Women of Faith

Last weekend I went to my third "Women of Faith" conference. If you haven't been to one, I highly recommend it. Check it out…they could be in a city near you soon! :)

I loved how this weekend worked out. I needed a little time to myself (so I chose to spend it with thousands of women and the very few men that were there!) and I had hardly given the conference a thought because I didn't think I could afford it. Well, last week I discovered I might possibly be able to swing it, so I looked up the theme of the conference online. It was "Imagine" based on Ephesians 3:20 (look it up!). It's one of my favorite verses, and since God has given me a creative side, I love both expressing it, and being encouraged to do so.

I spent the first part of the session of Friday by myself soaking everything in like a sponge…thoroughly enjoying it. I found a great seat, row one in the stands, and about six feet from the woman that translated for the deaf that attended. That was one of the many highlights for me. There is something very beautiful about the worship songs being signed, so expressive!

One thing I love about this conference is that the stage area is called “The Porch”. And, that’s exactly what it feels like. The speakers get up and share, and their stories and lives are so easy to relate to that it feels like you could easily sit on the porch with them talking about anything and everything.

The speakers covered the subject of “Imagine” so well. They touched on areas like finding your strengths, making them more prominent in your life, expressing your God-given self even through tragedy and hurts, encouraging your kids in their abilities, and more. God gives us strengths, abilities, and talents for a REASON; they should not be hidden away. I like what one of the speakers (Marcus Cunningham) said regarding personal strengths, “Use it. Claim it. Contribute it.” Everyone wins when you use your strengths and talents. And, when you use them to lift God high, he does more with them than we could ever imagine.

When the afternoon session was over, I went over to GCU to pick up Alyssa so she could attend the rest of the conference with me. The day session was open seating, and evening and Saturday’s are the seats you pay for. I don’t know why I didn’t buy the seats at the end of the row! I even thought of it when I was selecting my seats online. For me, it’s key, because I can tend to feel claustrophobic when I feel closed in. Alyssa and I had the third and fourth seats into the row, and when the two women sat down in the first two seats, I told Alyssa, “We gotta move.” She gave me a look, and I decided to stay put and give this claustrophobia a run for its money. Yeah, I get through it! Lol.

Lisa Harper spoke during that evening session. She is such a great speaker and a great story teller. I must confess that for a short part of her talk, I instead listened to the woman behind me. I didn’t want to listen to the woman behind me, but she made herself very audible! Long story short, somebody coming into the row bumped the (glass) bottle of tea the woman had, and it fell. Then the woman made it a point to let the other woman (and us because the commotion caught our attention) know that this was a $5.00 bottle of tea that just broke. All the while, I was disappointed my attention wasn’t focused on Lisa Harper. The ridiculous thing about this exchange, though, was that this bottle of tea was fermented! It STUNK! Fortunately we had just a few minutes more until break, and I scanned the arena looking for open seats. We found great ones three rows from stage. For the rest of Friday evening, and most of Saturday, this is where Alyssa and I sat. It was great!

There were a few times during the conference where God must’ve stopped the goings on of Heaven and told everyone to look and listen (that’s what I think anyway :). When Natalie Grant sang “It Is Well”, and the audience spontaneously responded and sang with her on the chorus, she held her arms open wide and received the blessing of that, tears running down her cheeks. It was beautiful, both the sound of the voices, and watching her being ministered to. And, I know God must have been smiling wide when the six year old daughter of one of the singers from “Mary Mary” got up on stage and sang, while playing with the tassels on her dress, “God Bless America”. What a great voice!!! And, huge loads of cuteness!

So anyway, to wrap this up, if you have never been, go! I wish I could have instantly memorized lots of what the speakers said. You’ll enjoy it. And, just a tip…the arena sells bottles of water for $5.00, but Starbucks on site sells grande pumpkin spice lattes for $4.75! It’s like striking gold!!