This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a women's conference at a local church. I am not a member of this church and before yesterday, I had never visited. I came across this event via a Facebook ad and since it was free, I figured I'd give it a shot.
I have felt the urge to connect with women in my area in a worship setting, so I figured one way to do that is to attend events that are specifically catered to women in faith. To say that I'm glad I went is an understatement! I had an incredible time from the moment I walked in to today's closing prayer, it was really a blessing!
This weekend's theme was S.H.E. is UNSTOPPABLE - Strong • Healed • Empowered and it was evident that every aspect of this weekend took the theme into consideration. From the morning meditation to the messages preached and taught in different sessions to the panel discussion and the crowning ceremony to close out the first day. We were constantly reminded that we are strong, who are strength comes from, we can heal and will be healed and in Jesus Christ we are empowered to do any and everything our heart's desire.
If you read my blog post "I'm healing: a poem and a prayer" then you'll understand why this is a big deal for my personal journey. Check that post out to get some context on my thoughts and feelings regarding women conferences and connecting with women in general.
If you know me personally, then you'd know that growing up without my mother heavily shaped my perception of myself as a girl, young lady and my growth into womanhood as well as my interactions and connections with other women (or lack thereof).
So for this to be my second, yes SECOND women's conference since writing that piece, I'd say that with the help of the Holy Spirit, support from my husband and best friend, mixed with therapy and my willingness to be honest with myself and do the work - I'm learning to navigate life while growing through what I've gone through.
I am working everyday to let go of my past hurts, failures, disappointments, frustrations and pain in an effort to 1. forgive others and myself 2. hold myself accountable for my own actions (and happiness) 3. not allow my past to control my perception today and my future tomorrow 4. heal so my personal tragedies (or what feels like a tragedy) can turn into triumphs and 5. to help somebody else - truly our testimonies are needed to help someone else along the way.
And.... ultimately throughout my healing journey, God gets all of the glory! My healing begins and ends with him.
*shoutout to the beautiful sista I'm photographed with in the cover photo*
Godspeed,
SimplyAriRenee
*BONUS* One of the speakers from Saturday and today's speaker, Pastor Nona Jones both spoke on the same account in their sermons! And because they both blessed me and their message connected so well together ... being the church nerdy woman I am, I feel the need to share my #churchnotes below. Check out her message on YouTube
Rev. Mignon Shann 10/7/23 | Pastor Nona Jones 10/8/23 |
- When life gets hard we need faith that won’t waver - We need faith that perseveres
✨Faith that perseveres will compel you to press your way to Jesus - You are unstoppable and your mission is to get to Jesus ‼️ Take Action ‼️ Do it for yourself ‼️ - The enemy wants to keep you from God, he’s come to steal, kill and destroy! He didn’t come to play so we ain’t playing with him! ✨Faith that perseveres will activate the presence of Jesus in our lives - Her faith in Jesus connected to Jesus’ power - To be unstoppable we must connect and stay connected to Jesus ✨Faith that perseveres is acknowledged and rewarded by Jesus 🩸her condition made her invisible to people to the point that they probably didn’t refer to her by her name she was “the woman with an issue of blood”. ‼️God doesn’t call us by our condition or our mess‼️ ✨YOU ARE HEALED - it’s permanent not temporary! ‼️To be unstoppable women we must have an unstoppable God‼️ | Title: Adjacent Faith - Faith = Belief + Action - We act on what we believe - Jesus didn’t see her face but he felt her faith The Crowd - She was the only one pursuing Jesus, everyone else came to see Jesus - We can be near God and separated from God at the same time - We can be in his presence and not experience his power - If we’re not careful we’ll make coming to church the proxy of being the church ‼️ While she was physically “unclean” they were spiritually unclean ‼️ - We should not be interested in looking “holy” 3 Signs of Adjacent Faith - 1. Gather to watch and not worship - just there to see what they do 2. Know of Jesus but he doesn’t know us 3. See in others but overlooking sin in ourselves ✝️Authentic Faith - - Worship is not a song it’s a way of life - I’m NOT here because of who I am, I’m here because of who HE is - We return our gifts to God as an act of worship 🙌🏽 - You 👂🏾 the 🗣️of God by spending time with him - ⏰Prioritize spending time with God ✨FAITH ✨ - God is God whether or not we have faith. ‼️ Faith is not us trusting God, faith is God trusting us to obey him! - Faith doesn’t make sense 💯 - Our job is to restore not condemn (Gal. 6:1) |
Comments