Joy in the Journey Women's Conference

Our women's ministry has been studying Richard Foster's book Celebration of Discipline this year and in an effort to finish by December, I held a conference this past Saturday. Only 30 women registered which is pretty low for one of our women's events and on the morning of, only 13 showed up! In my flesh I was so disappointed considering the amount of excitement I had for the day and the amount of planning and prep an event like this requires, but I put a smile on face and pressed on. 

It only took about 5 minutes for me to realise, this was exactly the day God had planned and my excitement doubled! We studied all 4 of the outward disciplines discussed in the book; simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. And the best part was the intimacy and connectedness of the group. One major personal blessing to me was I had asked a young woman from my Wednesday morning Bible study to teach one of the lessons. She gladly excepted!! That was a big yay moment for me. But when I got to hear her teach it was a HUGE celebration and praise moment!! She did awesome! She poured our her heart to the Lord as she taught and blessed Him greatly with her service. And the women focused on every word she shared. The small group discussion times were some of the best I have ever seen in terms of openness and eagerness to share and dig into the next lesson. 

At around 3 pm I was just starting to teach the final lesson for the day and said to the women, "Thank you so much for sacrificing your Saturday to dig into this book together." The response from the women was an overwhelming, "NO! Thank you, we are are loving this book and learning so much to take with us into our own special times with God." Our final prayer time was incredible and God broke through heartache, fear, and resentment and brought His peace. 

We have 4 more chapters to get through together and I'm so encouraged by what I see transpiring in the woman and how they are taking this information and applying it to their relationships with Christ!! 

Thank you Jesus for the grace you give that allows us any longing at all. We pray for more and more of you and greater desire to know your heart and share our own. Jesus, thank you for providing the incredibly safe, loving, tender space for us to lay our hearts at your feet. You are awesome! Amen.