women of faith & fun in seattle

i had the privilege of spending a couple of days in seattle with a dear friend (and a few thousand other ladies). we went to the women of faith conference at the key arena.

some of the highlights from the last two days:

*beautiful weather!!! there is no place like seattle on a warm, sunny, summer day!
*pike street market. ice cream, people, sweet peas, sugar snap peas and the gum wall. (props to ian who found the gum wall in may.)
*the streets of seattle...i love the city. the smells, the sounds, the sights, the people, etc.
*a very nice hotel downtown. and late night talks with yuki.
*benihana's...hooray for coupons, chopsticks, two bowls of ginger sauce, and sprouts. note to self: next time ask for the steamed rice instead of fried rice. it was good, but too rich.
*the monorail...it is just plain fun to ride the monorail. it's getting expensive though...$4 round trip. i remember when...never mind.
*eating sandwiches today at the international fountain in 75+ weather...and ice cream.
*Women of Faith conference...it's been 7 years since i've been. some highlights were:

• my favorite moment...hearing nicole c. mullen sing "my Redeemer lives" live...she even signed the entire song...well enough that the deaf interpreters were sitting down! i admit that i wept through the whole thing.
• hearing sandi patty sing and speak. she has been through a lot and has a strong testimony to G-d's faithfulness in her life. and she can still hit some amazingly high notes. oh...favorite song: "The Prayer" duet with her husband. more tears. i mostly loved watching yuki enjoy watching her. she bought 2 of her cd's today. fyi: yuki can hit those high notes too. :)
• listening to patsy clairmont. she can talk about the most mundane task and turn it in to a fascinating, funny, captivating tale...and share deep truths of G-d in the midst of laughter.

these were things i liked. there were more. these were just the top 3.

there were things that i didn't like as much, or wished would have been different. it seems that when women gather (this is definitely a generalization, but it was the same this weekend as it was when i attended several between 1998 and 2001) at these events, it is understood that most everyone who comes has a hard life and is struggling with some past or present issue. why do women always have to have "issues?"

here is what i would say if they asked me to be a speaker at a women's conference: quit worrying about if your needs or being met or not. if you are happy or not. if you have issues or not. live for G-d today. be obedient to Him. find someone to whom you can minister to. share the love of Jesus. focus on Him and what He wants to do in you and THROUGH you. if you focus on Him and on others, all other things, like those issues in your life won't seem quite so overwhelming.

well, i probably won't be getting a call anytime soon to speak at women of faith. i'll have to work on my presentation...you know, adding the funny stories and pithy phrases to make it more appealing.

in the meantime, i want to take my own advise. and i want to love G-d, and love others. i want to be obedient to Him. today, tomorrow, and every day until Jesus returns or calls me home.

amen.