The conference last night was very good. The speaker was Jada Edwards, a pastor from Texas. She only spoke twice - 30 minutes each time, but the message she gave us was thought-provoking. Not sure if I can remember everything, but one thing that stood out was about staying in 'your own lane'. Look to see what you are passionate about, and do that; don't force yourself to teach, if you aren't comfortable with it Don't work with children if God has not given you a great love for children. I think you get the main picture. It did give me thought. And a lot of times, the things God allowed to happen to us as we were growing up, sometimes we are to use that to reach others for Him.
The breaks were totally awesome. They had two nacho tables and yes, I did indulge in that one time. I love nachos - and they even had a bowl of jalapeno peppers.... so good with the thick nacho cheese. It was really cool how on one of the breaks, that they had clear plastic cups in which they had poured a couple tablespoons of ranch dressing and then had dropped carrots and celery and tomatoes in the cup. Clever. Also they had churros broke up in cups and had poured chocolate sauce over them. Yeah, I enjoyed the snacks.
We lasted through the sessions and then about 9-ish it was over. they were having 'after-party' things going on but we (plus my two friends that we met up with) decided to opt out of that and head out. We of course, came back to our hotel room. We sat up for a little while, but was in bed a bit after 10PM and as hard as it was for me, I stayed in bed (I was still awake at 4AM but dozed) until 6:30AM. I got up and started reading my Bible and my daughter got up shortly after. She's just finishing up the shower now and I'll do a quick shower before we head down to breakfast. It's free, so may as well, right? I wonder what they will have. This is a nice hotel and our room is good; I'd stay here again. I may be worth the cost this time, but may have to rethink it another time. LOL Glad we didn't have the hour drive back and could stay here. We will probably head out about 11AM since that is when we need to check out. Not sure if we will go straight home or stop for lunch. It's nice I don't have to drive.
Luke 9:23-25 (NKJV) "Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?"
What is it that we hold on to and refuse to give up? Is it that habit? (whether good or bad or indifferent) Is it emotions? Is it our choices? Some times we do things and we don't even think about them anymore, because that is just the way it is.... or so we think. Some times we are called to 'give up' those things, even for a short while.
I admit, it hasn't been easy, but I have given up scrolling Facebook and Instagram for 40 days for Lent. And yes, habits die hard. I don't like to see those little numbers that pop up on that app - and many times I have touched that app - just as I realize that I want to NOT look at Facebook or Instagram - and quickly shut it down again. And it's only been 4 days! I know I can do it... but sometimes I do forget until I touch the app. I tell myself I don't need to scroll and lose hours... and if you look at how many times you open the app and scroll, you will realize that you also lose much time just scrolling. I think my time is more valuable than that. I like scrolling just to see what my family or friends are doing, but someone commented recently that they are seeing more 'memes' or other things than they are of what's happening with people.. and I agree. It made me think about what I was scrolling through And in reality that was all I was doing - scrolling. Choosing to rarely 'like' - even though I may have liked the comment, but it's like - 'just move on'.
Did you choose to give up anything for Lent? I couldn't decide if I wanted to do BBCD, or give up specific food.... sometimes it is difficult to keep that mindset when you have others around. I have done it, but since I wasn't 'raised' to give up things for Lent, I don't think of it that much. But sometimes, I just want to do something.... partly to give it up and turn my thoughts to Jesus more, which is the reason I do it, and partly - in all honestly - is to make sure that I don't value that 'thing' or 'food' more than anything else.
I want my thoughts to be on Jesus; I want to reflect Him always in my life. To do that, I must make Him central. I don't always have to talk about Him to others, but if they can see Jesus in me, in my life, especially those who know me well, I am successful in my endeavor.
Are you reflecting Jesus in your life? Would your friends and/or family say that Jesus is number uno in your life? Something to think about.
Blessings!
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