Ladies Conference

My friend, Allison, and I attended a ladies conference this past weekend. While I enjoyed the ladies conference, one of my favorite parts was just the opportunity to have some uninterrupted conversations with Allison! We never run out of things to talk about, and I know that she will hold my confidences on the things we discuss.

However, the ladies conference was good, It started on Friday night, and by the time we arrived, the snow was really starting to come down! I’ve attended a few ladies conferences in the past, and I used to enjoy helping out with our own ladies conference at our church in Wisconsin. Each one is different and unique. The one we attended had about 100 ladies at the Friday night conference.

 We started out with singing some worship music. Music is very important to me, and I had been curious to know what the music would be like at this conference. Most of the songs we sang were newer songs, but doctrinally solid. We also sang a several hymns, which I knew. However, the hymns were what threw me for a loop! When music is on an overhead, you obviously can’t see what’s on the next slide. But when you know the hymn, you envision what the next slide is going to be, right? We started off with “Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise”. In my mind the next slide would say, “Teach me some melodious sonnet, song by flaming tongues above, etc.” Um...that’s not what happened! The next slide was “Be thou my vision”. I know that one also, but it’s hard when you’re  not following written music, but rather a slide to figure out what’s going to happen next! And after two lines of that song, it went into “I need thee every hour”. Don’t get me wrong, I know these songs! I enjoy them. But trying to follow along made me feel like I was always half a beat off or confused the whole way through! That’s not the way that I would’ve done it, but hey, no one asked my opinion!

The speaker did a good job on speaking about waiting on God and abiding in Him. I would’ve enjoyed to hear more of her personal testimony, but what she said was good and from God’s Word. Honestly, quite a bit of what she said is applicable to me (and some to Roger too) on where we are today. Truth is, there are a lot of things I miss about our church in Wisconsin. I miss the fact that people understood that Roger is perhaps more of an introvert but were still willing to connect with him and ask him to be involved in various ministries. I miss the closeness I had with the pastor’s wife, and Roger and I both greatly miss the children’s pastor and his wife as we worked closely and often with them. Sometimes it’s hard to get past the feeling of not being connected out here. Most of the people in Maine grew up here, attended the same church all their life, have every family member within two hours of them, know about everyone, and sometimes it can all feel a bit cliche. But for some reason, God has directed the steps of our life out here to Maine. We are living life to the best of our ability and in the center of His will as He directs us!

After the Friday night main session, we had small break-off groups. I went to one on Music and Allison went to a different one. While I enjoyed the break-off group, it wasn’t what I was anticipating. For one thing, it was a lot of discussion (which isn’t all bad) but it lacked Biblical depth. I teach music classes at our school, and I’m often teaching my students what God’s Word says about music. I would’ve enjoyed some more of that type of teaching. I did learn that there are a wide variety of personalities and opinions portrayed in group discussions. I actually have lots of opinions too (just ask Roger!), but I’m not always comfortable sharing in a group setting.

By the time the evening wrapped up on Friday night, I was tired! Fridays are always long and busy for me, but the conference was good. Allison and I made a quick trip to Walmart because I needed a snack, and then headed back to the hotel. We stayed up late talking, but we had some good discussions on many things!

The conference started at 9:00 am., on Saturday morning. Since I didn’t sleep well, I was up before six am. I was happy to get in some exercise and devotions before a long day of sitting ahead of me. We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the conference. The group sessions were good as well as the smaller break off groups today. The first break off group I attended was on marriage which is a  topic that is dear to my heart and important to me. The lady who taught the session also told her testimony, which I enjoyed. She and her husband work with a “Weekend to Remember” which hosts marriage conferences. I would enjoy going to one of those weekends sometime with Roger. It’s good to be reminded of the importance of marriage, and to be challenged  not to be complacent or lazy but to work at having a good marriage.

The last breakoff session Allison and I atttended together. This session was on finding and using your spiritual gifts. The speaker spoke briefly on each of the spiritual gifts, and then offered a survey to each of the ladies. I don’t remember the last time I took a spiritual gift survey, so that was intriguing to me. I realize that it is a survey, and that the results should not be taken as infallible. However, it was interesting to me to see what my strengths are in my life. I scored really high on administration (which is why I have to work at not being bossy!) and giving. I don’t think I realized that administration might be one of my gifts, I just like to be organized and structured when it comes to events and life. Service/helps was another area that appeared to be one of my gifts, but I was lower than I thought I would be on the gift of hospitality. Perhaps I’m just hospitable because I see a need?! I can see how God gives each believer gifts to complete the body of Christ, but I need to be careful not to bite off more than I can chew because I see a need that I COULD help with. Pursue with Prayer needs to be my motto! I did find it interesting that out of the 18 women in the room, about 15 of them listed giving as one of their top three gifts. But giving is also what keeps the church moving forward, helping missionaries, and seeing the needs around us. It’s the body coming together to work in unity and harmony. And when the church works together, it’s a beautiful picture. We are so blessed have the opportunity to serve a great God, and I want to make sure that I am using my gifts to give Him all the glory.

Allison and I headed home before the conference was completely over. We had about 1 1/2 hour ride to get home, and while the conference was good, we were ready to go. It was a good weekend, and  I’m thankful that we had the opportunity to attend this conference.

On Sunday morning, I sat at the kitchen table with Roger. We were talking about the conference so I got out my notes. I still had my survey from the spiritual gifts session, so I had Roger take the survey. Surprise, surprise! We have different gifts and strength! (I’m kidding, I already knew that!) Roger scored very high on discernment, which I would’ve said was one of his gifts before he took the survey. Roger is very good at seeing people, and while mercy is also one of his gifts, having discernment in our marriage has helped us many times! It’s Roger’s  discernment that keeps me from getting completely swallowed up in too many things that I see as service or helps. We both had a few more strengths that balance out our marriage, but one thing I’m very thankful for is grace. Grace is not a gift, and it is freely bestowed on each believer! Hallelujah ! God gives grace for what we need, and I am so thankful that I don’t have to work to obtain God’s grace.

I am thankful that Roger kept the home fires burning and that I was able to go to the conference.

Also this week:
1) Chandler turned in his cans and bottles. He’s made $19.85 this year so far!

2) The academic fair is this Thursday, and we are all looking forward to having it behind us!

3) Travis is continuing with speech lessons, but we are having another meeting to see if we can help him achieve other academic goals.

4) Spring break is next week, and we don’t have school. I’m both thrilled and sad about that. I just want to be done with school; but since we have the week off, we are going to enjoy it!

5) I was able to present my Haiti video to the church on Sunday, and I was thankful for that opportunity.

6)  We appreciate your continued love and prayers

 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”