Women's Conference

This past Friday night & Saturday I was privileged to attend the 1st ever Women's Conference at Calvary. I had been looking forward to going to this for weeks! I had attended the Greg Lentz and Ralph Sexton Ministry's Conferences before in the past, but this, this was just for women and the speakers I felt like gave us just what we as women needed to hear. We had several speakers including Nikki Carswell, who spoke about her sweet baby girl, Johanna, who is with our Lord now, and her journey with Trisomy 18. Nikki, you truely blessed my heart to hear you talk about your sweet baby girl and how the Lord has worked in your & Chad's life through her. And, just so you know, Robbie does the exact same thing to me. Everytime I get upset & flip out he just looks at me & says, "It will be ok". Just once, I wish he would flip out too, but that's just the way God made them! Christine Braidwood also spoke about her previous missions and journey with her husband in Haiti. What a wonderful way that God used her and touched us all when we found out that she would be speaking the very same week that the earthquake happened. God always has a plan. We also were able to support Haiti and took up an offering for Christine to send directly to people she knew there. We also heard from Lori James. Lori spoke to us about "The New Year" and Happiness through fellowship, fighting and following. She was a hoot too! Our main speaker was Mrs. Carol Kent and before the conference, to be perfectly honest, I had never heard of her or her story. To be as brief as possible, Mrs. Kent and her husband, Gene, had the so called "normal" life until the morning of Oct. 25 1999, when they received a call that their son, Jason, just recently married the year before had been arrested for the murder of his wife's ex-husband. I won't go into much more detail because I want you to go visit Carol's website. www.carolkent.org But, as I sat there listening to all the horrific things she had went through & had to face on a day to day basis from there on out, I couldn't help but think, "WOW, I don't know how she gets out of bed every day". Her & her husband moved to FL to be close to their son & visit him on every Sunday, and spend every Christmas thereafter together in the jail. But, instead of crying in her pity, she picked up the pieces and how at first she questioned why to God, she turned to him and let him use her and her son to reach others. I've only scratched the surface on what their family has experienced, but to go from a happy normal family one day, to never normal again, is something I though long & hard about. Any of us could go through this circumstance or anything just as tragic anytime. I thought to myself, could I do what she & so many others did?? Could I use something I had been through in my life to help others? I purchased one of Carol Kent's books and I've already read the first 3 chapters in it. It's called "A New Kind of Normal". I don't want to be normal, I want to be able to say that I've done what the Lord has had me to do. Needless to say, this weekend was great. All the speakers, the skits, the music, the food, all the Calvary ladies that put it together, it was all wonderful and I am blessed to have been a part of it. I encourage you, if nothing else, to do what Mrs. Kent wrote in my book..."Keep pointing people to hope". There is always hope if we just trust in HIM! "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths". Proverbs 3:5-6
I hope you all have a great week, and I'm going to nurse this sore throat & back ache I woke up with today and read some more in my book!