Imagine. reflections.

This past weekend, if you were following me on Twitter, you received more tweets per day than my usual pattern. For that I do not apologize, but instead explain...

I was at the Women of Faith conference. After receiving two complimentary tickets courtesy of Women of Faith and the Booksneeze program, I promptly invited my mom and we secured a hotel room. Girls weekend!

Throughout the weekend we heard from many great speakers, including a comedian, a dramatist, and two contemporary Christian artists.

I was challenged by Dr. Henry Cloud to be a giver (serve others, genuinely) and to be connected (to God and friends). It's in these things that we will find satisfaction in life.

Sheila Walsh, in her delightful Scottish accent, made me pause to consider my definition of "peace" when she stated that peace is a person's total well-being and security because of Christ's presence. Especially during my experience and grief-walk of losing Nathan, I would agree with that wholeheartedly.
Sheila spoke about shepherds and our ultimate Shepherd, God. I love when she said that the cross is the ultimate statement that we'll never get it right, but that we don't have to. It's not our job (as a sheep) to get ourselves home, just our responsibility to stay as close to the Shepherd (God) as possible. If we think we can ever obtain perfection, we're wrong. If that's what we are striving for, in order to somehow "earn" heaven, then God would not have had to lovingly send a Savior for us. We can honor Him with our actions for sure, but we can't "wow" our way into His presence.

Nicole Johnson, after leaving my sides hurting with her comical (accurate) portrayal of all the hats we women wear, took a turn addressing the crowd and shared from her heart as well. She made me consider how quickly anger becomes a byproduct from fear, frustration, and hurt. Sometimes we need to stop and evaluate the root of anger, as we can take it out on our children, family, etc. We need to address the heart of the issue.

It was a great delight to hear one of my favorite authors on stage. Karen Kingsbury reminded us who the true Author of our story is... and then proceeded to make me cry with her beautiful children's book, Let Me Hold You Longer. I wanted to go grab my children and squeeze them tight.

I also really enjoyed the praise and worship time of the conference, mixed in amongst the speakers. I enjoy songs and lyrics and singing. As I've grown in my relationship with Christ, I've really come to appreciate singing/ song lyrics as a way to express my adoration to Him. As I had mentioned in a tweet during the weekend, it was beautiful to see the thousands of women sway and sing together, praising God in song.

All in all, this was a wonderful weekend. Beyond the speakers and singing, the ultimate best was just having the time with my mom. We were real with each other and probably shared "deeper" stuff than we ever have. Truly precious.
It also didn't hurt to have my hubby ask how I could possibly get anything done around here other than feeding and cleaning up after the kids - that he could never be a mom. ;)