Bible College of Wales graduates Emma and Esther share how God moved in their lives at the School of Ministry in Spring 2021.
By Emma Louise Hooper & Esther Bartolome
He invited us to surrender our lives, our wills, our futures, and our desires all to Him. During one of the lectures, our Dean invited us to think about the story of the woman with the alabaster jar, and as a batch we were to hold a jar as it was being passed around. As we held the jar, each of us had a personal revelation of God speaking to our hearts. This was a landmark moment as we all knew that God was asking us, were we willing to surrender all to Him like the woman with the alabaster jar?
“A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind Him and wept at His feet, she began to wet His feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” (Luke 7:37-38).
Being willing to surrender means letting go of the past and learning to remain in the present where we allow God to lead our futures. It also means allowing ourselves to be used by the Holy Spirit and to go wherever He wants to send us. Oh, the joy that came after the surrender!
We have received a wonderful release and experienced a breakthrough for the next season of our lives. “You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown” (Luke 7:46-47).
In the next few weeks, the BCW School of Ministry’s 11th Batch each received a unique alabaster jar with a word of encouragement tied to the jar. It challenged us to think about what we would do with our own jars: would we keep it? Or break it? What was God telling us personally?
We knew that the Lord was leading us into a time of intimacy and calling us deeper into Him. Just as Evan Roberts and Rees Howells lived a life of surrender, we asked the Lord to ‘bend us’ for the coming revival.
Out of this surrendering to the Lord, came this song for our batch. We had a deep encounter with Him in the Blue Room and He saw our faithfulness and willingness to surrender. He honoured it, and out of it came the breakthrough which led me (Esther) to compose this song with Cath, our Dean.
During the process of writing this song, I had to daily surrender my will to Him. The Lord continued to add to the frame of this song as I went along the journey of surrendering.
I was able to hear from the Lord like never before and the words just came along the way. The beauty of it all was this – I was not journeying alone but it was a collective experience with my classmates and we were all progressing together as one.
This song is the cry of our hearts to our greatest Treasure, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 1:
I was a dead tree, You gave me life
I was afraid, but You took it all away
You’re now the light in my heart
You’re now the love of my life
My alabaster heart, poured out to You
I stand available
Chorus 1:
I surrender for deeper measure
I surrender for the hidden treasures of Your heart
Verse 2:
I was very Weak, You strengthened me
I was empty, You filled me up
You’re now the treasure I found
You now dwell deep in my soul
My alabaster heart, poured out to You
I stand available
Bridge:
I searched for gold in all the wrong places
But found my true treasure in Jesus alone
I wasn’t digging as deep as I should
But now I dig deeper for Your hidden treasures