A great weekend!
This weekend, I attended the Women of Joy, RESCUED conference in Branson, Mo. Our favorite song worship minister, Charles Billingsley, led us. The guest speakers were Angela Thomas Pharr, Ann Voskamp, Sheila Walsh, and Margaret Feinberg. Jeremy Camp was in concert!
My travel companions were my two daughters and two of my granddaughters who will both graduate high school in May. With three different generations represented, I thought it would be interesting to see what each generation took away from the conference.
Ericka’s takeaway
“No matter what you have done or what situation you are in, God is always there with unconditional love, ready to rescue you. I loved Margaret Feinberg’s words of wisdom. She said that when we don’t get answers to prayers the way we expect God to answer, we begin to dig deep lines, setting up walls that distance us from God. We must learn to break down our walls so we can see what his perfect plan is for us.”
Melanie’s takeaway
“Ann Voskamp reached me when speaking. She said that even in our brokenness, God uses us to rescue others. This is what God wants me to do.”
Maggie’s takeaway
“We all go through hard situations sometimes, and we feel alone, but God is always there to help us through it and rescue us.”
Marissa’s takeaway
“The atmosphere there made me feel safe. Angela Thomas gave lots of examples of God sending others to rescue us. Sheila Walsh described when, during a tough time, she saw an angel who said to her, “The Shepard always sees us.” That made me feel good.
What was my RESCUED takeaway?
As always, the community spirit, while we worshiped thru song, touched my soul. However, as the senior generation of the group, I understood their insights as I remembered incidents in my past and present. I am the daughter of the King. I will always be dependent on him to rescue me.
“He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.” Psalm 18:16 NLT
One speaker spoke of a time when she was frightened when she felt like a family member was being sent out alone to a deep, dark, sinful world. She knew she had to trust God because that is what he asks all his children to do. Trust him.
She spoke the truth. God Almighty rescued me. And now he wants me to trust him and reach out to the same dark world I was freed from. I am his salt – his light. I can’t be selfish. There are many who are desperately waiting to be rescued, too.
One final note
I loved the RESCUED conference. It goes along with my novel, Running From Asperity which is scheduled to release on May 1, 2018. My main character is desperately needing to be rescued. I would love for you to read about her experience. You can link to pre-order the book here in paperback or Kindle.
