Refreshed....

So here's what's been up the past few days in my life. The Just Between Us Ministry Wives Conference was truly amazing. It was the perfect break and rest that I needed to put life back in perspective. The first thing that makes it so important is that all of the women there are either pastor's wives, missionaries, ministry leaders, wives of ministry leaders...from all over the world joining together in a safe place to talk about our dreams, our stresses, our confusion sometimes at our role, our sometimes inability to have safe places to talk about these things because we are so involved in our churches...while our lives and experiences might be different, many of the struggles and pain that we feel is so similar. The second thing that makes it so important is the worship. Steph Seefeldt (who has become a friend) If you've never heard her sing (you can hear a little clip on her website)...you are missing hearing an angel bring a piece of heaven right to you. Sounds cheesy I know...but seriously, you can feel and see the Holy Spirit move in her as she leads worship and if you allow yourself to "go" there...to put your inhibitions aside and allow the Spirit to come...words just don't even justify. She brings us ladies to such a place of worship--it's nothing short of total joy. And this year the 3rd thing that made it so special was the restoration walk. This was 12 tables accompanied by a devotion book that took us through a total soul overhaul. There's no other way to explain it. At each table there was a symbolic activity, prayer, action that we had to do. I've never seen so many tears, hugs, prayers...it was so wonderful. I have to admit I was exhausted after that hour! The 4th thing that made it so special was just hanging out with Steph and Katie (another kooky friend) and being silly. I seriously think we might have scared a few of the other women...lol. Also, I connected with some pastor's wives in Milwaukee--we exchanged information and our excited about potential relationships that might be made.
The conference ended yesterday and I had an hour to get situated before getting ready for our talk. Marlon got home from the boys basketball game, changed and we headed out. It was a great night. There were about 80 couples, a really yummy mexican dinner and amazing worship from Marlon's friend, Rodney Cunningham. I was so excited to have this wonderful gospel group at Elmbrook. It was even more exciting to see the response===the clapping, standing, people so enjoying it. Our talk seemed to go well. It's funny because we just were ourselves and shared our stories and some things that we've found out, so it's such a blessing to us that it touched other people. That's truly God working and nothing of us.
Now I am sick. :( I woke up today with a horrible headache, totally congested and full of phlegm (yummy!) So I decided to stay home from church, basketball and just rest and go through everything one last time for my talk tomorrow night at Alliance Bible Church. I am looking forward to a lovely relaxing day before returning to work tomorrow.
Have a good day!!