My Experience at Desert Oasis
by Cathy in Ohio
03 Aug 1998
Desert Oasis was wonderful. Paul and I had a smooth ride there...thanks to the Lord...we started to encounter some traffic when we first started out and I prayed that the Lord would give us clear roads ahead and He did. We didn't get stopped once! It only took us 5-1/2 hours to get there. Not bad! A lot of people came from a lot farther than us. I would venture to guess that every state was represented except maybe Hawaii and Alaska. There was even a lady from Russia...who gave a testimony and thanked Gwen and the staff for translating the Weigh Down Program into Russian so that they could learn and understand the program.
There were over 4,000 people there. It was set up really nice with big screens so that if you couldn't see the stage, you could see the big screens. It was really good. All the Weigh Down staff were so friendly and courteous.
While Paul and I were waiting in our seats for the Friday session to begin. He kept talking about getting t-shirts. I didn't want to say "no"; but I really felt we shouldn't with our current financial situation. We even took a cooler of food and a picnic basket and just ate "tailgate style" during the meal breaks in the parking garage to save money. When the session began, the staff through out free t-shirts to the audience. I caught one, but a lady behind me grabbed it out of my hand nearly breaking my long pinky finger nail off! I had so wished I could have had that shirt so Paul wouldn't feel bad about us not buying any. I talked to God about it and He told me not to worry about it; but that I should pray for the woman who had grabbed it out of my hand and showing her greedy heart. I agreed that He was right and I prayed for her. Then they announced that some of the seats had coupons for free shirts under them. There was one under Paul's seat! I was so happy, but Paul kept talking about getting the t-shirt for me. I felt kind of torn. I thought it really should be for him. He wanted to give it to me because he knew I had hurt my fingernail (it bent back and had formed a line across my nail) when I had tried to catch the other t-shirt. I don't think he realized that I had really caught it and it was grabbed out of my hand and I didn't tell him. So I was happy about the t-shirt and felt that God was watching out for me and giving us our heart's desires right away.
Friday afternoon, there was a welcome, then music by Billy & Sarah Gaines, and then testimonies by people from the gathering who had lost 90 or more pounds. The ones that stand out in my mind are:
A lady that had lost over 100 pounds in 24 weeks. She was beautiful! She looked like a model. And the jewel--her husband had arranged the whole weekend and surprised her with the trip to Desert Oasis! What a blessing.
And
There was a cute, funny girl who gave her testimony about a friend named "Jenny" who had helped her lose weight but she HAD to visit her once a week and eat her special foods or Jenny wouldn't help her; and she had a friend named "Richard" who had helped her lose weight but only if she hung out with him and danced with him for an hour a day, dancing to Oldies, and playing "cards". But then she found this friend named Jesus, who helped her to lose weight; and she lost the weight and did really well; but then she told Jesus, that's okay I can take it from here and she gained some of the weight back. So she swallowed her pride and came back to Weigh Down and did more sessions and re-lost the weight and so now she's not going to turn her back on Him again. She's going to stick with Jesus to help her because she realizes that He's doing it, not her. There was also a girl who had a beautiful poem that the Lord had given her and she read it...oh, how I wish I could have gotten a copy of that for our Encouragement Guides! It was beautiful and definitely from the Lord as she said she is absolutely NOT a poet. Those were my top three, but they were all very, very inspiring.
As we left the convention center after that session, I felt someone tugging at my bag and stuffing something into it. It was the woman that had grabbed the t-shirt. She said..."God told me to give you this." My husband couldn't believe it and showed her his coupon and said it wasn't necessary. But she insisted and said that "When God tells you to do something, you've got to do it." I thanked her and thanked the Lord. What a jewel! Now we both had free t-shirts.
The testimonies Friday night included a physician, "Miss Texas", and a preacher from Indiana. They were all excellent. The physician had learned about Weigh Down through a patient and it had changed his life, how he practices medicine, and he now leads other people to weigh down. Miss Texas loved weigh down and the fact that it had helped her with 20 pounds that she's struggled with off and on but more importantly, she now uses her position to spread the word of Jesus and witness to people. The preacher got our attention right away by saying "Gee, I didn't know I had to follow Miss Texas...talk about beauty and the beast! The preacher had lost weight very quickly! He lost like 12-15 pounds a week it sounded like. He came into weigh down after receiving an inviting phone call from the coordinator of weigh down at his church. He said something told him not to say no and not to hang up and he's so glad he said yes and attended weigh down. He said he's recaptured the joy in his heart that now reading the scriptures for himself is bringing. Before he would read them to get the scripture text for the sermon coming up or to go with certain circumstances, etc. But he didn't read them to fill himself up and uplift himself. Now he does and he's a happier, thinner person.
Gwen's talk Friday night was so excellent. It really spoke to me and helped me to get back to the message that the Lord had given me about "walking in the healing" and not being afflicted any more. She talked about the Israelites and how they grumbled in the desert about only having manna to eat and so the Lord provided them with birds to eat. But he was very upset with them because He had provided the manna for them and they were dissatisfied. The Lord's food was not sufficient for them...He was not sufficient for them! Conviction! Even though he gave in to them and satisfied their newest "need", he grew angry and had to slay them in the desert. We only get so many chances sometimes with the Lord. I don't want to be slain in the desert. She went on to talk about songs and how the Lord gives us little songs and that we should sing and how the enemy cannot touch us when we are singing praises to the Lord. This struck me in the heart! This had happened to me also. The Lord HAD given me a song back on July 13th. What happened to me? Had I taken this all for granted and forgotten what the Lord had done for me? What a fool I'd been. I prayed that night..."Oh, Lord, you ARE sufficient for me. I am so sorry I continue to grab more food than I need. I am so sorry I continue to WANT for things. I will walk in the sufficient healing you have granted me. I will be satisfied with You. You are all I need." Then I went back to my July 13 writing that I put in my WD Encouragement Guide II and reread about the word I had received from the Lord and the song that I had received from the Lord and I knew I had to start living as a healed person and I wanted to share this testimony with Weigh Down so that it might help someone else who is at the point where I was and has the Lord holding out the healing for them and all they really need to do is take it, accept it, and walk in it from this day forward to take those final steps into the Promised Land. We can lay forever on our mats and cry out to the Father to heal us; but when he does, it's up to us to have a new mindset and to see ourselves as healed and to see what he has done for us and in faith to get up off that mat and WALK! Or we'll never be healed and maybe his anger will burn against us and we'll be slain in the desert. That would be terrible. I'm sure everyone got something different out of Gwen's message. She has such a wonderful way of putting it all on the table and leaving it up to your heart to take what it needs. This was what my heart needed. I am so thankful for His love and His saving grace which has once again convicted and freed this sinner all in one stroke. Thank you, Lord!
Friday night after re-reading my "Final Step into the Promised Land" writing, God kept talking to me about passing this on to Weigh Down. I was so afraid that it wouldn't be accepted. I had thought I would give it to Gwen at the book signing and she'd probably say, "Oh, sorry, but I can't keep track of that right now." But God kept telling me to try...what was the harm in trying? So I took it with me out of my Encouragement Guide. I didn't know there was a testimonies table, but God showed it to me as we walked in Saturday; and Saturday afternoon, I gave them my testimony at the testimonies table about my "Final Step into the Promised Land" that I had written you all about on July 13th. They took my picture to put in my file and I'm supposed to send in a "before" picture. I hope some day it's used to help someone else see that they just need to take this Final Step.
Saturday morning was geared toward introducing the WDW for Children. There was a welcome, praise and worship, a Cafe Scene (geared toward kids), and then Gwen's message "Barking at Opossums". The title came from her talking about her dogs and how they bark at Opossums in the middle of the night to keep them away from the house and how their hearts are right because they think they're defending her and their home...but actually, they're waking her up and ruining a good night's sleep. Sometimes, we as parents and Christians, bark at opossums. We think we're doing a great thing for our children or for our Lord by trying to help our children to be competitive in the world, by giving them the edge by getting them into the right classes or extracurricular activities; but in actuality, all the Lord wants is for them to have a right heart and to do what they do for His glory and to give Him the credit. This was all so reassuring to me. With our finances being as they are, I've thought that my kids are probably not going to be able to be involved in everything that they were involved in last year. I've worried over this; but now I see that it's okay. The Lord will take care of them. He is the Almighty provider and He will provide for their needs and He will provide them with happiness and my job is not to finance their every desire to be sure that they understand that the Lord is their provider and that they learn to give Him the glory for that.
Then, there were the children's testimonies...absolutely precious. Watch out, ladies and gentlemen, the children are going to begin leading the way in this desert. Their hearts are so pure and ready for the information about weigh down and our precious father. I loved the testimony of the one girl who never gets out of bed without reading the Bible and then her sister who also reads her Bible together with her. And the little girl whose teachers at school have asked her how she lost all her weight...the Lord has taken it away...she tells them. The girl in the wheelchair whose lost 52 inches. She can't weigh so she doesn't know how much weight she's lost. Her doctor had told her that because she can't exercise, she would not be able to lose the weight. She's shown him! and us! There were about 8 kids that did testimonies. They were all precious.
Then, Gwen gave the second half of her talk, "Disciplining Love" about how if we don't discipline our children, the world will. They're better off to learn the hard knocks at home than to go out into the world thinking that the world revolves around them. We have to let them know we are the parents, they are the children, and there are consequences when they do not obey what we tell them.
Before breaking for lunch, we all broke up into groups of 4-7 people to have a "season of prayer". Paul and I prayed with a lady from Tennessee that was attending alone and two ladies from Alabama (a mother and daughter) and it was so good for all of us. We stood in a circle and held hands and went around the circle and prayed. The mother from AL began to cry and tell the Lord she had not been a good mother and that she didn't know the way he had wanted her to raise her children. My heart broke for her and I began to cry and in my heart thank the Lord for giving me the info that Gwen had just given to us while my children were still under my wing and they and I could benefit from it. Her daughter was grown and holding her hand and it was so touching. What a cleansing and sharing time it was for all of us! I don't think my husband has ever seen me cry in a prayer group like this. I had only cried a few times in the weigh down groups I had done before my church's group where he was not in attendance. Afterwards, he asked me if I was okay. I smiled and told him, yes. It was a wonderful experience.
In the afternoon session, there was a wonderful surprise tribute to Gwen put on by her staff, a funny video, then songs with David Baroni, then 30 testimonies on strongholds--from food, to credit cards and overspending, to alcohol, to cigarettes, to soap operas, to anger, to depression, to self-centeredness. And then the ending was a concert by Set Free (Gwen and seven other Weigh Down Workshop people who have formed a contempory praise band). At the end, there was a book signing. Gwen would sign one book or CD for the people who lined up. The line was huge! I stood in it for a half hour and never moved, so I got a pre-signed book plate for my book and headed back to Ohio.
If there's one worthwhile thing I do for my Christian walk every year, it's going to be going to Desert Oasis. It spoke volumes to me and I've written volumes to you! Sorry, but you know, that's just me; and I appreciate your patient reading of this very long post. I hope it has blessed you in some way and that I've brought you a little Oasis for your desert walk.
Lots of love,
Cathy
