Thursday, October 25, 2012

Women Of Faith part 5

Here's the last bit. Winding it all down just in time to hit the road for a LIFE seminar in Ohio. Then my own event here in Merrill. Come on over to Bible Presbyterian Church in Merrill, WI on November 4th at about 1130am to cheer us on and join in the fun. But now back to WOF.

Pat Smith was our next speaker. She is the wife of Emmett Smith. She started joking around a bit about football teams and Dancing With the Stars. Then she shared her story.
  • It's only God, because I'm not worthy
  • We were all birthed by a mother.
  • Mom would radiate light. Would have to stop and hug everyone at the restaurant on the way to the table.
  • Mom gave her life purpose from really little.
  • Worried what it would be like for the rest of her life if her mom died of cancer when she was just 17.
  • Her mom had 5 more years on this earth after the initial diagnosis.
  • She felt abandoned and alone and insecure. She started down the wrong path for the next 20 years. Because she wanted her mom to tell her what to do.
  • She got married, had a beautiful daughter and a horrible divorce. Met Emmett and now they have a wonderful family together.
  • She felt purposeless and unacknowledged. As purposeful as it was to be a wife and mom, "I knew there was more".
  • She Challenged us: 1. You gotta push past fears and insecurities. 2. You gotta see God; go to church, join a Bible study  4. We have to trust Him. (yes, I know there's no 3. My friend didn't hear the 3 either.)
  • She shared a moment in her life when she felt like it was all going in the right direction. She had found a purpose in life and was doing something for God's glory. Then she got a call from the doctor. At 40 years old and four kids at home already, the doc told her that she was pregnant again. She couldn't believe it since her husband had just gotten a vasectomy. She ran to the drug store to buy a pregnancy test. Feeling like she was 13, she ran back to the drug store to buy another one because she didn't believe it. The lady behind the counter said, "Face it honey, you're pregnant."
  • She had bad depression during this pregnancy. Her medical records had gotten mixed up with another woman's files. She spent her whole pregnancy worrying about the baby growing inside of her. Until towards the end of the pregnancy when they realized the mix up and apologized to her. That's when she heard God say, " This is where I wanted you. I just want you submitted to Me and dedicated to Me." She carried the burden of this other woman.
  • He is leading and directing us. He cares for us.
  • Our God love me more
  • He can fill a void that no one can fill.
Then Selah came on stage to sing us some songs and share some fun and moving stories with us. They were really awesome and funny.
  • Amy Perry shared her 8 month old little man with us. She shared that she had weight issues until she realized that there was something broken inside of her. She got together with a nutritionist and gave her heart to Jesus. She lost a bunch of weight and then found out she was pregnant. She shared with us that she had some sort of growth on her hip and even let the camera man zoom in on it. That's when the rest of the band started shaking their heads. Then she let us know that the doctor told her it was fat and that it formed that way because she had worn the same style of pregnancy underwear her entire pregnancy and they were asymmetrical causing one hip to grow an abnormal fat growth on her hip. That was when the band got up and started leaving the stage. What did they expect in a room of thousands of women? It was all in good humor.
  • Allan Hall plays the piano (basically all the music for the band, pretty awesome) and he shared some flashbacks with us. He just turned 42 recently...and is single. He shared that he'd been playing the piano since he was 7. He played us some 80s flashback tunes. He is awesomely talented.
Lastly the Women Of Faith group performed scripture and songs from The Voice Bible. It was pretty cool. Different listening to stories I knew from the Bible read from this version. Not one of my new favorites but more power to you if this version speaks to your heart.

To finish off this travel through our weekend, I will leave you with some pics from our dinner stop. We had so much fun. But we always do when we get together. I pray that God spoke to you somewhere in this walk with me. I look forward to sharing my next adventure with you soon. Until then, go out and praise Him.