While I Was Away

My mom and I spent the weekend together in Omaha at the Women of Faith conference.  Just like last year, I had the most amazing time!  I left feeling refreshed and with a desire to put into practice a new found trust in God.  The underlying theme of all the speakers was trusting in God and how they have learned to do so through unimaginable circumstances. 

Sheila Walsh gave me a new perspective on the story of Abraham.  We all know the extreme trust he put into God, but Sheila pointed something else out.  Genesis 22:5 says "He said to his servants, 'Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.  We will worship and then we will come back to you.'"  His faith in God was so strong that when he arrived to the place where he was to sacrifice his son, Isaac, he told his servants that "we will be back".  He knew that even if God allowed him to place the dagger in Isaac's heart, that God would raise him from the dead immediately.  You see, in Genesis 15:5 God made Abraham a promise, "He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them.'  Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be'".   Abraham knew that when God makes a promise He keeps it. 

God has made us a promise as well:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or stow away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Matthew 6:25-27

If God cares about the birds, surely He cares about the smallest details of your life and will take care of them. 

For some reason trusting God has been an ongoing struggle of mine.  As a matter of fact, when I returned home from Women of Faith I was immediately faced with an issue.  After initially freaking out, I thought about the birds and the fact that God took the time to name every single star.  Since I know this to be true, I can trust Him with the details of my little problem.  Sure enough, my problem has been resolved and I am going to try to spend less time freaking out and more time trusting in God.

That is just a glimpse into what I learned.  There were so many heart wrenching and inspiring testimonies given.   Another testimony that particularly touched me was the one given by Karen James.  Her husband, Kelly, died on top of Mt. Hood in December of 2006 when the storm of the decade unleashed while he and his friends were climbing it.  I was inspired by her bravery to get up in front of 6000 women to share her experience just 4 years after the death of her husband.  She did it with one purpose; to give glory to God .  Wow!

I could go on and on, but instead I will tell you about what happened back home, while I was away.

Steven enjoyed some quality time with the girls.  He took them out to lunch, had a movie night (including candy, popcorn, and PJ's), did crafts, and took them to the zoo.  Here are some of the pictures he took of them at the zoo.

Posing in front of the flowers outside the zoo's entrance

A shot of a pretty flower

Goofing around on the infamous turtle sculpture.

I just so happen to think that this is an amazing picture of a butterfly.

Monkeying around.

Feeding Leo the Lion paper because he LOVES to eat paper!

It was a very special day because daddy bought them popcorn and pop at the zoo cafe.

It was doubly special that they got to ride on the train!  It even went around 3 times (a fact that the girls were very eager to share with me). 

So, while I was away being spiritually recharged, I was happy to know that my girls were having some quality time with their daddy.  It was a good weekend indeed!