Monday, May 17, 2010

In a Nutshell....

Good morning friends! With the calming hum of 6 bajillion loads of laundry in the background, I believe I am finally ready to blog about Adored.

Adored was awesome. Tough. Fun. Stressful. Incredible. Humbling. Powerful. Terrifying. A blast. Encouraging. Overwhelming.

There ya go, in a nutshell.

By the way, WHENEVER I use the word 'nutshell' (which is probably once a quarter) I want to sing the old theme song to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles....anyone else?

Details! Details! you say? Ok, well, you asked for it. Here comes my processing from the queen of public processing:

(For first time readers, Adored is a conference for girls that I taught at 2 weeks ago. )

Adored was FUN. So much fun. Way more fun that I thought it would be. First of all--we had almost 80 girls! That is a lot of girls. :) Here was the best part--Friday night after the session and small groups we had planned a slumber party. I brought movies and games and kinda pictured the girls all in their corners talking about boys, etc. BUT the King of Fun, aka Matt, put together a song list a few days prior, something my little boring mind didn't think of. :) And the slumber party was transformed into a 2 hour dance party! It was so much fun. My favorite part was the juniors and seniors grabbing the junior highers and dancing! It's amazing the fun that can be had when boys are MIA. :)

On Saturday afternoon we put together a pampering time for the girls. It also went so much better than I could have imagined. We had parafin waxing for their hands, manicures, massages, and scrapbooking. And we even had a girl from church come do make up consultations. The girls loved it! I am so thankful for all the volunteers that helped that part run so smoothly.

But Adored was also terrifying and humbling. First of all, I was sick. And very hoarse. With the mother of all coughs. That's enough right there to put you on your knees. But Friday night, I got up on the stage to teach on Esther. And guys, it was close to miserable. I wasn't myself at all. I was glued to my paper. I sped through it just so it would be over. They didn't laugh at my jokes. The leaders didn't even seem to be tracking! :) It was so humbling. And I could NOT be more thankful for that kind of start.

Because it is when we get the poo scared out of us that we learn anew what it means to depend on a mighty God. I got off that stage and wanted to run away. I wanted to cancel the rest of the weekend. And Saturday a.m. came, and I approached the session trembling. Begging God to show up. To take over. To fill in where I was lacking. To be strong in my weakness. And this was supposed to be THE session. Ya know, every conference has one. The tear jerker talk. I had prepared a talk on Rahab, it was called "All Things New." And as I got up there and prayed aloud, I felt God's presence. And that's all I needed. I felt what I wanted to feel--that I was out of the way and God was doing his thing. Halle-stinkin-lujiah.

There is always a new level of humility to be reach, right? I mean, I am SO far from the humility of Jesus, that I will require numerous more situations like this in my attempts to become a humble vessels for His purposes. There is always new levels of brokenness to obtain and more desperate dependence to learn. I am excited and hesitant to ask God to continue to teach me these things!

And even in my reflecting I feel God humbling me. I feel hesitant to conclude anything big and bold about Adored. Instead, I feel myself drawn to the 'closet' to seek the LORD'S thoughts about the conference, as well as his plans for it. I feel myself drawn to quietness rather than evaluating it with everyone involved. And even in that there is a lesson. The sweet desire to mull over life with God primarily, rather than our husbands, best friends, and coworkers. Because hashing it out with God, babbling to our creator, and kneeling before him in silence leads to understanding, and accurate conclusions. Whether it be about an event, our self image, or our future.

And I also sense a huge need for wisdom as I move ahead. I have NO idea what the Lord would have me do next. Did I love teaching? Yes. But do I have a LOT to learn? Heck yes. Can I do Adored again? Can I continue to work on teaching? How do I go about these things?

But right now isn't the time for specific answers, but rather a time for refinement in my inner most being. And once I can develop what He desires, maybe it will be time for answers and planning.


Here are a few pictures of the weekend:




Thank you to all of you who prayed for Adored. Please continue to pray that teenage girls would catch a glimpse of the God who adores them and that they would realize that how God wants them to live as teenagers is far better than how the world would have them live.

3 comments:

  1. What an amazing event you put on Rebekah!!! God is truly working in you. So many girls need to hear the message you told. I love the song More Beautiful You by Jonny Diaz. I pray that God continues to work in your life.
    Anne Anderson

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  2. Thanks for the great update. I love hearing what God's doing in beautiful CO.

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  3. Oh my....what a beautiful mama you are. :) Sounds like the weekend was great - much love!

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