Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My Women of Faith Weekend



There are days I feel so incredibly blessed.  That is how I started a post last week about Booksneeze and Women of Faith sending me to the Denver Women of Faith event.

And I still feel that way.

Refresh.  Recharge.  Be re-invigorated.  I SO needed this.

If we are friends on Facebook, you probably saw me posting the occasional comment on how things were going.  If not... well, it was great.

Speakers included Patsy Clairmont, Marilyn Meberg, Lisa Whelchel, Sandi Patty, Andy Andrews, and Karen Kingsbury.  Musical guests included Mandisa and Amy Grant.  And drama was performed by Katharine Everett.

Unfortunately, we had some car issues that kept me from going up on Friday.  I headed out Saturday instead... and left my purse at the Safeway in Monument.  Didn't know that until I was trying to pay for parking at the Pepsi Center around 8:30 (the event started at 9:00).

For those of you who aren't intimately familiar with I-25 and/or Colorado geography... Monument is just north of Colorado Springs, and about 45 minutes south of the Pepsi Center.  Without tickets, obviously, I had no choice but to drive back to Monument.

That means I missed an hour and a half of Saturday morning too.  <sigh>  After picking up my purse (intact!), I cannot even begin to describe how much I wanted to just keep on driving until I got home and just say "forget it!" and go to bed.

Fortunately, I didn't follow that urge.  Headed back instead.  I got there in time to hear most of Karen Kingsbury's session.  So let me tell you about the sessions I did attend:
  • Karen Kingsbury.  Oh, my.  She read an amazing book about "lasts" -- Let Me Hold You Longer.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.  I know I was crying.  I need this book.  She closed her session out with prayer... asking everyone who had lost a child to stand.  I couldn't.  I just sat and cried.  
  • Sandi Patty.  Another oh, my.  I've always enjoyed listening to Sandi Patty perform.  But listening to her talk was just, oh, wow.  She discussed her weight issues, she talked about her family... and she sang.
  • Amy Grant.  I was a little worried about this session.  I can't help it.  Amy Grant was just getting started when I was in high school, and I just remember all these various youth group trips.  There was one prissy group begging for Amy Grant tapes (cassette, not 8-track... just for the record!) to be played while we drove.  I was in the group begging for practically anything else.  Van Halen, for instance.  My group usually lost.  A few years later, I was at a point where there were at least some songs that Amy performed that I did like.  She was great to listen to.
  • Marilyn Meberg.  Marilyn is always amazing.  She talked a lot about "more" -- wanting more, looking for more -- and how very human that is.  She made me think.  She always makes me think.
It was great.  I came home exhausted.  But it was good. 

There are still a number of events happening in 2011... and registration is beginning for 2012 as well.  This page has all kinds of information.

Thank you, Booksneeze and Women of Faith.  Having the opportunity to attend this was an amazing blessing.

Disclaimer:  In exchange for tickets to this event, I agreed to blog about it both before and after.  This post is part of that agreement.  All opinions are my own.

1 comment:

Cara R. said...

Oh, I'm so glad you got to go! I attended a couple of WOF conferences in NC. Can't wait to go to another one someday!