Hearts At Home

I was so blessed to spend the weekend with about 1600 girlfriends at the Hearts at Home Conference in Grand Rapids, MI! If you’ve never been to a Hearts conference, I invite you to go!! You’ll be blessed!

We stayed in a beautiful, historic hotel!!

I loved serving along side of their staff. Trisha Hufnagel is a jewel! The first time I spoke at Hearts, my dear friend LeAnn went with me. Anything and everything that could go wrong did. We missed our plane and had to take a later one. Mother Nature came to visit and since I was unprepared, Trisha graciously went to the store for me! My room didn’t have a hairdryer and when you have thick hair like mine, a hairdryer is necessary—trust me! Otherwise, I’d look like a bad imitation of Donna Summers hair-do in the 70’s. While I didn’t care for her 70’s hairstyle, I do love her songs! The girl and SING!! …Anyway….despite it all, it went pretty well!

This time, I had the privilege of ministering along side of many friends in ministry. Marybeth Whalen and Karen Ehman are Proverbs 31 gals like me. I also had the honor of serving with Julie Barnhill, Trish Berg, and Cheri Keaggy, singer and song writer. I can’t forget to mention Jill Savage. She truly has a heart for women and the struggles they face in marriage and parenthood.

Me and Marybeth.

All that was good, no doubt, but the best part of the conference was laughing, sharing, and crying with all the women who attended. Sure, we all had our own look and style that distinguish us from one another. But on the inside we were all the same. We were real women with real struggles looking for real hope. Since God is faithful, many found that hope this past weekend. Several in my session, “The God of All Hope,” trusted Christ as their personal Savior and Lord for the first time!

He’s the only One who can make a difference. In this world, Christ told us that we would encounter trouble. Boy, was He right! I’ve sometimes feel as if I’ve had my share of trouble and someone else’s too. Christ told us this so that we would have peace—peace in the truth that no matter what kind of trouble we face, he has overcome it! In other words, financial troubles will come, our health will falter, children will rebel, and loves ones will die. One thing or another will touch us all, but our God is bigger; He is trustworthy; His is faithful.

Hope isn’t something we do; it’s something we get. When we put our trust in God by faith, we receive hope in return. Hope that says, I believe God will do what He says He will do as I trust Him.

As women shared their struggles with me, I shared my hope with them…which is secured and kept by Jesus alone.

I’d love to meet you at the next Hearts Conference, Nov 7-8 in Rochester, MN!

If you attended the conference last weekend, be sure to say “HI!”

Sending 10,000 Blessings Your way…