Living Proof Live Conference

Before, During, and After

www.livingproofministries.blogspot.com to see video of the conference and to read Beth's post.

This weekend was awesome. We had a great time together worshiping and praising the Lord along with 17,000 other women. We set out for Columbia, South Carolina around 8 a.m. on Friday morning. Everyone was on time and ready to take off. I could feel the excitement in the van. Cracker Barrel quickly became our spot of choice for our potty stops. Let's just say lots of shopping was done. They had their big sale going on and I think we hit every Crack House between here and Columbia SC. Can't say much food was bought but lots of CB shopping bags ended up in the van. :) I will say they really all have clean bathrooms. Ok, so much for that.
I really can't write all the feelings and experiences we had on this trip. God really did move in a powerful way. It will take months to soak all the truths we heard this weekend into our lives. The sessions for the weekend were based around James 1. Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds , because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Beth talked alot about God making us His masterpiece. We can have joy in our trials because of the effects they produce. When we become a Christian our portrait is in black and white. As we encounter these assigned trials during different seasons of our lives our portrait is completed. Every trial brings color to the picture. Our final portrait is God's masterpiece. We heard lots about prayer, courage, standing in faith against the storms of life. One quote I liked was "Every victory will TAKE courage and MAKE courage. That one really spoke to me. I deal with fear everyday of my life. I like hearing about becoming courageous. Looks like you have to exercise some courage to have some courage. Courageous perseverers are greatly rewarded. We heard a lot about being doers of the Word. Putting into practice what we know. Saturday's topic was about changing our WANT TO. Not just going through the motions of doing but really loving God with our whole hearts. I am asking the others who went to comment on what they learned. We learned about the power of WE. We can't be all God wants us to be without each other. I tried to put in italics words spoken by Beth: most are paraphrased by me. :)