A Mom's Weekend Out

Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the True Woman 2014 National Women's Conference: Finding Freedom, Fullness, and Fruitfulness in Christ. As you can see from the picture above, I made the trip to Indianapolis with 7 terrific women from my church.

Why was I so interested in this particular conference? About 2 years ago, our women's group from church studied the book True Woman 101: Divine Design by Mary A. Kassian and Nancy Leigh Demoss. It was an excellent book that helped me to finally put the puzzle pieces together of what it means to be a woman from a biblical perspective. When some of the church women announced their plans to attend a conference in which the authors of this book were main speakers, I desperately wanted to go. Ben surprised me last Christmas with a ticket to the conference, and I was so excited!

This weekend was the first time that I had ever been separated from Weston, my 13 month-old, for longer than a few hours. My mother-in-law Kandy flew here to be Weston's main caregiver for the weekend (3 days and 2 nights total). She did an amazing job taking care of him, and I am so thankful. The night before I left on the conference, Kandy showed me the recent movie Moms' Night Out. It was great! I recommend it. It was full of good acting, good laughs, and some good encouragement for moms, especially stay-at-home moms like me. Watching Moms' Night Out was the perfect prelude to my "mom's weekend out!"

The conference was uplifting. My favorite message was by Mary Kassian, on being a woman of the Word instead of a "wimpy woman." My favorite testimony was by Naghmeh Abedini, wife of imprisoned Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini, on God's grace during a horrific situation. And my favorite aspect of the conference was the music! I was so thrilled that Keith and Kristyn Getty were the musicians for the conference.

I think that God spoke to my heart more through the songs than through the "sermons." I loved "My Worth is Not in What I Own" and "O for a Closer Walk with God" from the Gettys' CD The Greengrass Session. Through the lyrics of these beautiful songs, God encouraged me that even though I am an imperfect woman who never has it all together, God still loves me and accepts me in Christ. My worth is based on who I am in Christ rather than on how I perform in any given area. God encouraged me that even though long devotions are not an option during this season of my life, He still wants me to press forward in pursuing a closer walk with Him. No matter how busy I am chasing my toddler son, I can still afford to spend at least 5 minutes per day meditating on the Bible and talk to God in prayer as I go about my day. I think that recently I have been feeling like a robot--going through the motions of changing diapers, washing dishes, and trying to tackle my to-do list, but letting guilt and stress keep me from a vibrant, joyful relationship with God.

I also loved hearing the song "A Mother's Prayer." It so gorgeously expresses what my heart feels for Weston. (Of course my favorite Getty songs would be the slow and reflective ones, because I am a slow and reflective person, ha.)

I found YouTube links to 2 of these songs.

My Worth is Not in What I Own
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfFrJHuptUQ

A Mother's Prayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoy74orJu10

So yes...the content of the conference was a blessing. But then another "blessing" was that getting away made me want to come back! My mother-in-law texted me adorable photos of my son, which made me miss him so much! After a little while I started preferring my husband's more logical conversation to the women's more emotional conversation, my own simple little house to the luxurious Hilton, and the school of daily experience to the school of conference session after session! Ha.

And so I had a happy reunion with my husband and son on Saturday night. And now I am back to real life, after a refreshing mom's weekend out!