WOW! What a Weekend!

Oprah Winfrey said, "There isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women."

And I know just what she meant. I have friends like that. They happen to be scattered all over the U.S., but they know who they are. The bond created between women is like no other.

We share in our womanhood....and all the pain, joy, sorrow and laughter that it brings.

After spending Friday and Saturday at the Women of Faith: Celebrating What Matters conference in San Antonio, I am encouraged, refreshed and ready again to be a mountain mover!

There is something about women coming together to celebrate God in the midst of our brokenness.
The presence of God so thick in the Alamodome, you could literally feel it the minute you walked through the doors.

And as much as I soooo wanted to peek during the kindly discreet call for salvation, I didn't.
It wasn't necessary.
With tears streaming down my face, I felt the holy spirit at work as I heard Lisa Harper keep repeating, "I see you...I see you...I see you...hundreds of hands are going up."

Oh how I wanted to crack my pointer and naughty finger apart just enough to catch a glimpse!
But I didn't.

Low on funds and coming undone, I knew I needed to be there.
So I volunteered and was disappointed that the positions for ushers were already filled.
At the last minute I received an email saying they had an opening come available for product sales.
I responded immediately, "I'd love to."

As long as I don't have to do math, I thought to myself.

So for a day and a half, I pushed books, tapes, cd's, bracelets and apparel.
Mostly the books. And I could actually see, "My Book" displayed on a table just like that someday.
And it energized me and I knew I was in my element.
I have not had that much fun since the signing at Barnes and Noble.

To see these women, all in different places on their journey was amazing.
(In fact they played Journey...how cool is that? Except for the fact that, "Faithfully," makes me cry like a baby and I had to keep repeating to myself..."No break downs, no break downs..."

Instead I focused on selling, "Fully Alive", "God Loves Broken People", "The Voice", "Stumbling Into Grace", "Anything", "What Women Fear", "Mended", "Stuck" and so much more!!

"What is this book about?" they'd ask.
My response was, "It's God's Book of Wisdom. Who knew you could get that for $15.00 dollars!?!
I'd happily pay $20.00!"

And then I'd confess that the Lord whispered to me earlier, "I'd give you $30.00 if  you'd actually listen."

Yikes! And we'd laugh.
Not because it's funny. It's just true.

I pushed Ken Davis' "Fully Alive," as a great book but also admitted to skimming over all the triathlon talk!
And they got that too!

Miraculously, God orchestrated a run in with the women of Grace House that I had the privilege of speaking to, okay, bawled in front of, last month,and also a dear friend, Rhonda, who lost her husband just last year.
He was in his 40's. Just like me.

Thousands of women there and I bump into women of faith that I reaaaallly needed to see!
He works like that.

And so we worshipped.
Selah and CeCe Winans were amazing and Ken Davis was just so stinking funny I just wanted to run down and hug him for making me laugh.

It's the best medicine in the whole wide world.

Which is what you need when you're dealing with the blows that life hands you sometimes.

I was so fortunate to be able to talk with a woman who also understood the challenges of keeping God a priority in your teenager or young adult's lives.

She said to me, "My son has gone from being an atheist, to agnostic, to just calling me up the other night and saying, "Thanks! Thanks a lot!! I keep talking with my friends and the whole time all I hear in my head is, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son!"

I met, Cynthia and Rose, who were my product table mates.

"Have you been coming to Women of Faith for many years?" I asked.
"No. I've never been here before," said Rose.
"WHAT?? Then how did you come to be a volunteer?"
"I've been...I don't know..kind of feeling like something is missing. I don't go to church and I don't really do the God thing, but I kept driving by the Alamodome on the way to work and saw the sign that they needed volunteers and well, it sounds strange, but...I just felt it was something I needed to do."

"That doesn't sound strange to me at all. That sounds like God, doin' his Thing!" I winked.

And then there's Cynthia, who I told, "I'm Tina. Do you want to be my friend?"
Sort of in jest, but also totally serious because I was so drawn to spend time with her.
She laughed and said, "Yes."
She said YES!!!! lol!

Then she told me I was so good at pushing product I should be in sales.
"I am in sales!! Real estate for 22 years now plus years and years of hustling Thin Mints and other Girl Scout Cookies!"

Oh! And speaking of God doing his thing.
"Jesus Calling " by Sarah Young.
OMGosh!! I sold tons of that book!
Actually, the other women sold them for me.

Now I can get pretty enthusiastic about, well, about anything...but perfectly normal looking women, would stand all poised in line, spot this book, and suddenly turn into Tony Robbins!

"This is the best book!" They would scream to their friends.
I started selling it by telling the others how much the other women were freaking out over it.
And don't we always want what a sister's got???

I'd say, "I don't know if they are just sitting on their couch, dropping pounds by the minute reading this or what? But everyone is crazy about this book!"

And then I picked it up, read a daily devotional page and went, "Ooohhhh! This book is as annointed as all get out!"
This is not just your average run of the mill devotional.
Perhaps the publisher paid extra to get the boxes of books prayed over by The Prayer Warrior Team Extraordinaire or they were sprinkled with holy water during the binding process, but it was undeniable.

Towards the end of the event, from my table I could hear a song that has always had a special place in my heart and spoke volumes to my spirit.

"Once upon a time, I was falling in love....now I'm only falling apart...nothing I can do...a total eclipse of the heart."

Jesus was calling thousands of women to unite in their brokenness this past weekend and to celebrate a love that never fails.

We were loved into understanding how desperately we are in need of a savior, and how he loves us so unconditionally.

Thank you Women of Faith! You gave us just who we needed, right when we needed Him!

And Cynthia...I'll see YOU at lunch this week! :)