Have you ever walked into a room of strangers thinking “What am I doing here” or “Why did I come?” It happened to me recently as I walked into a house full of women I did not know. I was going to hear a friend speak that I met at the She Speaks Conference last summer. After almost an hour long drive from my home, I arrived in Breckenridge, CO. Walking hesitantly up to the door of a home nestled in the trees I didn’t know what to expect—Would they accept me? Would they be open to my intruding on their retreat? Would I feel uncomfortable with a group of ladies I had never met? Would they be judging me for only attending one session of the retreat? Would I have anyone to talk to or sit with? As I peered through the window I noticed that the ladies were having lunch and were deep in conversation. Should I knock or simply walk in and try not to be noticed? I decided on a light knock and then just opened the door, so that maybe I could enter without being a distraction to the liv...
Each time I speak before a group, it is my prayer that God be lifted up and I will fade into the background. So last Thursday before speaking I got up early to review the message and prepare my heart and mind for the task, I told the Lord that I wanted Him to be the focus and that didn’t want people to even notice or recognize me. Then off I went to teach a lesson on understanding how God can use each of His children as one of His vessels. After the music had been sung, the musician prayed for our morning and that God would speak through “Inga.” I secretly chuckled to myself because it was not the first time that I had been called a foreign name like that--other times it has been Helga or Greta. After teaching I laughingly told someone who commented on the slip of her tongue that I had gotten used to it over the years and that I really didn’t care what people called me as long as they call me. On Friday night after my husband and I had gone to the movies to see Tom Hanks in Larr...
The two toned smooth river rock was picked up from the very area where David killed Goliath. We were in the valley surrounded by mountains when the tour leader pointed out the hill where the Philistine army would have been camped and then turning about 180 degrees he showed us where the fearful Israelites would have been trying to figure out what to do about the giant who was taunting them day after day. And then he showed us the direction David would have come while on the errand for his father when he learned of the dilemma facing his brothers and his nation. The grown army men were dismayed and terrified, but the teenage shepherd was not afraid in the least. The others were looking down at the problem, but David was looking up. God had been preparing him for years for this moment and he was ready physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. We were encouraged to pick up a rock from the stream bed as a reminder that if God can use a slingshot, a smooth stone and...
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