She Travels and She Meets... She Speaks Part 1

How do I even sum up... I don't think I can.

My weekend at She Speaks started with a drive down to my parents house on Wednesday afternoon.

I felt tired and distracted leaving home, so I stopped in Steven's Point, about 20 min. from home, at a park by the Plover River.

It is a beautiful park with bridges over the river.

And wonderful places to curl up at the edge of the water and reflect.

Which is exactly what I did. I curled up and rested and prayed, and asked God into this whole weekend.

I had a great deal of concern about my talks, and how it was going to go. I was worried about being there without really knowing anyone. But at the same time I kept praying that God would speak to me. I headed into the conference with fears that He either wouldn't speak to me, or that I wouldn't understand it.

I spent time that afternoon praying that God would show me what He wanted me to hear from Him... and that He would speak it in a way that I would be able to discern. I asked Him to open up my heart to Him and help me rely on Him.

Little did I know how much He would answer those prayers.

God has a way with that doesn't he?

I wish I could say that I took loads of pictures. Unfortunately, well, I didn't. I kind of forgot to pull it back out until Saturday night. And then I only took a couple of shots, and then took it out long enough to get a picture with my evaluation group, and Amy Carroll, our evaluation group leader.

Go figure... I guess you will just have to use your imagination. :)

I had to get up at 3:30 am central time on Friday morning. I knew it was going to be a long day, but I had no choice because my plane left from Milwaukee very early. I flew to Detroit, and switched planes for the flight to Charlotte, NC.

The plane flights went well. I had no trouble with connections. Only with anxiety. I was fine with the take offs, but I started to get nervous about the landings, because I just get a bit motion sick. But as soon as I started praying, God just took the anxiety away, and I could feel my spirit just calm down. I took a couple of pictures of the plane for my kids (who have never flown before) and made a teenage boy laugh next to me because I was trying to get pictures of us flying through the clouds for my 5 yr old son.

I got there, found my luggage, and found the shuttle to get to the hotel. Surprise, surprise, I met one of the women in my evaluation group on the shuttle. Monica was just such a sweet lady, full of love and laughter and made me immediately relax.

I checked into my hotel room, cleaned up, and texted my bloggy friend Lee Merrill. We finally met face to face in the hotel lobby for the first time. If you haven't met her, head over to her blog. She has such a heart for God, is so much fun, a riot actually, and a warm gentle heart. I couldn't help but love her even more than I already did, from our getting to know each other on line.

I got to meet my roommate Katie. She was such a blessing to me. Her story is a miracle of God's intervention in her life. I wish I could have gotten to know her better. I am hoping that as we continue through this year, we will be able to get to know each other better.

After Katie and I were able to talk a bit and get to know each other a little bit, we worked our way down to the lobby, and towards the banquet room where we were to have our opening session and first dinner together.

As we walked closer, I could hear the swell of women's voices. Women getting to know each other. Women anxious to meet God this weekend. Women prepared to learn. Women desiring to worship their Father together.

The air was electric, and the sense of the Holy Spirit settling on this place was palpable...

(to be continued)