Over 2 weeks ago my friend Jessica and I left early Friday morning for a weekend in Dallas at the dotMom conference. The dotMom conference is hosted by LifeWay bookstores. After getting to the other side of Houston we stopped for more coffee and then drove straight to Dallas/Frisco where we met Jessica's Mom for lunch.
We arrived at the conference about 15 minutes before the first general session was to begin. We found some seats in the middle of a row where four seats were already marked with bags. As we were getting situated and chatting I noticed someone walking into our row, I glanced up and thought to myself, wow that really looks a lot like Kelly. As she turned towards me I realized it WAS Kelly...my Kelly!!! I said Kelly?? and she looked at me with the most puzzled look on her face....like, what are you doing here? She had told me about the conference back in November, but I thought she had said she wasn't able to go so neither of us brought it up again. In a room full of over 1,000 women we chose the same row! It was such a God-incidence...we could have easily gone the entire conference without ever running into each other. We were able to hang out some during the conference and even got to go to dinner on Friday night.
I truly enjoyed each of the speakers, but Priscilla Shirer spoke most clearly to me.
After a weekend of soul searching, analyzing my role as a Mom and Wife, as well as a Christian woman, her message shot an arrow straight into my heart. One of the greatest roles in my life is being a Mother to Karsten and a wife to Brian, but this isn't the only dream God's planted in my heart. He has given me a great desire to write. Do I feel that I'm an accomplished writer...umm, not even close. Do I feel equipped to write a book? Heavens, NO! Have I been thinking on and off about this for years. Yes, this is a God Sized Dream that hasn't gone away...that people continue to encourage me to step out and take hold of...something that whispers deep in my soul when I take the time to listen.
Since I've returned from the conference I've sketched an outline for one book and have been consistently working on the other book. My biggest battle is not allowing busyness or lack of focus keep me from obeying what God has called me to do. I have no clue where this will lead, but I don't need to know. God knows and that's enough. I'm just trying to take steps of obedience every day...even teeny tiny baby steps. Satan is absolutely trying to distract me with a myriad of things, but I'm thankful to have a few close people in my life telling me to press on, asking me how I've been moving forward, and praying for me.
This blog will become a place where I share a lot of what I'm writing because I want feedback...so I'll ask my sweet blog readers to help me out by praying for me and giving me feedback. I thank you in advance for taking this journey with me. I can't see what God has planned!
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