All I can say is , "WOW"! The Equipping Conference Saturday was outstanding. There were 51 workshops offered and the keynote speaker was Doug Clay, General Treasurer of The General Council of the AG. What else could you possibly ask for? The attendance was awesome and the day was just incredible. I facilitated two workshops for Pastor's Wives, "I'm New Here" and "I Wish I'd Known". My presenters were phenomenal! They were transparent and shared from their hearts. It was definitely a "kudos" moment!
I am so excited about what God is doing in our district with our pastor's wives and credentialed women. The Lord continues to open doors of opportunity for me to minister to lonely and discouraged pastor's wives. Our goal is to cultivate a "safe" place for these women. A place where women can be real with one another and not be afraid of being criticized or judged. God is definitely on the move!
One of the presenters stressed the importance of needing close friends in our lives. Do you have a close friend or several close friends who you feel comfortable enough with to share your heart? Do you have someone who you regularly meet for lunch or coffee? Like me, maybe your hubby is your best friend, but we still need another woman in our lives that we can talk to. Maybe for you it is your sister, or your daughter, or maybe it is your pastor's wife. If you don't have that particular someone I encourage you today to make every effort to find someone who you can call your close friend. Ministry can be a very lonely and discouraging journey and when we choose not to cultivate friendships, we tend to isolate ourselves which is everything but healthy. Jesus had 12 friends. Three of those 12 were very close to Him. And then there was 1 who was His very best friend.
If you are in a lonely place today I encourage you to pray and ask God to send you a friend. Maybe that sounds silly to you but the Bible tells us that we don't receive because we don't ask. If God cares about the little sparrow who falls from the sky He certainly cares more about you and I. He never intended for you or I to experience this journey alone.
Blessings to you!
Great blog post. So many ladies in ministry are lonely. I have a few close girlfriends but it is not easy to have a "confidence" friend in the church. Sounds like a great conference! -Laurie
ReplyDeleteYes you are right. The ministry can be very lonely. I have to say this past weekend on Saturday it ended everyone in our family had plans and I was stuck at home. I couldn't think of one person to call and hang out with. This really messed with me. It was last minute for my family to be gone, or I would have tried to make plans to do something. I've never clicked with someone I feel I can trust because I've been burned with "friends" in our ministry. There must be someone He can bring my way to share girl stuff with. Yes, my husband is my best friend, but he just doesn't appreciate the chic flicks like I do.
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