Women of Joy Conference Recap

I have had the most amazing... life lately.  I almost don't even want to write about it...because writing it all down means that it's past-tense stuff.  And I'm just loving living in the moment...  However, moments like these deserve to be documented.  

 Several months ago, my daddy had this great idea that my mom & I invite his mom to come to a Christian's women's conference with us.  Just to let you know why this is important as briefly as possible, there have been some problems between my mom & her MIL and during wedding planning, there were some problems between my grandma and I as well.  Daddy felt like his mom may have been saved as a child but he wasn't sure.  He wasn't raised in a Christian home and questioned whether or not either of his parents were Christians.  So, we did invite her and were excited about hopefully burying all of our hatchets and maybe even exposing my grandma to the gospel in a new kind of way.  Fast forward, and my grandma came to EVERY NIGHT OF REVIVAL two weeks ago.  She brought her Bible.  She seemed happy to be there.  This was a huge deal because she has always been a Sunday-morning kind of person.  Needless to say, we were all thrilled that she was coming to Revival.

Fast Forward again, and it's Friday - time to go to the conference!  We leave as soon as I get off of work, pick up my grandma from their beach house, and head to the conference.  We got there a little late, but were still able to participate in the praise and worship time led by Charles Billingsley.  I'd never heard him (or head of him) before, but he is an amazing musician and worship leader!  Amazing.  He has such a tender heart for the Lord and was honest.  He talked about how the traveling parts of his job are hard because they take him away from his family.  He mentioned a friend of his who is a pastor who is resigning because of an affair he'd been having.  Y'all know I'm all about people who keep it real, so I really liked Charles Billingsley.  Then, we listened to Carol Kent share her testimony.  She had an amazing story about dealing with the pain of having their son in prison for murder...she was so amazing to listen to.  Then, we left and checked into our hotel for the night. 

Saturday morning, we had more praise & worship with Charles Billingsley.  Amazing, again.  Then Sheri Rose Shepherd spoke.  She might have been my favorite speaker.  She's a former Mrs. America who used to be overweight.  She was gorgeous and funny and real.  At the end of her speaking time, she had us all stand up and say our wedding vows to Jesus.  She had a table set up, like the other guests, and I got a "wedding ring" to use as a witnessing tool.  Also, it's super cute and will always remind me of the amazing weekend we had. 

Then, we had a bit more music-time with Charles before getting to my favorite lady at the conference, Anita Renfroe.  Anita is a Christian comedian!  LOVE!  She is so spunky and I could related to many of the things she joked about.  :)  I thoroughly enjoyed being able to laugh at clean humor with my mom & grandma.
After the comic act, we had the afternoon to spend doing anything we wanted.  The conference was in Myrtle Beach and we've done about everything there is to do at the beach.  We decided to try something different and we went and painted pottery!  :)  I've painted pottery before, and I love it!  My mom and grandma had never, but we all enjoyed it.  I can't wait to get our pieces back.  :)  In perfect timing, we were done and headed to go get dinner with the other ladies from our church attending the conference.  Then, back to the conference for a concert that was SO GREAT!  Mandisa sang first, and she was absolutely stunning.  She has a set of pipes on her and she sang for the Lord!  Next up was Brandon Heath.  I really fell in love with his sound and can't wait to download some of his tunes!  :)  After the Saturday night session, we all went to I-Hop for dessert and coffee.  Except it started pouring down rain and we all looked like drowned rats.  It was a had-to-be-there type thing that had us all laughing.  After we stuffed our faces full of sweets, we all retired for the night.  My mom & grandma got ready for bed, and then I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.  When I came out, they were talking.  And they made up that night - both of them apologized.  My heart was so full...
Sunday morning, back to the conference to hear Thelma Wells speak.  She was a hoot!  She spoke about grace and mercy, and shared some of her life story.  She was a funny & godly women and we all really enjoyed listening to her and learning from her.  
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Then, Sunday night I was back at our church where I presented all of the information about our own conference to the congregation.  Everyone clapped, but clapping is easy.  Being involved takes work...so we'll see how it goes.  :)  
I later found out that during revival, my grandma rededicated her life to the Lord and I couldn't be happier!  I know for a fact now that I will see my grandma in heaven and nothing compares to that joy.      
My heart is full...God's blessing are so good.  I'm a happy girl.  Except that my husband won't stop dipping. & I'm keeping my kisses away as motivation but it's not really working... :/  Other than that...everything here is GREAT! 

Coo Coo Kachoo, 

Mrs. Robinson