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Monday, June 23, 2008

She Reflects and She Praises...

Just returned from She Speaks.

What did I learn? Oh my.

I learned more about Proverbs 31 Ministries. I learned how these women REALLY walk the walk they talk about. All of them, from the founder of the ministry, Lysa TerKeurst to her hard working assistant Holly. I'm sure all 500+ attendees would agree that this weekend we were ministered to by women in love with Jesus Christ who just can't keep Him to themselves. Definitely a ministry worth sowing into. Lysa, thank you for seeking God's heart and rounding up the ones He chose to help you put She Speaks into action. He is so amazing and shines so bright in your eyes! She Listens...She Obeys...She Speaks...He is Glorified! Love you & Holly much.




I learned how God wants me to completely depend on HIM. Saturday night was amazing after Renee Swope talked. I love Renee's heart and the message God gave her to share was just perfect. I saw a woman sitting at a few tables away from me and was just sobbing. Pure brokenness that ONLY JESUS CHRIST can bring one to. I know because I've done that type of sobbing before. Not just the tears coming down the cheeks. No, it was the sobbing from the gut where you can't breathe. She was immediately surrounded by 3-4 women praying over her. So awesome.


Okay, let's see what else did I learn?


To talk pure southern talk, Amy from Signs and Miracles and Carol from Sheep to the Right told me to not finish my words. "So tonight, I will tell my husband Gene that "I'm fixin' to go to bed." Normally, I would say "I'm fixing to go to bed."



Well, normally I'd never say "fixing" at all, but that's my new word. So for now on I will only add the letters "in" to the end of my words and not "ing" to anythin' and I'll spend more time on one word. For example: "nine" will now be "niiiiiiine". I heard Amy say it that way yesterday in the car and loved it.



Next year at She Speaks my goal is to have a way cooler accent than Micca Campbell, Lysa TerKeurst and Lisa Whittle could ever have! Sorry ya'll, but I will not only have cute shoes on, I will have a cute southern drawl and will be sayin' "Thank Yoooooooou" after you compliment my shoes. Over the next year I will be practicin' hard on my southern accent like someone fixin' to go to Paris practices their French! Poor Gene.


I learned that when in Charlotte and you call for a cab to take you to the airport and the woman on the other end says "Yes, I'll pick you up, I'll be the American woman!" with much passion to immediately cancel the request for a pick up and walk to the airport.


I will post more on this as soon as I get my pictures downloaded, but let's just say it was the best 60 dollar 25 minute ride I have ever had in my entire 37 years of life. I think Kelley and Missy would agree with me that we had a very entertaining "taxi" ride so please lift up your glass and join me in this toast:

Here's to all the American women cab drivers that pick up their client's shoeless
in a car made the same year I was born
with no AC
with windows that roll instead of slide and
a driver who offers her passengers chicken recipes
that northern women like myself can't understand
due to the thickness of the southern drawl...
I had no idea 'bull' meant to BOIL the chicken
seasoned to my 'pref-rinse'...
I will next year though!
The recipe alone was worth the 60 bucks!
So here's to all you American women "taxi cab" drivers!
CHEERS!
I learned it doesn't matter when your boarding pass says you'll arrive home. You'll get there when the pilot drops you off even if it is 2 hours later. Arrival time into KC: after midnight. 3 hour drive home to Lincoln. Pulled into driveway at 3:15am and fell into bed at 4:15am.
I had to shower first and wake up my grand baby Amiyah so I could hold and kiss on her.
Yes I woke her up in the middle of the night.
What?
I learned it's not so scary hugging people you meet on the Internet. I'll show off my friends later with the pics we took. I'm so mad I didn't get a picture taken with author and speaker Lisa Whittle. I love this girlfriend in God and we just picked up in conversation as if we had left off the night before. True beauty inside and out. Oh, and I bought her book called Behind the Eyes. Can't wait to read it! Lisa isn't part of the P31 team, but was there serving. What a great example for selfish servants like myself!
I learned that God has me right where He wants me and this is awesome!
I traveled with Kelley from Aroma of Joy. You are the best traveling companion a girl could have! Had so much fun belly laughing with you and growing closer to God this weekend. Sorry I tried to ditch you last night in Chicago & get on the plane to Omaha & to think you would've been left alone with the Professor on the last flight home!
God wants to use you big time Kelley...LET Him!
I love the heart you have for our King. Let Him speak through you and continue to amaze you! Give Him all your fears and like Renee told us, live in the shadow of the cross! I'm thankful He has brought us together and that we only live 4 hours away from each other! Gene & I can't wait to join you & John this summer for some BBQ!
If you have a passion for God and know He wants to use you in women's ministry, speaking or writing this is the conference for you. Click here to learn more of She Speaks as it is an annual conference. I highly recommend it.
Also, to learn more about Proverbs 31 Ministries and all they do for the Lord click here.
Okay ya'll, my eyes are burnin' and my head is spinnin'. I'm fixin' to go take a nap as I cannot come home from a Christian women's conference and be mean to my family from lack of sleep. That would just confuse their poor souls.
I'll share with you this week of what God showed me, who I met and will post my pictures. I can't wait to introduce you to more women of God I met this weekend. You will meet Pamela, Amy, Laura, Jenny, Linda , Joy, Elaine, Michelle and many more I hugged and laughed with. You are all so precious in His sight ladies!
Thank you for your prayers.
You're awesome and the God you prayed to showed Himself OFF to me this weekend.
I just love Him so much and am excited about where He's taking me.
I adore you Lord, and want my life to reflect the love I have for You. Thank You for a weekend that shoved me more out of my comfort zone. Funny how the more uncomfortable I get the more at peace I feel with You Lord.
Thank You Jesus for never giving up on this girl that so often turned her back on You.
WHAT was I thinkin'?
Love,

21 comments:

Melanie said...

Hi, Lelia. I just found your blog this afternoon as I've been visiting several bloggers that attended SheSpeaks. It sounds like it was a completely awesome event!

I've enjoyed my visit and will be back soon! Have a great week!

valerie said...

Sounds like you had an awesome time!
I make it a point to attend a Beth Moore conference somewhere every year....maybe I'll just have to add SheSpeaks to my list of to-do's each year as well.
Can't wait to hear more.
Love,
Valerie

Kelley said...

I wouldn't have blamed you for leaving me in Chicago but I would have missed you terribly! In fact I do miss you terribly! Thanks, Lelia for traveling with me and making this so much more than just a conference trip. You are sooo beautiful inside and out; in fact you should be a model!! God is so good and I am very grateful He put you and Missy in that cab with me because with anyone else I wouldn't have survived it. I guess you could say "misery loves company".

See ya soon Girl...
Love,
Kelley

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time! I wish I could have been at She Speaks, too! Maybe next year! :) :)

I can't wait to see the pics. I've already seen some of Kelley's, and boy does it look like you guys had a great time!

Love ya girl! I hope your heart's desires were sown into. May God continue what he started!

Prayers and Blessings!
Rebecca

Bonita said...

I wish I had gotten to meet you. I wasn't in attendance at the conference, but I was there helping at the resource table and in other ways on Friday. I'm just now finding out who all I missed seeing. Check out my blog to see some new friends that I did get to meet in person.

Amy L Brooke said...

I so loved meeting you! I wish we had more time to hang out. There was just so much to do and so many to meet . . . . Thanks for sharing the pictures of Amiyah. She is a doll.

Sandra Garcia said...

Sounds like you had a rewarding experience. I look forward to hearing more about it!

Paula V said...

Hey Miss Leeeeee---llllaaaa!
I'm so glad you are back. I'm praising the Lord with you for what He has done for you and in you during this weekend. May the effects of this weekend become residual effects and stay with you for a long time.

I've seen several of your pics around blog land. You are beautiful and you have a very contagious smile! I'm envious of the time you gals spent together and mostly the enrichment provided by God.

I look forward to reading more.
Love ya girl!
Paula

Carol said...

I was fixin' to head to bed, but I thought I'd stop by. I'm thinking about making and selling my own cd's called "Mouth of the South" to teach y'all how to speak southern. Ha Ha!!

LynnSC said...

Hi Lelia,
I jumped over to your blog from someone else's... I can't even remember who. Sounds like you ladies had a great time.

I knew that there were lots of you ladies going to NC for this conference... but I had no idea that it was in Charlotte. I actually live just a few minutes from downtown Charlotte... I would have loved to drop over to see how many faces I could pick out from blogs. Maybe next time.

Thanks so much for sharing your praises with us. Lynn

Rachel Olsen said...

Hey Lelia,

I'm fixin to thaaaank God for the opportunity to meet you in person this weekend. Now I have a preet-tee face to put with the name. :)

Hugs & keep in touch ~ Rachel

Lisa said...

Oh my goodness, Lelia!

Friend, I cannot tell you what a thrill it was for me to meet you this weekend. I hope you've gone to my blog and read what I wrote about you. I'm a big Lelia fan, girl. A BIG Lelia fan. If we lived in the same town I would stalk you. :)

And I'm mad, too, about not getting a picture with you. How in the world did that happen?

Please keep me posted on your project. You've got tons of talent, Lelia. God is gonna use your story in a big way. Keep walking through the doors as He opens them. I trust your heart.

Love you tons and bunches!
Lisa :)

P.S. I have never been accused of the southern accent before! I am so excited! I finally feel like I am part of the Carolina girl club!

Missy said...

I am posting about Ravonda tomorrow. :-)

Michelle said...

Loved meeting you! I got Lisa's book also, maybe that'll have to be another online study. :) Can't wait to see the pictures.

Yolanda said...

Several things touched my heart this morning from this post:

We share Girlfriends: Joy, Pamela, Kelley, Elaine...and they share a Girlfriend with me: Lelia.

AND I'VE NEVER LAID MY EYES ON ANY OF YOU....NEXT YEAR! Thanks Lelia for the invite.

WHAT was I thinkin'? Amen, I can sure testify to that statement.

Coming back from a great feeding, to only confuse those that were at home waitin' on ya. AMEN!

I do believe, God truly wants us to depend on Him, to totally trust. Not half hearted, but wholely.

Love ya,
Yolanda

Amy said...

I'm so glad you and all of the other bloggy women were so blessed at this conference. I can't wait to see all the pictures "ya'll" took.:)

I love the southern accent you are practicin'.;) I am a southern girl myself, so I loved what you said about practicin' your accent for next year.

Make sure to work on "ya'll", "in yonder," and if your kids are a actin' up, like Loretta Lynn says, just yell at 'um...."If you kids don't quit a actin' up, I'm gonna have ta whup the tar out of everyone of ya!";)

I'm lookin' forward ta more of yer posts!
God Bless,
Amy:)

Susan said...

Welome Home Lelia!!

Oh, I just knew you would have a GREAT time!!

Now for that southern accent, what until you hear MINE!

Well, I sound more like a New Yorker. It's strong, let me warn you now.

So blessed you had a great time.

I'll look forward to the pictures♥

Samantha said...

Can't wait to see the pictures and here more details about your trip! Sounds like you truly enjoyed it, and I'm very, very happy for you :D

Blessings blessings blessings!
Sam

Pamela (His maidservant) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pamela (His maidservant) said...

I never expected to have the time that we did. You are so beautiful inside and out and you have so so much to share to lift others up in Him! Keep stepping towards Him!!

You are such a blessing friend!

In His Graces~Pamela

Tracy said...

I have had an absolute blast reading about your adventures and looking at your photos from "She Speaks." Thrills my heart for all you very talented ladies. = )

And the appointment at the airport with that teen girl...only God...only God.

Can't wait to see the places God takes you after what you experienced this past weekend. = )

Blessings,
Tracy

P.S. You are so stinkin' cute!