Women of Faith – Imagine

I was blessed to be chosen to attend the Women of Faith conference in Indianapolis by Thomas Nelson.  They are the company that has brought Women of Faith to cities all over America since 1996. 

Following God and growing in my faith is what life is all about for me.  Homeschooling my children and taking care of my house is more than a full time job.  I love my family and wouldn’t do anything different but it was so nice to get away for this event. 

Originally I had asked my sister to go.  She changed her mind so I asked my best friend, Julia.  She is such an inspiration in my life and I admire her so much.  I knew we would have a great time. 

Indianapolis is about 3 1/2 hours from our home.  We used her husbands GPS and thought we would have no problem getting there.  You know, technology is wonderful and never messes up, right?  Well, when we got to Indianapolis, the road we were supposed to take was closed and Judy (that’s what we called the lady talking on the GPS) didn’t know it.  She kept telling us to go onto the closed road.  After being lost for several minutes, we decided it was time to ask for directions.  We’re women, we are allowed to do that.  The guy in the gas station gave us great directions, I’m sure.  But, Julia forgot them by the time she got to the car.  She thought she remembered them but wasn’t quite sure.  We listened to the GPS and after passing Indianapolis Speedway (which I thought was pretty exciting) we ended up at an office building.  Luckily there was a nice police officer just standing there on his phone waiting for ladies in distress.  He informed us that if we would look across the pond to our left, we could see the hotel from where we were.  Guess we weren’t too lost after all. LOL

We checked into our hotel and knew we were already 10 minutes late to the beginning of the conference.  Craig (the hotel clerk) told us that we could use the business center to look up the directions to Conseco Fieldhouse, which was where the conference was.  We said, “Oh, no.  We don’t need to.  We have GPS.”  What were we thinking? 

After driving completely away from the city, we ended up in a nice little cemetery.  We had spent 30 minutes getting lost.  At this point, we felt God was probably telling us we would be better off going back to the hotel and trying again in the morning. 

We went back to the hotel and tried to relax in the hotel’s hot tub.  Funny thing was, it was over our heads when we sat down.  Now, I admit, I’m a short girl.  I like to say I’m 5’1” but that is with shoes that have an inch heel.  Julia is significantly taller than me and when we sat down, our mouths were under water.  So, we stood in it for a few minutes and then went to put on fake nails.  That was really the best part of the evening.  We had some rockin’ nails.  Our husbands didn’t like them quite as much as we did, but oh well.    The hotel was dirty and old but we still had a good time.  We were pretty sure it was an old Motel 6 and they just put a top on the part where the pool was. 

Saturday morning we arrived at the conference an hour late.  Not because we got lost, we just thought we knew what time it started and didn’t bother to check.  The arena was very nice.  The conference was titled “Imagine” after Ephesians 3:20. “ God can do anything, you know – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” 

The worship team was leading music and they were amazing.  What a talented group of women.  They are Jenifer Thigpen, Janice Gaines, Laura Cooksey and Allison Abbott.  God has truly blessed them with the gift of beautiful angelic voices.  

We got our programs and had no trouble finding our seats.  I was so impressed with our seats.  I honestly thought that since these tickets were given to me that they would be in the nosebleed section.  I was so wrong.  Our seats were on the floor and 7th row.  They were awesome.  They had plenty of television monitors but we were so close, we didn’t need them.  The seats were a little close to each other and could have been spread out a little more.  The girl sitting by me seemed to be having a bad day.  She wasn’t very friendly.  I was aggravated at first but then prayed for her because I realized I had no idea what she was going through in her life. 

Some of the speakers were

Lisa Harper (Twitter @ldharper)

Nicole Johnson, author of Fresh-Brewed Life

Angie Smith (Twitter @AngieSmith19)

Luci Swindoll (Twitter @luciswindoll

Sheila Walsh (Twitter @SheilaWalsh)

Natalie Grant (Twitter @NatalieGrant)

 

I was most excited about seeing Natalie Grant.   I love her music.  My kids both sing along with her in the car wherever we go.  She didn’t disappoint me.  She is as amazing in person as on her CD.  My favorite song of hers is “Desert Song”.  But, the most beautiful thing about the entire conference was her version of It is Well with My Soul.  I love that song because of the author’s trials that he was having when he wrote it.  If you don’t know the story behind that song, I strongly suggest you find out about it.  It will change your entire outlook on life especially in the hard times. 

One of my all time favorite blogs is Bring the Rain.  Little did I know, that Angie Smith, the author of that blog would be at Women of Faith.   I read the name but it didn’t click until she started telling the story of her daughter Audrey.  You definitely should check out her blog but be sure to remember the tissues.  It will break your heart.  Angie is a beautiful, God loving women who will inspire you with her love for her family and God.  She was also so funny.  My favorite thing about her is that she homeschools.  Sorry about the picture not being of her front side.  She told of her fear of speaking in public and I happened to be sitting right behind all of the other speakers.  She doesn’t like to face them, so, unfortunately I didn’t get to see much of her facing forward. 

Angie’s book, What Women Fear, is number one right now on the B&N Bestsellers list.  I can’t wait to read it. 

They had really cute Women of Faith t-shirts but you had to fill out a credit card application to get one.  My husband and I are firm believers in not having credit cards so I didn’t fill it out.  I did buy a really cute grey t-shirt with stars on it that I love. 

All in all, I had a wonderful time at Women of Faith.  Thomas Nelson is the organization that produces Women of Faith tour.  There are still plenty of opportunities for you to attend one of these conferences.  Click here to see the scheduled cities and dates.  You will have a great time and have more fun than you could ever

Thank you Thomas Nelson for this amazing opportunity.  Please note that I received two tickets to the Women of Faith conference in exchange for this blog post.  No other compensation was provided.