He was unfolding a plan as only He can... and I am still stunned.

8 years ago, the Lord allowed the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Romania that my dad coordinated. The whole time was filled with the hand of God and so many stories could be shared, but one glows so strongly in my heart.

When we went to Romania, the Lord impressed on my heart, "Amy, just keep your eyes on Me." and this turned the time into something only He could do.

The trip began with giving tracts and food to the homeless, loving street children, and then presenting a conference for a church in Bucharest.  This was such an unforgettable time.

A large part of our trip was traveling to a village in the mountains of Sebis to do a conference for adults and children on the Christian life.  In my heart I longed to do something with young women, but didn't know a way to organize it.  Instead, I was a team teacher helping with the children's program.  The first night, in my small group there were 2 young women on my team.  The next night, they brought friends.  During the day we met other young women and invited them.  By the middle of the week, our team was so full of teenage young women that we had to split the team in two - my assistant taking the children and me taking the young women!  Is that not incredible?


The young women and I gathered in a small room in the church.  They were so, so hungry to hear about Jesus, His Truth, and His plan for them!  We soaked in the rest of the week together, and even were able to have a special time one day where we talked more about the Lord and living for Him as a young woman and had girl time with tea, pastries, and chocolate.  The final night of the conference, I walked with them outside the church, and we said our final goodbyes.  The snow was falling and landing on their soft dark Romanian curls as we hugged and they begged, "Please don't forget us."  I never could forget them or the work the Lord did in that time.

Since then, I have been able to keep in touch with some of them in various ways.  One young woman in particular has continued to stay in touch.  After we left Romania, the Lord brought h
er to surrender her life to Him and He has continued to do an amazing work of growing her in Himself!  I have dreamed of going back, but never knew if it would be possible!

In recent years, a family whose father is from Romania began attending our church and I love their girls so much.  Our church supports a ministry that they have in Romania for widows and has sent people from our church to serve there.  This winter when we were riding home from church, my dad mentioned that they were planning to take another team and were wondering if I would be interested in going and presenting conferences for the young women in Romania... I was thrilled at the thought and wondered what the Lord had in store.

The missionary family that we originally worked with when we were in Romania 8 years ago was also willing to coordinate a conference in their town.  And, yes, the young women from the mountain village that had all of the young women was willing to help coordinate a conference in her town.  As we saw the hand of God opening doors, we were so excited and recently it was confirmed that, Lord willing, we (my dad and I, along with others from our church) will be going to Romania at the end of August!


And on top of this, the young woman (in the picture above and to the left) who has kept in touch by email was coming to America for the summer, and not just America, but Minnesota, and guess where she flew in?  The airport by my house. She needed a place to stay the night of her arrival last week and we brought her to her destination the next day... But, in the hours between that, we shared sweet fellowship, talked about details for the conference, filmed a promo video for the conferences (in ROMANIAN!!!!), and she shared with me the needs of the young women in Romania.  Isn't the Lord incredible?

There no one like the Lord and there is nothing like living a life that is His - knowing Him, Him working in you, and living in surrender to His will!!!

And the story is not finished!  The Lord continues to work in ways that are leaving me in awe.

I look forward to continuing to share the wonders of our God!  His hand has done all of this, and we are so excited for what He is going to continue to do!

"Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you." Jeremiah 32:17

The "Beautiful to God Online Conference" ~ Resuming in October!

The Beautiful to God Online Conference will be paused over the summer and will resume once again in October for the remaining 3 sessions and corresponding articles on the blog!

In the time between now and then, there are lots of opportunities for continued encouragement!

~ The Summer Pursuit (https://vimeo.com/41883667)
~ Loving the Lord Videocasts (https://vimeo.com/lovingthelordministries)
~ The Loving the Lord Blog (www.lovingthelord.org)
~ Articles on the Loving the Lord Ministries Website (www.lovingthelordministries.org)

May the Lord bless you as you continue to seek Him!  We are so excited to continue to do this together!

"For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."  Psalm 100:5

Satisfied in Jesus - in every season of life ~ by Amy Vest

Are you satisfied?  How would you honestly answer that question?

I reached the point where I realized I wasn’t.  I was increasingly aware of a longing to be satisfied that ran deep in my heart and of the inability of even good things to meet the deepest longings of my soul.  Through this time, the Lord graciously continued to open my eyes to see that these longings could never be met by anything on this earth.  The only answer was the One who created me with those longings designed to drive me to Himself – the One who, “satisfies the longing soul” (Psalm 107:9) – Jesus.


As I knew Jesus more and more, I saw more clearly and experienced more deeply the increasing satisfaction that resulted from the fullness of who He is, and my heart cried, “This is what I have been longing for for so long - Jesus!”

The reality of these truths flooded my heart with joy:
~ He is more wonderful than words can say
~ The life in Him that we were created to live fulfills beyond expression
~ We are more desperately needy of Him – His salvation from our sins, His sanctification through His Word and work, and His all satisfying heart and love – than we can know
~ He is so fully sufficient for our every need and longing

My heart found rest in satisfaction in Jesus alone.

It is as we “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:7) that we realize more and more that Jesus is the Bread of Life who says, “whoever comes to me shall not hunger…” (John 6:35)  Other things will leave us empty and dissatisfied – Jesus never will.  When you personally come to Him as the answer to the longings of your soul and experience for yourself the satisfaction of who He is, you will realize that “Christ is all” (Col. 3:11).  You have all in Jesus - You need nothing else in order to be fully satisfied.

The question is – Will you receive the grace given you to forsake pursuing and hoping in things that are worth less and don’t satisfy, in order to seek Jesus and the satisfaction that He brings? 

To taste Jesus as we were created to will take effort by the Lord’s grace – and it is worth every ounce!  It means letting things like the internet, appearance, activities, shopping, etc. be less of a priority and spending time seeking Jesus in His Word, prayer, worship, reading, fellowship, etc….  It is exchanging shallow excitement of the flesh for the deepest pleasure of the soul.  The more we tasting of Jesus, the more we will lose our taste for lesser things and life comes into perspective. 

Our sinful hearts become distracted, believe the lie that we can be satisfied in other things, realize the emptiness that results, and need Jesus to lovingly lift our eyes to Him to see afresh that nothing other than Him satisfies.  He is faithful.  Once you have known the satisfaction of Jesus, everything else pales in comparison.  Though you will face distractions, you will always know He alone is the answer to the longings of your soul.  We cannot find satisfaction anywhere else.

As you know Jesus more, you will see that He is – beautiful, perfect, faithful, pure, loving, strong, sovereign, forgiving, unchanging - and we could go on forever!   And He wants you to go on knowing more of His goodness and growing in satisfaction in Him all of your life – and throughout eternity!  This will enable you to say with the apostle Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:8)

We all walk through different seasons of life – single, married, young, elderly, sick, healthy, etc. – and in every season Jesus offers all that we need in Him as the One who “is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb. 13:8)  You don’t need, and can’t look, to anything or anyone else to satisfy, because they never ultimately can – people are broken, sinful, and incapable of fully fulfilling, health disappears, and circumstances change.  Jesus is the only source of true and unchanging satisfaction.  When you are living satisfied in Jesus, any of these other things that the Lord gives are added blessings from Him to help you know, delight, and be satisfied more in the Giver of the blessings, but in and of themselves, they cannot satisfy.  Jesus alone fully satisfies. 

I specifically want to share a few thoughts as a single sister for my unmarried sisters:
~ Jesus is all you need.  As you allow Him to be everything to you, He will be, and oh, it is so wonderful!  You need nothing else to bring you joy, contentment, and satisfaction – in any season of life.  You have all you need in Jesus.  This glorifies Him greatly as you show through your radiant contentment in Him that He fully satisfies!
~ You don’t need a guy to be satisfied!  Marriage is a beautiful earthly picture of the greatest Love story of all time – Jesus and His Bride, the Church – and is a blessing when brought about in God’s way, His time, and to the right person.  But, no human can fully satisfy – only Jesus can. 
~ Use this time to be as satisfied in Jesus as you can and help others to do so, too.  This is what you are here for, the best use of your time, and is the best preparation for whatever your future holds!
~ The right guy will be attracted to one who is in love with, content in, and pouring her life out for Jesus.
~ The Lord’s will for you is perfect.  The chief end of man is, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  The Lord knows how you can best enjoy and glorify Him – single or married.  The more you know Him and are satisfied in Him, the more you know you can trust His heart for you.  As His own, let your heart cry be, “I am Yours, Lord, please do with me whatever You will!”
~ For as long as the Lord has you single – for a few months, years, or all of your life – He will always be enough!
~ Embrace Him and satisfaction in Him today and every other day – This enables you to live fully satisfied, focus on others, and not miss a beat of His amazing plan!

Whatever season you are in and whatever you are facing, you can live in the unshakeable reality that Jesus alone fully satisfies.

Jesus stands ready to satisfy you.  Will you come to Him?

Earnestly pursue knowing Jesus until you discover this life-altering reality of His total satisfaction – and don’t rest until you have tasted it in Him yourself!  Drink at the fountain of Jesus – the Living Water – whose goodness is unending and who satisfies the thirst of your soul.  He is calling, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7:37)  Once you have begun to “taste and see” that He is good, you will long for more of Him and be increasingly satisfied in the One who “satisfies the longing soul.” 

As you look to Him to find all that you need, you can live every season of life satisfied in Jesus.

June Giveaway Winner

The June Giveaway Winner is Summer!

We invite you to take part in the July Giveaway this month - more details coming!

May the Lord bless you as you continue to seek Him!  We love seeking Him together!