Women's Day

Every October the women's ministry at our church hosts a "Women's Day."  This past Saturday was my third Women's Day and I just can't tell you how much it blesses me to be able to go and be surrounded by so many godly women that are seeking to grow in their relationship with Christ and serve their families well.

They absolutely spoil us rotten while we're there.  We have an amazing breakfast, lunch and dessert time.  We have one joint session where someone speaks, and then we're able to go to up to 4 of the break-out sessions (they probably offer 15ish).  Stephanie Lyon did an amazing job speaking on Social Networking in the big session this year.  She definitely gave us some good things to think about!  The break out sessions touch on a wide range of topics from adoption, to cooking, to sewing, to marriage, to parenting, to fashion....you get the idea.  Every single speaker for the different break out session does such a great job of pointing out how the Gospel applies to what they're speaking about.  We're reminded again and again through out the day that it is only by His grace that we are saved.  It's nothing we've done or deserve.  Praise Him! 

There are so many things that I got out of each session, but we'd be here all day if I tried to re-cap everything.  The parenting session that I went to kept reminding me of the importance of helping our our children to cultivate a love for spending time with God.  This will look different as our children grow, but when they're young its so important for us to have some kind of family Bible time.  We want it to be fun and short, but we want them to start to see the importance of spending time with Him.  Through the years hopefully they'll start to notice Bert and I spending personal time with the Lord and they'll see the high priority that we place on that time.  That time is SO important.  God has blessed us with this amazing opportunity to raise these girls, but we need and want his guidance and wisdom that we can only get through spending time with Him and in his word. 

The marriage talk that I went to was also really good!  I took SO many notes and she had so many great things to say, but if I had to pick out the one thing that sticks out to me the most it would be the importance to pray for my husband.  This is an area where I have good intentions, but I often fall short.  Who better to pray for Bert through out the day....for his relationship with the Lord, for his leadership of our family, for his fight against sin, and for different things that are going on through out his day....than me??  I love this man more than anything!  I want to see him continue to grow in his love for the Lord.  I'm thankful for the reminder to pray for the amazing husband that God has blessed me with, I'm so thankful for our marriage, I'm thankful for the ways that Bert encourages me and challenges me, and I'm thankful for the way that he leads and serves our family. 

I love you, Bert, and I'm praying for you!:)