Women of Faith

As you have seen on here before, I am part of the Thomas Nelson Publisher's Booksneeze program. In exchange for an honest review on my blog, I am given new books to read.  A month or so ago, Booksneeze sent out an email asking for bloggers who would be willing to attend the upcoming Women of Faith conferences. Luckily one was scheduled for my city so I quickly applied thinking it would be a great gift for my mom for her birthday (which was the same weekend).

Much to my surprise, I was selected!  I quickly called my mom to surprise her (she has read a few books by these women and I knew she would be excited).  Sadly, as previously written, we have had a very crazy month , filled with health issues and appointments.  This kept me from attending on Friday, because I couldn't take off to go and Jeremy couldn't take off to watch the boys. Also since Mom would be coming in the following week for the next round of tests, she decided not to come into town.

** Little disclaimer: I tried to take pictures at the event, but none of them turned out with the lighting in the arena. All pictures are taken from their website.**

Saturday, September 24th, my sister in law, Jen and I attended the event called Imagine at the Time Warner Cable arena (Have you ever been there? It's awesome!) with 1,000s of our closest friends.  I don't think I've ever been somewhere with sooo many women.  We quickly found our seats, which were awesome..just 4 rows from the court. After a quick flip through the program, we were both excited about the women included in the event.   Shortly after 9, the WoF praise team came up and lead us in 4 or 5 praise songs/hymns. These 4 women really set the mood for a morning of reflection and praise to our Creator. Honestly though, we were a little disappointed that they weren't accompanied by live musicians but rather a soundtrack.  As big as these events are, we felt like they could afford to have live musicians.

Shelia Walsh

Lisa Harper

The first two speakers of the morning were Lisa Harper (Courtney, doesn't she remind you of Su Soutter?)  and Shelia Walsh.  Lisa's raw testimony of childhood abuse made us sit in silence. She spoke of the constant struggle she had for the love of a father.  She always held hope that one day her own father (step-father I think) would come to know Christ.  On his death bed, he did come to know the Lord and Savior and he gave her the words she always longed for..to hear him say he loved her. Though her story was sad at times, she always had us laughing.  She really was just an hysterical lady.

Following Lisa was the hilarious Shelia Walsh.  I could have listened to Shelia all day. Her awesome Scottish accent had me hanging on every word.  (You should know I have thing for accents. ) She too had a very rough testimony, where she spoke with her battle with mental illness.  She speaks of meeting an angel one night while in the psych ward, who told her, "The Shepherd know where to find you."  She showed us how our Shepherd goes before us and steers us where to go.  He searches after us when we go astray and how we should seek and hear the Lord.

Karen Kingsbury

Nicole Johnson

After a short break, we heard from Nicole Johnson. While she was a sweet lady, I really cannot remember her main point.

The real treat for me came after her talk as my favorite Christian writer, Karen Kingsbury, took the stage.  I have read I think over 20 of her books and follow her on Facebook.  When she walked up on stage, I felt like I was meeting an old friend. (I know that sounds silly, but it was true.) I laughed when she spoke about crying when one of her characters died. I enjoyed hearing her speak and talk about her real characters in her life.  She talked about our the Lord is "writing" the story of your family's life. She concluded her talk by reading one of her children's books and she had all the women crying.   It was a sweet book about savoring the lasts in our children's lives.

Lunch followed a short talk about World Vision. What we loved was that lunch was provided with our ticket! We received a box lunch complete with chicken sandwich, orange, chips, and rice crispy treat. We were amazed that they were able to get lunches out to that many people. They basically had a station set up in the concourse and you could just go by and pick it up anytime during the morning.  This was awesome because we never had to wait in a line. After lunch,  I also took the opportunity to pump.  This may seem random but  I thought it was nice of the organizers to provide a nursing mother's room up on the suite level.  It was nice to have a quiet and secluded spot to sit. :)

Luci Swindoll

Mary Mary

After lunch, Mary Mary took the stage for a short concert.  I have LOVED Mary Mary since my college days.  They are a sister duo who bring soul to the Gospel and speak truth through their music. I was excited to see them live, but was a little disappointed that it was them just singing to a soundtrack once again.  the stage was Luci Swindoll (sister to Chuck Swindoll).  At age 79, this lady has more spunk and insight than any senior I know.  She told us all sorts of antics, mostly encounters with young people who have inspired her.  She encouraged us to go and do even if it's never been done before.  She said to do it because "no one ever told me not to."

Overall,  I felt like the event was well-organized and well-coordinated. I think personally the event should have been called Hope instead of Imagine, as the speakers spoke mostly of their hope to see the ones they love come to know Christ.

As we left, I came away feeling refreshed.  I didn't learn some great new theology concepts, but rather was given sweet reminders to seek the Father and cling to His promises.  Thank you Thomas Nelson Publishers for giving me the opportunity to have a day to just sit, relax, and be reminded of God's goodness.