I just had an amazing week in North Carolina at She Speaks 2011.... I met so many lovely ladies, filled with the love of God.
So many different dreams, and visions the Lord has given to them... I see his hand reaching the world through his saints. Words could probably not adequately describe what I encountered this week. I was challenged in so many ways, inspired, encouraged, and captivated. Shelly and I , we laughed cried, we lost things, we found things,lol. We ate amazing food, had great worship.. met amazing woman like Ann Voskamp, Lisa Terkuerst, and Renee Swoope.. to say the least, and so so many more. We stayed in the Embassy Suites Spa and Resort, it was just delightfully beautiful and luxurious.
But I have to say, I was Challenged by Ann Voskamp to live a life open handed to God.. Gratitude.I must admit I have found myself tight fisted many times in my life... Through the loss of my brothers, divorce, things that hurt deeply. God reminded me to be grateful even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. Wow, its hard to be grateful burying your big brother, protector and friend. How do you say thank you for having to say good- bye again 6 yrs later to your little brother who is only 20 yrs.old ...Or when after 10 yrs. of marriage you are faced to raise your children alone...or you just feel completely alone, how do you say thank you when you have tried to be faithful to the Lord, to have so much tragedy come your way.
How do you be grateful, for the pain.. for the thing that hurts the most...I don't think it is neccesiarly grateful for the bad things that happen.. I don't believe God expects you to say " Lord I thank you for my brother dying", or "Lord I thank you for my divorce".. but rather " Lord I thank you that you are my savior, you are my healer, that your mercies are made new every day".. Jesus lived a life of gratitude to the father.. consistently living a life of gratefulness even to the cross. Ephesians 5:20 In all times for everything Give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father." Regardless what we are going through be thankful for Jesus, because as long as we have Jesus we have all we really need... He is the way, the Truth and the Life......
So I am challenged to look at things in Life from a different perspective...
" O Give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his mercies and loving-kindness endure forever".
Robin,
ReplyDeleteSo glad we met at She Speaks. Good job being brave and putting yourself out there by blogging and stretching yourself to come to the conference. You have such a sweet sincerity about you that's really refreshing.
ps Linked both to you and Shelly on my post today in which I was counting my gifts with Ann V.
Robin, what a beautiful post. It was great to meet you at She Speaks on Thursday night at the table. May you be blessed!
ReplyDeleteI am choosing with you to live open-handed as we allow these gifts to become our gift back to the giver. Keep sharing, my friend...xoxo
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