Women of Faith 2007 St. Paul

We decided to forgo the expense of the pre-conference this year, so we arrived Friday evening for the conference. We forgot to make note of the address for the Xcel Center and ended up half an hour late. The theme was Amazing Freedom and I was so excited to hear what they had to say. We missed a couple of the ladies intros, but made it in time to hear Nichole Nordeman's concert. I love her stuff! Its so beautiful and moving. I really need to get some of her songs.

Patsy Clairmont shared her story and some of her book "Living Lively through the Valley". Having overcome sever agoraphobia, she had some awesome Freedom stories to share. I was so busy laughing, that I didn't get any notes taken!

Saturday morning began with an awesome sketch by Nicole Johnson about Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. She was in her waitress character leading a Bible study. It was so funny! Her point was that we have the opportunity for a dramatic encounter with God. Let's not miss our opportunity!

Sheila Walsh opened by singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". She has tied together stories from The Wizard of Oz with her own life in her new book "God has a Dream for your Life". She says that God has a dream for our lives but our dreams are often for the wrong things. There is a huge difference between the American dream and God's dream. We are in pursuit of a fatally flawed dream. Freedom is not the absence of bars but the presence of Christ. Jesus hasn't come to get us through our prison but to live in us through it!

After break, Anita Renfroe cracked us all up! She did a couple repeats from last year (like her ode to underwire to the tune of that Josh Grobin song - You raise me up...) And then she did that new song from her Momsense album about all the things a mom says to their kids in a 24 hour period to the the tune of the William Tell overture. She shared that God loves to hear us laugh. And she showed us a picture that reminds her of our freedom in Christ: Its a picture of John F. Kennedy in the Oval office with his son, John JOhn, playing with toys under his desk. She says with God, we have the freedom to never be afraid of playing in our Daddy's office.

Man, I love Thelma Wells! She is an awesome woman of God who has been through so much! She shared Zephaniah 3:17 "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." And how God got her through her time in the closet (due to child abuse) by singing every hymn she could remember. She said she always left the closet with peace instead of anger after finding freedom in those hymns. To find true freedom she said we need to feed on the Word of God and Wait on Him. (Some scriptures she referenced were Psalm 100:1, Psalm 119:105 and Psalm 27). She reminded us that Jesus is a friend better than any other and He will be there when nobody else would. After sharing about a time of trials and disappointments, she said that you can beat yourself up for 15 minutes but then you need to let go and let God help you move on. She also reminded us that we need to study the word and Cherish our friendships. How can we expect to find healing when we hold grudges...

Nicole Johnson came back after the next break with a sketch about a girl who is a "cutter". What a powerful sketch! Sometimes I forgot there was only one person on stage as Nicole's voice changed to a more childlike tone when she pretended to be that girl.

Sandy Patty gave a concert next. Her vocal range is amazing. She shared a story of her dad when she was a child. Her dad let her and her brothers climb on the roof of their house and he would have them jump down to him. When it was Sandi's turn she was scared and he said to her, You are going to fall anyways, but if you fall backwards, I can't help you... if you fall forwards I can catch you. The same is true of our Heavenly Father. Due to our sinful nature, we are bound to fall no matter what we do, but if we fall away from Him, he can't help us. We need to Fall in to Abba Father's arms!

The show was paused for a few announcements... A woman shared with Mary Graham (the MC) that their pastor had just died that day! Not that the death itself isn't sad enough, but the saddest part is he was only 35 and left behind a wife and 3 kids (ages 5, 3 and 1)! It was so powerful to be in this stadium full of thousands of women all praying together for this man's wife and children as well as his church. No cause of death was shared. Not that the cause of death was important, but sometimes is easier to handle if you new this was expected (like cancer) or unexpected (like a car accident) especially since he was so young...

After the final break, Marilyn Meberg shared her story. She shared the lack of closure she felt at her husbands death from cancer and how she found a type of closure. and then she shared about her baby daughter (Joanie) who died 41 years ago and the lack of closure she has because she couldn't get her self to go to the hospital to say goodbye. She said we need to fully embrace every experience... we can't fully experience God without fully experiencing life... the good, the bad and the ugly. She said God is greater than our feelings and shared from Colossians 1:13-14, 1 John 1:9 and Colossians 2:13.

Nicole Johnson did a final sketch about Betrayal... Judas and his kiss.

And then Lucy Swindoll spoke. She shared something Dr Henry Cloud said at the pre-conference. He said, If you have seen the realization of a dream in the visible world you can be sure it started elsewhere. Nothing that happens in our lives is because of anything we do... its what God does though the things in our lives. She shared Galatians 5:13-16. Then she told the story of working for 18 years at a job she hated before the job she loved was offered to her. The change didn't happen because of anything she did. She finally gave it to God and asked Him to take care of it or take her home. When she finally let go, God took over. Her advice to us was to show up, shut up and let go!

Well, through this all I learned a couple things for myself. First of all, I realized I have a couple past relationships (primarily with ex-boyfriends) that I never had closure on. I think thats part of why those relationship still cause problems with my marriage. I don't know how to go about getting yet, but I need to find closure. Secondly, I learned there is nothing I can do to get the things I want in my life if they aren't the things God wants for my life. I need to ask my self am I seeking the American dream or God's dream for me and my family? I want a bigger house with this baby coming and I want DH to get a different job, but is that what God wants for us? I know I have to be content in all things... so I need to find a way to make this 616 square foot space work for a family of 4 until God choses to show us something else... and I need to trust that DH's job is the one he is doing right now until the right doors open. His boss isn't Christian or very respectful of anybody but himself, but maybe DH isn't supposed to leave until he has shown his boss who Christ really is? I don't know. Only God does and I'm choosing to trust Him.