Last weekend I was blessed to go to the Women of Faith Over the Top Conference at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. It was truly a blessing in so many ways. First I was blessed to get tickets as a blogger to blog about the event, in fact I received two tickets, so the second blessing was being able to take my younger sister along with me. God blessed in that also, because she had been very sick and in bed for weeks up until this conference and wasn't sure she could make the conference even up until the day of the event. But somehow she was able to get out of bed and come. (She never knew until later that I had people praying for her). Then on top of taking my younger sister to the event, my older sister and my aunt already had tickets so it was great to be with both my sisters and my aunt and be able to share in this event.
Now the event itself was wonderful. Within the last six months I have read three books by Andy Andrews, who up until that time I had know idea who he was, and now he is without a doubt one of my favorite authors, so you can image my delight to see that Andy Andrews was one of the speakers at this year's event. What a pleasure to hear him share, in his quirky southern way, how everything we do matters. That weather we know it or not what we do right now today, will effect generations to come, and how one person could change another's life in a profound way by just doing one small thing. His insight, his stories, and his wisdom are so amazing that had he been the only speaker last weekend it would have been worth it.
But the weekend wasn't about just one speaker there was what in movies or TV they would call an ensemble. And when each speaker got up to speak your were sure that "this" was the message that God wanted you to take home from the weekend, that somehow it was this speaker for whom God had you there to hear. I heard this from more than one person over the weekend, so let's go through some of the other speakers that were there.
There was Pasty Clairmont, she is just a bundle of energy and oh so funny. Through her we learned that sometimes "Change can be good" we laughed with her and cried with her as she told of the illness and almost death of her son. And now when I try to fight God in some change that He wants to make in my life, her words "change can be good" will come up over my from the back of my head to the front of my head reminding me to trust God with not only my life but the lives of my loved ones.
We also had Marilyn Meberg, I had never heard of Marilyn before the weekend, but her wisdom and humor showed us how to have a better relationship with God.
Lisa Whelchel, I remember watching her on The Facts of Life and loving her then, but now God is using her in a new way. Lisa showed how to find and how to be a true friend. If you remember "Blair" you might think that like "Blair", Lisa must have it all together. How could someone who was on a show for so many years that centered around the friendship of four girls have trouble finding true friends as an adult? It was refreshing to hear Lisa share her story, because finding true friends as an adult has been difficult for me. It seems that all my friends are what I would call seasonal or event friends and as soon as that season or event was over these so called friends were no where to be found. I always felt that having friends was easy for women and more than once wondered what was wrong with me that I did not have the kind of friend that would be there no matter what, that I could be real with, that I could tell anything to and trust them that would now judge me, but hold me accountable when needed, let me cry when needed, laugh when needed or just let me vent.
Besides the speakers we also had great music, from ladies that not only used the gift of their voice to bless us, but used their life and their struggles to bless us. We heard from Mandisa, what a voice, Sandi Patty, no one can belt it out like Sandi, and Amy Grant, saw her concert years ago in San Diego, now seeing her again reminds me how remarkable she is.
The best thing, to me, about the weekend is that I never got the feeling, like wow these women are super Christian Women, I wish someday I could be like them. In stead I was reassured that we all as women struggle with the same things, whether it's weight, friendship, children, our relationship with God, we are all going through this stuff together. I am so glad that each speaker choose to just be real and not pretend to have it all together. It was a great weekend and I can not wait until the next one.
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