I'm back!

Well, it's been awhile, so I thought I'd take a moment this morning, to say hello...

Last weekend was a whirlwind! My friends, Missy & Chrissy, were here from Iowa and we went together to the Passion for Jesus conference together. It was great to get to see them again. They're both in their twenties and in a totally different stage of life than me, so it was fun to talk to them and 'remember when' and yet be glad that I'm not in my twenties! :) I'm thankful to be past the dating/courting stage, past college/career decisions (major ones anyway), etc.! They were 'picking my brain' like crazy and I'm realizing more and more that Steve and I have entered the age of slowly becoming 'the older ones' now that we're in our mid-thirties! It's so strange because the majority of our friends in Iowa were older than us, forties or fifties. Not all, but most. And, now most of our relationships here are either in their thirties or younger! We have gotten so many comments and 'double looks' when we tell people we have a 13 year old! They can't believe it and tell us we look way too young! lol I guess most people waited to have kids till they were older and more 'financially secure' or something, I don't know -- lol! But, it's just kinda funny!

At a meeting the other day - someone asked what ages our kids were and we said "13 and 10" and their eyes bugged out! They said, "What? You look 20! OK, maybe 25, but definitely not more than that!" lol We just laugh! Some day I'm sure the wrinkles will catch up with us, so we're enjoying the compliments while we still can -- and laughing when alone! :)

Anyway, that was a huge rabbit trail -- now back to the weekend:

It was great to hang out with them. I had trained Chrissy back in Iowa at my old gym, so it was fun to see her again and to see that she's still living an active lifestyle and is healthy! :) And, to hear that she's decided to go on and get her NASM personal training certification! I'm so proud of her! She encouraged me a lot about how much I'd changed her life and that ministered to my heart so much, especially in this season where I'm trying to get back into shape and figure out if I'll train again. It was such an encouragement to see the 'fruit' of really pouring into someone else. She's coming back to KC in May to do a personal training workshop here and I might just go with her! That would be fun! :)

And, the conference: it was great! Much of it is stuff that we hear often now being around Ihop more frequently, but there was a couple things that were really good for my heart.

The first was Dana Candler -- I love when I have the opportunity to hear her speak. She's so real and so articulate. She and her sister, Deborah, are two of my very favorite speakers! When she shares it's as if she's sharing my heart! She spoke about intimacy and about how Jesus is fully given to us and therefore we can afford to be fully given to Him! It was challenging and pushed me to want to go deeper into His heart and to want to abandon myself more to Him. I was reminded to live for eternity, and not for this world. This world is passing quickly and we will soon see Jesus face to face, and this will all be over. What am I truly living for? Does what I do daily count for eternity or for this life? It was a good 'focus' check for me, personally.

Then Saturday night was Mike Bickle and he challenged us about being in the Word. It was so good! I love hearing Mike because he's so balanced. He's challenging and so much of what he says will cut you to your core and Jesus uses his words to convict and challenge, and yet he's so encouraging and makes things seem 'doable'. I was challenged about my time spent reading the Bible. I'm so much more of a 'worshipper' and would rather worship and pray than sit and read my Bible. Honestly, I struggle with that. But, I was challenged about being more 'creative' and about using the Word to sing to God and meditate on verses. About how the Word is the foundation for everything we do and it's the only way we'll know and stay in Truth, and not just our own reasoning. It's our 'plumbline' for everything we do. I know that on one hand, but I want to experience it on an even deeper level. I feel like God just renewed my own personal hunger for the Word and it's been so awesome to spend the last few days, before I do anything else, to take time for the Word, even if it's just 5 minutes. It seems as I read, God meets me there, and the more I want to read. YEAH! :)

Sunday morning was Daniel Lim, one of the teachers at Forerunner School of Ministry here, and he is from somewhere over in Asia. Steve and I were both challenged as we listened to him. I love listening to people from overseas -- they have such a diffrent perspective than us Americans. He spoke out of Revelations and God's words to the church at Laodicea. He challenged us about mediocrity and the 'status quo' and about 'coasting' in our walk with the Lord. It was really good for us to hear that, because not being so 'busy' here in KC with ministry or whatever, it's really easy to 'coast' and not press in. In Iowa, when we had a message to prepare or Christ-Life to get ready for etc., it's really easy to be motivated to spend time with God and get ready, but now it's just us and our relationship with God. We were challenged to press into the things of God, even when there's nothing to 'prepare' or 'do' with it necessarily. To dig deep the wells within us.

We came away challenged, encouraged, and refreshed and renewed in our walk with the Lord! It was so timely and good for us! :)

Then, get a call yesterday that one of the heads of the counseling departments at Ihop wants to talk to us about Christ-Life! Wow! Hmmmm......it'll be so interesting to see what God does with all that!

So.........that was our weekend! :)