Some time in the mountains

I just had the opportunity to spend 4 days in the mountains of North Carolina. I will be honest, I could spend an entire blog just talking about how beautiful and perfect the weather was, but I won't bore you with that.  On Monday 6 ladies from our church took off to a Leadership Conference at Ridgecrest, NC.
It is funny for me to sit here and think about all of the conversations that have taken place over the past 4 days.  We have talked about our burdens in ministry and pouring into other women, we have talked about our marriages and our children, and we have talked about Jesus in our lives. We have laughed until we cried and we have cried until it made us laugh.  We have prayed for each other and with each other.
After an 8 hour car ride, 6 women in one room sharing one bathroom, worship that was amazing, prayers that have changed our lives and laughter that has rocked me to the core, I walk away more filled than I could have dreamed.  More challenged than I ever thought possible.  And more blessed than I could have ever asked.

I could go on and on telling you stories of this past week but I will limit myself to one.
At the last session of our conference Beth Moore spoke.  She shared many many things, but one of the most impacting was about women of different generations.  She asked the younger women to stand and spread out throughout the large conference room.  Women under 35 lined the rows and the aisle all over. As we stood she asked us to shout out things that we wanted the "older" generation to pray for for us. One would yell WISDOM and the Beth would guide the older women to pray, "God we pray wisdom for these women."  Another would shout PROTECTION FOR MY MARRIAGE.  And Beth would guide them to pray, "God we pray for protection for these women's marriages." Another would shout MENTORS. And they would pray,"God we pray for mentors for these women."  This powerful moment went on for a while.  Then Beth asked all of the younger to get on our knees.  She asked the older women to find younger women somewhere around them and lay their hands on them.  **Side note** We were blessed to not be able to find seats on in a special area that was set up for "younger women".  The 3 of us younger ladies (in our group) ended up having to sit with the other 3 older ladies from our group.  There also were only a few "younger" ladies where we were sitting. **End side note**
So as we got on our knees the women came all around us and placed there hands on us.  Because there were only a few of us "youngers" around we had alot of hands on us. Not mention the "older" generation ladies from our group. Beth guided this older generation into a prayer time over us.  She prayed/they repeated bold prayers for the next generation.  Prayers that "passed the baton." Prayers that empowered our ministries.  Promises that they would stand beside us on our journey.  Prayers that they would lead us where we needed. Prayers that they would always defend us and walk beside us.  Prayers for strength and mercy in our ministries and wisdom in our lives. Promises to never give up on us.
As I am sure you can imagine......there wasn't a dry eye in the 1100 women there.  To have that type of power and prayers spoke over and into our lives is something I will never forget.  It is the most powerful time of worship I have ever been in.

That session ended with.... In Christ Alone.




My day at Ridgecrest ended with my beautiful family picking me up.  All the other ladies went back to the Burg.  But we got to head to Chattanooga for some family time.   
I am still processing all of the things God showed me this week.  Hopefully I can put that into words soon.  One thing I can say is that I went to Ridgecrest with nothing really wrong in my life.  I didn't have these major issues that I needed God to work on or heal me from.  But I come away from there changed.  God has asked me to raise the bar in my life. I can't wait to process it all and write it out.

Much love......


~LL