A 31 Woman

I have been promising to blog about this for almost 2 weeks now and finally, here it is....the women's ministry conference recap!  My sister, Joanna, and I left on Friday at noon.  The drive to Findlay was a good 2+ hours so we had a lot of time to catch up, have a yummy Skyline dinner and a double yummy little coffee shop (non-Starbucks ;) )  To be really honest, I was a little nervous heading up with Joanna.  We have never been on a trip by ourselves.  I kept thinking, "are we going to have enough to talk about?"  Yep, no problem there!  And to boot, I really, truly enjoyed alone time with my sister.  We don't see each other often as it is, but to get to spend one-on-one time with her meant an awful lot to me and this was a weekend I will never forget.

So, we finally get to the hotel.  Check in and relax a little before we head down to being our 'girlfriend package' ammenities.  We had a little chair massage and manicures as well as dinner with a group of 6 other ladies.  They were all ages and in stages of their lives.  It is neat to just talk to other women who have seen and done so many things differently than you and to hear some of their stories.  Then the fun started...and I am not talking about anything with the conference.  Jo and I ventured into Findlay, Ohio.  If you aren't familiar with some of our smaller Ohio towns, I don't know if there are words to really express the oddities of small-town America.  We passed this fanastic little shop that advertised 300+ nightcrawlers for $30.  Yes, I am talking about the fishing ones and yes, we giggled about it about the rest of the weekend.  The shopping area of Findlay was interesting.  In one particular shopping area, the nightclubs were sandwiched by Party City and a craft store.  We did a little shopping at the mall and called it a night. 

Now the fun stuff- the Conference.  It was a one day event with Lysa TerKuerst.  The beginning of the conference, though, had praise and worship time.  In a super cool way, they brought up the P&W Team along with 2 artists who used chalk to free hand during the 4 songs.  They drew two hands, palms up, bound together by chains.  In the second half of the conference after lunch, during the 4 P&W songs, the artists came back and from the chains made a cross and blood coming from the hands.  WOW!  It was amazing to see this masterpiece appear from their creation during just 8 beautiful songs.  The most touching moment for me, during the entire day was when we sang "How Great Thou Art."  Albeit, a contemporary version, but when we got the chorus, I had tears and tears streaming down my cheeks.  "How Great Thou Art" was one of my grandma's favorite hymns and as I stood there lifting my voice with 600 other women to our Risen Lord and Savior, I couldn't help but think that my grandmother and I share this spiritual connection.  Standing together, praising our Lord, enjoying the same wonderous songs that are more powerful than the decade you worship.  It really was a special moment for me.

I can't replay for you the awesomeness of the Conference.  But I can share some of the nuggets of truth we learned from Lysa that day.  They were some pretty cool ones too!!

• God comforts us not so we are comfortable but so we are comfort-able.  Sitting on God's comfort isn't enough.  We receive it and give it back to heal.
• Past hurts can create lepresy of the soul.  The sadness and hurt eat away at you (Luke 17:13).  "Jesus, master, have mercy on us."  He doesn't want  temporary fix for us.  He (The Master Healer) wants so much more.  When the comfort from God heals us and we receive it, we can't help but shout praises!  We can't keep it inside.  God is big enough to handle the hard questions you ask Him, but we can't wallow in emotions we face.
• Thank you God for whatever it took to get me to a sweet place of intimacy with Him.
• Go and tell!!  Be comfort-able!!
• We are made well when we take what Satan throws at us and we use it to proclaim God's grace.  My story doesn't settle.
• Matthew 5:8- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  Through the messiness, chaos and unplanned, I will chose to see God.
• Jesus, I want to be a woman who says yes to You.  I want to expect to experience you every day.
• If we want to hear God, we need to get into His Word.  When we get done praying, we need to rise from our knees with eyes, ears and hearts open to see Him all around us.  He is always looking for ways to mold, shape, and teach us.
• Watch when the happy get bumped.  You want to see how far reaching they will be?  See how people react when their happy gets curveballed.  Our reactions matter.  We get so busy with our blessings, they stop being blessings.
• Our feelings can be indicators, but should never be dictators of our reactions.
• When our words fail, or there are no words for a situation- "Jesus" is the name we are equipped to receive.  We don't have to have all the answers as long as we stay connected to the one who does.
• Our job is to be obedient.  God's job is to handle it.  In the midst if what we're facing, we don't know how to fix it but we stay obedient.
• I will stand on my doorstep of life and tell Satan "You shall not pass!"
• When we position of our hearts low, in God's timing and in His way, He will lift us up.
• Our first line of defense should always be praises to go ahead of us.  Not praising the "situation" but knowing God will be on our side.  Making the fight from our knees is better than fighting in the flesh.