She Speaks… Wait Lord, Do You Mean Me?

I vividly remember sitting at my roommate’s computer my senior year of college, typing out an email to a friend. We were exchanging emails about what God had been teaching us. I remember so sincerely, loving the process of sitting alone with my thoughts, listening to God’s voice, searching His Word, and then expressing it all through writing. A little voice came to my mind that said, “I’m going to write a book some day.”

Well, I was a music major, and didn’t have much time for anything besides music and church. So, I tucked that little dream into the place where impossible dreams go, and continued my goal of becoming a music teacher, singer and worshiper. Those things I accomplished, although I realize I owe it all to Jesus.

When I became a mother, I put my full-time career on hold. Thus began a journey of self-discovery that has been amazing so far, and keeps getting better. I realized that I had interests in so many things that I had never really tried before. I love home-making, raising children, living frugally, reaching out to other women with God’s love, humor, hospitality, politics, economics, WRITING! And I realized that all these things are part of worshiping God.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col 3: 16-17

My youngest daughter is two; just two short years away from starting school. At this point in my life, I feel like a child when she is asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

The day I started blogging, I had just had one of the hardest days with my children. I was in the shower, crying out to the Lord, and expressing my thoughts to Him. I got this feeling like I would simply explode if I didn’t get it all out. I ran to the computer and pecked out my first-ever blog entry, I Signed Up For This, on my MySpace blog. I instantly became hooked on how the Lord brought me through my emotions with writing. It never occured to me that anyone except my “real life” friends would read it, and I am totally blown away that others are blessed by what God is teaching me – whether it be practical or deeply spiritual.

The bottom line is this: I am seeing that the statement in the back of my mind was not simply a runaway whim. I now believe it was a purpose God planted in my heart; a purpose I am now having the opportunity to fulfill, one blog post at a time.

Similarly, when I heard about a conference called “She Speaks,” a little voice in the back of my mind said, “Wow, that would be awesome to go learn how to actually do this writing thing!” I perused the topics, and the purpose, and got really excited. Here is an excerpt from the She Speaks website:

She Speaks is a life-changing conference for women of every generation seeking to explore the tug on her heart to reach out to the world for Jesus. Through She Speaks, Proverbs 31 Ministries encourages and equips women who are called by God to share our mission to bring God’s peace, perspective and purpose to today’s busy woman. Sharing God’s truth with love is not only a holy calling but a remarkable responsibility. We believe by equipping women to become more effective at sharing the Word of God, we multiply our efforts to reach a hurting world with the life-transforming hope of Jesus.

Then I looked at the cost, and I admit I was a little discouraged. We really don’t have the resources right now to cover it. Imagine my surprise when I found that Lysa TerKeurst is offering the chance to win a scholarship to the conference! I’m confident that this little voice isn’t just a whim. It’s a call from God to attain the knowledge necessary to accomplish His will in my life. If it doesn’t happen this year, I’m not giving up. But it sure would be incredible to receive this scholarship!

If you’d like to apply for the scholarship, or learn more about the conference, visit Lysa’s Proverbs 31 Ministries website, or the She Speaks Conference site.