Skip to main content

My Declaration Came True!




One of my faith declarations this past year has been: "I attend Christian Women's conferences with my daughters." It came to pass this past weekend! My youngest daughter, Carrie, came up with a great plan while I was visiting her in California his week, that we drive up the Pacific Coast to Long Beach and attend the Joyce Meyer Conference on "Pressing In and Pressing On." This conference, at the huge Long Beach Convention Center, was exhilarating in praise and worship and teachings. It was Carrie's first experience seeing her mentor on stage!

Our recap of the teachings kept us jabbering all the way home. I do not want to forget:

  • To be victorious we have to press past the pain and deal with pressures. The rewards will come in due time.

  • All people hurt because life isn't fair. We have three choices to deal with pain: 1) press into the pressure of the pain and be all that God wants me to be, 2)choose to deal with it all later, 3) choose the pain forever and ignore my hurts. It's #1 for us!

  • Cease from dwelling on my trouble and stop talking about it all the time. Dwell on obedience. God promises a reward in due time.

  • Blaming others magnifies my pain. Take responsibility for myself.

  • Conquer evil by doing good. Romans 12:21
  • Feelings that are buried are alive and never die until I give them to Jesus otherwise they are manifested some other way: overeating, working too hard/no fun, health issues, etc.

I could go on and on sharing my notes. We had so much fun together; it was the perfect "mother daughter memory". The drive home was sunny filled with beautiful ocean views, stops for lunch, the beach, shops, yogurt and friendly conversations with others.

A special thank you hug to Lisa, Glenda, Kay, Amy and Denise for praying for us to be able to go on time and be safe.

This post links to Spiritual Sundays.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 16, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    Wow. That sounds awesome! I have always wanted to hear Joyce Meyer in person.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Laurie CollettOctober 16, 2011 at 12:33 PM

    Amen! These are wonderful truths, and what a blessing that you could share them with your daughters. I am blessed by your blog and will follow it, and I invite you to follow mine, Saved by Grace:
    http://savedbygracebiblestudy.blogspot.com/
    Love in Christ,
    Laurie Collett

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nikki (Sarah)October 16, 2011 at 1:18 PM

    These are great things to remember and the pic of you and your dgt.... Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nikki (Sarah)October 16, 2011 at 1:18 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beth E.October 16, 2011 at 4:13 PM

    I'm so glad you had such a wonderful opportunity to spend time together with your daughter! What a great way to do so...Joyce Meyer is awesome!

    My mother and I attended a weekend women's retreat several years ago. It was a precious time together.

    Blessings...

    ReplyDelete
  6. DeborahOctober 16, 2011 at 7:02 PM

    So glad you got to have that special time with your daughter!
    How wonderful!!

    Deborah xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just Be RealOctober 17, 2011 at 4:32 AM

    Super! I love Joyce Meyer. Never seen her in person. Glad you were blessed. Blessings.

    ReplyDelete
  8. PamelaOctober 17, 2011 at 6:16 AM

    Those points need copied! I'm going to add them to my journal. The excitement of attending a conference with your daughter seeped through your words. What a blessing that must have been. Daughters are the best friends!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kathleen October 17, 2011 at 7:14 AM

    Wow. It sounds like you returned with your spiritual shopping cart filled to the brim - - the very best sort of Mother/Daughter expedition!

    I love those times when you feel like the Lord is giving you something to drink straight out of a firehose. So much to take in, BUT oh-so thirst quenching.

    ReplyDelete
  10. PeggyOctober 17, 2011 at 4:35 PM

    Thanks for sharing the great truths from the conference. I attended a Beth Moore Conference with my daughter last spring and it was a great experience. I'm glad you got to experience that conference with your daughter.

    ReplyDelete
  11. RCUBEsOctober 17, 2011 at 7:40 PM

    Precious, fun time indeed between you and your daughter! The truths you shared are what I need to hear and be reminded of. Thank you for sharing these...God bless and protect you sister.

    ReplyDelete
  12. SharonOctober 18, 2011 at 3:12 PM

    Such good thoughts, Mary! What a wonderful time you must have had with Carrie. Joyce Meyer is a tremendously inspiring writer - I can only imagine that her speaking was even better.

    You were in my *neck of the woods* - Southern California. Just a little over a week ago, I met my first blog buddy in person. We both blogged about the experience yesterday (Monday).

    Perhaps someday I'll be able to meet you and Carrie!

    In the meantime, know that you have been such an encouragement to me on so many occasions. The Body of Christ is strong, and we all share the same heartbeat. And yes, there is comfort in our pain when we turn it over to the Lord, and dwell on Him instead.

    GOD BLESS!

    ReplyDelete
  13. CharlotteOctober 19, 2011 at 8:36 PM

    What a special occasion this was for you and your daughter. Joyce Meyer is awesome. Thank you for sharing your blessing with us.
    Charlotte

    BTW I attended an Elvis Presley concert in Long Beach way back in 1956. It was in a large auditorium. I wonder if it was the same place. Probably not. That was so long ago.

    ReplyDelete
  14. LisaShawOctober 21, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    Amen Amen Amen! Awesome for you both. I remember praying on your FB that you'd both be able to get to Joyce and that you'd enjoy the presence and power of the Lord as He imparted His Word to you both.

    Thanks for sharing some of what you gleaned. Awesome!

    Love you bunches!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Surprise at the Mall

I lost touch with a writer friend.  I missed her and her cheerful blog posts.  We met up in a most unusual way!  I’m still in awe of how it happened. I finished my shopping at the mall and took a short cut to get to the parking lot.  The path led me through the food court.  The smell of Chicken Fajitas stopped me in my tracks.  I planned lunch elsewhere, but now I followed my nose. I chewed my first bite of chicken taco salad when, out of nowhere, a loud redhead moved rapidly past the tables and into the booth with me.  “I know you !”  She shouted.  I pondered if I knew this crazy lady.  Did she mistake me for someone else?  She shouted louder and stuck her finger in my face:  “ You’re Mary; you have a blog called Pile of Smiles and you live in the Verde Valley .”   It took me a second to compose myself.  I stopped chewing my food.  I know I stared too long at her face and then she said:...
48 comments
Read more

Mama's Lipstick

I always wished I could do things with my mom like shop in the mall, share makeup secrets or go to the movies and watch romantic comedies.  My wish never materialized.     My mama behaved like a tomboy.   She loved baseball and pitched with a strong right arm.   She could care less about the latest fashion or the latest movies featured on the big screen.   She never polished her fingernails.    One day after elementary school, I walked into the house to find my mom all dolled up in front of the bathroom mirror, foundation crème, powder, eyebrow pencil and rouge all over the counter sink.  “Who are you?” I asked, thrilled to see my mama putting on the Ritz.  Makeup in place and blotted, she immediately took it off.  “I don’t like the way it feels,” she exclaimed. She retired in Arizona and protected her dry lips with a light rose lipstick, the color of natural lips, a step above ChapStick.  She wore it a few tim...
55 comments
Read more

Hitched to a Rough Road

Photo Credit:  Peggy James I got his email and wanted to shout:  “Hey, buster, does the phrase “continued behavior pattern” mean anything to you?  But I didn’t. Travis is at it again.  His email revealed a litany of complaints about our neighborhood, our country road, our board officers, bad decisions made that will cost him money , yada-yada-yada . Travis is a Christian brother but you’d never know it. He is a large, loud man who shoots his mouth off as often as he shoots his guns back here in the hills.  He interrupts at our road meetings and, like a typical hothead, he speaks truth but with a tone that makes me feel like I need to duck in case some of his words fly at me and smack me upside the face. I thought we were making progress, but we’re not. It is our rough road that brings us together .  Last year we picked up the neglected pieces of our road association.  We agreed to assemble once again to talk, make decisio...
37 comments
Read more