Living Proof Live - Day One

Thanks for all of you who prayed me to Charlotte on Friday for the Beth Moore conference.  I had so much peace traveling that morning as I left my family at the beach.  Truthfully, I enjoyed having 5 hours to myself in the car, listening to MY music as loud as I wanted. 

I arrived in Charlotte early, with plenty of time to check in to our hotel.  I was meeting my friends Amy and Jennifer before we had to head to the arena.  This is when I became a bit anxious.  Amy asked me months ago if I wanted to volunteer at the event as an 'encourager'.  An 'encourager' is what I've always called a 'blue vest lady' (ha!).  Our only responsibility was praying with any women that came forward during the invitation or break time.  I have prayed for months that God would settle any anxiety I would have while praying with someone.  To me, that's such a fragile, sacred time and I didn't want to get in the way of God working in someone's life.

He worked it all out.

Back to Friday night ...

We got to the arena an hour before the doors opened so we could meet with the Lifeway team.  We listened to these women talk about the event and what was expected of us.  My heart was SO heavy and burdened about something in particular.  In all the rush, I had pushed it to the back of my mind, but when I finally sat down and heard these ladies talk about the Lord, I felt a wave of peace wash over me. I looked at Amy and whispered that I was on the verge of tears and about to have a moment.  She looked at me and WAS ALREADY CRYING, so good grief, it was a green light.  I cried like a baby.

God is just too much sometimes.  Who am I that He is mindful of me?

That's all I could say to myself all weekend.

After our meeting, we found our seats and waited for the doors to open.

I realize I look like an amazon woman compared to Amy and Jennifer.  It was really the result of a very bad shoe choice.  I knew it would be a bad choice, but in the hotel, Amy told me they were cute.  That remark clouded my good judgment and I wore them even though I knew better.  Later that night in the hotel, when I thought I should probably just amputate my feet, I told those girls to not even try to tell me those shoes were cute Saturday morning because I was wearing my beach flip flops!

Enough about my feet.

Ladies started pouring into the arena and I started seeing people I knew.

My sweet friend, Lisa.  Lisa and I met through my friend Pam. 

Bless Lisa's heart.  Whenever I see her, I just want to throw up all my prayer requests in the 5 seconds I get to see her. 

Do you have friends like that? Ones you know without a shadow of a doubt are going to fall on their face and pray for what you need? Lisa is that ... or atleast I hope she is because I treat her as such :) Lisa, sorry if I scare you.  I love you so much!

Then, I saw my friend Tracy.

Tracy and I met in Houston in January at the Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration.  You can read about that here.  I was so happy to see her (I think she is so wise!).

I was getting a little antsy about the ladies from my own church making it to the conference.  When they finally got there, I realized they were sitting up at the very top close to heaven.  But, these two walked down to see me before it started.

This is Kaley and Chelsea.  They used to be in my high school girls Sunday School class and are 2 of my favorite people.  This was their first women's conference and they were telling me how different it was compared to a youth event.

Ummm ... yeah.  I love you girls!

Right after we took our picture together, it was worship time ...

Oh, the JOY!

The worship may be my favorite part of any event.  When Travis sang In Christ Alone (My Absolute FAVORITE), I told Amy she may have to step aside so I could run the aisle.

But, then I remembered my blasted evil shoes, so I stayed put.

But, it was GOOD y'all.

More later .... Some really cool things happened on Saturday!