I intended to write about the conference right after I attended but didn’t get it done (so sorry Mrs. Herring!).?? Now that I feel so behind on my postings, this one will be short but I did want to take the time to say GO!!!!!!!?? If Women of Faith is in your area….GO!?? It was awesome and 2007 will find me in attendance for sure!?? Next year in fact Beth Moore will be the speaker for the preconference and I am already excited for that.

Here were a few quick highlights:

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• Donna VanLiere was amazing!?? What a gift for drama she has.
• Patsy Clairmont is a hoot!??
• Avalon is the BOMB (as always)
• I never tire of Sheila’s accent and her words were so moving.?? Brought back old memories hearing her sing because I have been to MANY Sheila concerts over the years.
• I would love to have tea with Lucy Swindoll because I think her and I could discuss theology for hours on end just for the fun of it:)
• Marilyn Murenberg stole my heart.??
• Thelma Wells stole my mother’s heart.
• I cried for two days straight.
• I cried more than I laughed but the tears weren’t draining.
• Kathi Trocolli has such a great sultry voice.??
• I have appreciated Nicole Nordeman in the past but she truly captured me with her passion.?? I will never listen to her music the same again and I am downloading several more albums.??
• But by far the most inspirational person with the most contagious joy was Lisa Smith.?? Most Women of Faith attendees don’t get to see her because she only travels with the group one weekend a month.?? She was first introduced to us when Kathy Trocolli sang.?? Lisa signed as Kathy sang and to say it was breathtaking would be a gross understatement.?? My mother signs.?? She learned so that she could talk to a friend and later taught sign language for a college and even used to sign sermons for the hearing impaired sometimes.?? She taught me a lot of signs as a child and together we have signed songs for??performances (like Christmas play’s for example).?? While I, have complete liberty to raise my hands in worship…my mother is more reserved so I tease her that she loves to sign songs as an excuse to raise her hands (LOL).?? Having said this, never in my life have I seen someone sign with such passion, such radiance…and yes such joy.?? Imagine our tears to look upon the face of a precious young woman signing from the very soul of who she is and realize that she was born with Down’s syndrome.?? A friend of mine whose??sweet little daughter Becca was born with Down’s told me that over 90% of children found to be with Down’s in the womb are aborted.?? I couldn’t help but think of that when I watched Lisa.?? God gifted her.?? It wasn’t her performance that was so perfect (though it was perfect) it was her passion.?? No one would deny the incredible sincerity of it.?? My mom later said that if the conference needed a “face” – the face of JOY belonged to Lisa Smith.?? Wish you could have seen what we saw.?? I for one will never forget it.

God didn’t answer my prayers for Susie in the way that I expected or hoped for that weekend.?? I try to pray sincerely without my own agenda but I fail.?? My heart does have an agenda and as much as I try to surrender it…it haunts.?? In this instance, I was praying for NO seizures so that Susie could stay all weekend at the conference.?? Landen did have seizures all weekend.?? He was taken by ambulance to the hospital while we were there and the phone did ring continually with text messages flying furiously through both day and night BUT….Susie did stay at the conference.?? God did answer the heart of my prayer but He did it it His way.?? I can tell you that there was a whole line of women cringing and crying at every exchanged call because, as a group, we grieved with her.?? Susie has been dealing with emergencies for so long now with more than one child though – that even though yet another urgent situation was occuring – we knew that her presence in another ER was not going to change anything in the next few hours and we wanted her to have as much of a reprieve as possible.?? Is it truly a reprieve when you ultimately have to leave and head right back into battle??? I guess I don’t know the answer but I do know that for a moment in time, she was reminded that she was loved.?? Both by God and by friends.?? I think that Nicole Nordeman broke her heart and blessed her heart.??

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I’ll end with a few lines from “Hold On”…

So hold on
Love will find you
Hold on
He???s right behind you now
Just turn around
And love will find you

It will find you when the doctor???s head is shaking
It will find you in a boardroom, mostly dead
It will crawl into the foxhole where you???re praying
It will curl up in your halfway empty bed

So baby don???t believe that it???s over
Maybe you can???t see ???round the corner???

To hang between two thieves in the darkness
Love must believe you are worth it

This song on my heart today for all my friends who are grieving….for which there are many tonight.