Thursday, May 2, 2013

Women of Joy!

Last weekend I went to the Women of Joy conference with my mom, cousin and some of the women from my cousin's church. To say that the conference was amazing would be an absolute understatement.
I've never really felt comfortable in conversations about Jesus, the Bible or how or what I believe. My statements have always been that I believe in God. I believe in Heaven. I believe that we were created by God to do God's work. But specifics were never something that I got into. I'm not going to say that I am 'comfortable' but I am certainly closer than I have ever been in my entire life.

Let me first go into this saying that I wasn't really sure that I wanted to go to this conference. Not that I didn't want to be around my mom or any of these women, I just thought that I had other better things on my priority list. I could spend the weekend with my hubby, who has been at my parents house again. I could certainly save the money that I would use to buy meals and such to pay bills or spend on other unnecessary items.. but, this was something my mom really wanted to share with me, and we really don't get to spend much one on one time with each other; So I left for mom and dad's house on Thursday night thinking that if nothing else I'll be able to have a little time with my mommy!  Jill Kelly was the first speaker that night. I had never heard of Jill Kelly and probably wouldn't have heard about her if I hadn't gone. Her son, Hunter died of a genetic disorder at 8 and a half. So there, instantly when she started talking about her son dying I was in tears! She said something that really registered with me that I had NEVER thought of before... her son's first words were to God. Her son's first hug, was hugging God. Who better than to raise our children, watch them grow and play than God. AH.MA.ZING...... (right then, I KNEW I was meant to be at this conference)

The rest of the weekend was really wonderful. Liz Curtis Higgs spoke on Saturday (and did part of this rap). Saturday night was a concert from Jeremy Camp. On Sunday Angela Thomas spoke. They were all REALLY good speakers!
I met some really fantastic women. Made some friends. Learned about myself. Learned about God.
I feel blessed and humbled that God thought so much about me to speak to my mom (and to me) to make sure that I attended. He knew who would be speaking when mom registered us LAST YEAR!
I'm making it a goal to start reading the Bible. I'm going to look into some devotional lesson plans.. that will direct me, because right now, if I were to pick up the Bible, I wouldn't really know where to start.

If anyone has any idea of where to get a good guide, please let me know.

Have a great Thursday! (It's snowing here in Kansas... yep, It's May 2nd and SNOWING!)

2 comments:

dear willow, said...

Have u read "Jesus Calling"? There's even a fbook page that has the daily devotions. It's SO good and so easy to understand! Never been to a women's conference but maybe one day :)

Unknown said...

I haven't, but that's now on my list to search!!! I will tell you that the conference was amazing! It's like there was no competition.. if that makes ANY sense. :)