Victorious

This past weekend we had over 20 ladies in attendance for the annual Set Apart Conference! It was two days packed with learning, worship, laughter, fellowship, and even crafting! There is so much that I wrote down in my conference notebook, and will be pouring over in the coming weeks as I continue to process all we learned about. The theme was “Victorious – more than a conqueror in Christ. The theme verse was Romans 8:37-39.
 
One of the speakers, Sandi McConnaughey, spoke about Victorious Walk and shared her real-life story of God’s power and faithfulness. She started by describing her back porch. Sandi is of retirement age, and most of her peers are settling into a calm routine of sleeping in, and lounging around. She has this gorgeous back porch that overlooks a spacious yard and a creek, with gardens and wonderful landscaping. It is a very peaceful place, and she loves to spend her mornings on the back porch. She could easily see herself retiring and just settling into a lovely laid back routine. But Sandi feels God calling her in another direction. Sandi works at Set Apart ministries and doesn’t feel that she is being led to stop any time soon. While friends and peers don’t understand, Sandi says she cannot be comfortable and settle into easy when God has more for her to do. Even in her retirement years, after a life full of service to God, she doesn’t feel released to a well-deserved rest. Instead, she feels called to continue her ministry. In fact, she and her husband actually sold the home about halfway through the summer so that they can better serve in ministry.
 
She challenged all of us ladies, no matter what stage of life we were in, to think of what our ‘back porch’ was. She said, “Don’t be a ‘porch-sitter’! That’s not gratitude or love for Jesus! The appropriate response to Jesus pouring out His life for me – is for me to pour out my life for Him. Don’t grow ‘old and cold’!”
 
If you missed this year’s conference, we missed you! Please ask the ladies in your Community Group, or the ladies that sit next to you in service to tell you all about it! They will be happy to! In the mean time, think about what your comfort zone, or ‘back porch’ might be. Pray about how God might be calling you to respond to Him, no matter what stage of life you are in. 
 
Many Blessings,