Monday, May 28, 2007

The fruit of a blog

I just returned home from a Living Proof Live Conference in Boone, NC where I met, for the first time, a fellow LPM blog sister. We had commented on one another's posts several times, then followed one another's individual blogs, and before we knew what had hit us, we had decided we were going to meet and go to this conference together! (Now for those of you with the mother instinct wondering if we had lost our minds, we probably had. You're absolutely validated in your thinking and I need a good mothering now and then. Well, maybe more than that :) ). BUT, when the LORD has spoken, He has my 'yes.' So Abby and I took the leap of faith to connect in Jesus Name as sisters in Christ, and met in Boone on Friday before the conference started! What a blessing I received in her!



Girlfriends, if Amanda could ever have known the fruit of her obedience in the creation of the LPM blog, I'm sure she may have just fallen off of her chair never to return to the blog world again. I suspect the bigness of our God may have just blown her right over. It would have me.

My weekend shared with my Beloved Jesus and this precious new sister has yet to be processed, so I'll spare you the suffering of trying to read something that I have yet to articulate to myself. In short, our Glorious Father was majestic in His holiness. He is ever increasing in His beauty to my mind and heart. And He surely got the praise.

As for Abby and I, we began to show such similarities, we decided it to be a little scary, and tried to ignore them for the last hours of the conference. She is a treasure in this generation, and a friend that I am honored to now walk alongside. The sweet aroma of Christ is all over her, and she has an obvious mark on her life for His glory. God already has, and will continue to, call this young woman to do a mighty work for His renown.

What else I learned this weekend:::::
1) If it can be helped, don't go into the weekend on 3 hours of sleep. The triple shot espresso you get at Starbucks beforehand doesn't help.
2) The 'comforter' included in our bedding set by our 'hotel' more closely resembled a loin cloth.
3) Because of this, Boone, NC can feel like Antarctica, even if you're doing your best to cocoon in the loin cloth comforter.
4) Boone, NC is in the Boonies.
5) The LPM website did not include a warning for this conferences' travels. I suppose the following would have been beneficial: "Dear sister, for those of you who don't know what those large elevated rock-like objects lining the curving road near the conference center, we wanted to let you know that those are called 'mountains.' The road to the conference center is an uphill winding road, so we advise you to grip on to the steering wheel for dear life, and not look down at the sharp cliff to the left of you. Have safe travels and leave extra travel time for those of you who are novice mountain drivers."
6) Don't even think about being able to use the restroom or get a Coke on Saturday...b/c the 15,000 other women already did. Lol!
7) Last conference, my friends and I deemed 6:15 am as the safe arrival time to beat the line crowds for Saturday's session. It wasn't :( So Abby and I decided we'd be there around 5:15 am in order to beat the crowd. (What can I say - we're visual learners and like the up-front interaction). Not only did we beat the 'crowd,' we beat any car in the streets of Boone that morning, the opening of McDonald's, any lights being turned on in the entire convention center, and we are sure that we even beat Beth's arising for her morning Jesus time and hair fixin.
8) Wear waterproof mascara.
9) Hibernate the week before. Your body will thank you this weekend as you will get no sleep.
10) For those of you concerned about missing out on your morning exercise routine for the weekend, have no fear! Attending a LPL conference is more than adequate exercise for your temple as you are involved in constant stair climbing, jump up and down worship, and knee-slap laughter that leaves you with sore abs.
12) I will close with a shout-out to my Boone sisters: "If you're 'asher' and you know it, clap your hands. If you're 'asher' and you know it, clap your hands. If you're 'asher' and you know it then your face will surely show it; If you're 'asher' and you know it clap your hands." We give you much praise Jesus!!


Waiting in line outside on Saturday morning around 5 am. Oh wait, there was no line! HAHAHAHA. But we did enjoy a sunrise and the beautiful stillness of Jesus all to ourselves.

Kelly S. - a fellow blogging sister, found me! She has been an absolutely precious sister to me and nothing but a blessing. I was able to come to Boone through her extra ticket! And if you have the privilege of getting to know her at all, you'll know that she is an automatic hero in the faith.

Abby, Beth, and myself...post mine and Abby's Jesus cry-fest.

21 comments:

mandy said...

OH I LOVE it!!!!
I'm so thankful that He continues to bless your socks off again and again, Shelly....
wow.....
Praise you Jesus for another amazing adventure in the faith.

Sharon Brumfield said...

How fun!
We so wanted to go see her while she was in Louisiana but it was sold out by the time I could get my girls moving.
We will be going about an hour away from Boone this summer for a conference we do in Maggie Valley,N.C.
It is beautiful country.
If I had seen that you were going to Boone, I would have told you to go and eat at the Daniel Boone Inn. Great food!
Glad you got to meet some sweet blog sistas!

Lisa Bolling said...

Hello Shelly - this is your Sister in Christ (and I Love Lucy) I just left you a message within my comment on Beth's blog. I didn't know your name because I wasn't smart enough to ask. LOL
I just wanted to tell you that meeting you this weekend was such a blessing to me. How lucky I am to have stood at the entrance at the crack of dawn with you - but, then to sit beside you during the conference AND to find a fellow 'Lucy' fan to boot. WHOOP WHOOP!! God is so cool. I hope you will find a minute sometime soon to let me know how you are. I would love to hear from you.
Blessings from your Sister in Christ,
Lisa
Lisagbolling@yahoo.com

Patty said...

Hi Shelly!
I was excited to meet you at the conference and it was cool to have sat behind you and Abby. I am sorry we didn't get to say good-bye. You all must have been at a different entrance on Saturday because my friend and I were there at 5:00 a.m. NW entrance and we were by ourselves. IT was an amazing conference. Are you going to the Deeper Still event in Nashville? Let me know, I will be working that event. Ok, when did you all get the picture with Beth? After the conference on Saturday? That is awesome!!

a boy a girl and a pug said...

oh what a fun weekend! and always wear waterproof mascara is for sure the best advice.

take care

Deborah said...

I loved that, I feel so jealous here in South Africa. love me

jamie b said...

I just wanted to say Hi! I have been reading your blog over the past couple of weeks. I love to see your comments on the LPM blog. You are so encouraging!! Anyway, just wanted to say hello.

Jamie

P.S. We are HUGE GA Tech fans! My husband went there for a year, and well...did other things beside study! HA!

connorcolesmom said...

Shelly,
This might be a repeat b/c I just tried to post a comment but my computer said I had an error. Anyway, I am so glad you had the opportunity to go this weekend. I really enjoyed the pictures and the 10 things you learned this weekend - they cracked me up!!!
I totally would have gone and met Abby as well. After all we are one big family. I truly think God worked through Amanda to set up the LPM blog so we could encourage and support one another. By the way, are you going to the Deeper Still conference? I do have a few extra rooms at the hotel right next to the conference center if anyone needs them. God bless you sweet sister!! I hope we meet in person one day so we can hug like sistas!!
Kim

jennyhope said...

GIRL NO WAY! I LOVE THIS PIC WITH YOU AND BETH! I AM GOING TO LINK TO IT! Don't you love how the Lord gives us the desires of our hearts. No one person has had greater influence on my life than Beth and the Lord has allowed me to meet her twice. I am so jealous that you got to go to Boone. I have to get ready to go somewhere and then I am going to read your post! NOT FAIR!!! I love how you are trying to look calm and not freak out that the Lord let you get your pic made with Beth!! I keep trying to talk my man into moving to Houston so I can go to her Tues night class. He is like NO WAY! :) Love jenny

kittyhox said...

Oh my goodness, what an awesome weekend you ladies have had!

Even though I had the good fortune to experience a Living Proof Live event here in Seattle, earlier this year, I still had to battle a bit of jealousy about the Boone event. I just wish I could go to all of them!!

So cool that you had your picture taken with Beth!

What an amazing time. :) Thanks for sharing with us.

~Kitty

Kelly S. said...

Awesome is all I can say....I still can't take it all in!! What an unbelievable weekend...Praise God for all His blessings. I am so glad that I got to meet you and how sweet for you to add my pic!! (My friends loved it!) I will continue to pray for you, sweet sister and read about your journey. I can't believe you and Abby got your picture made with Beth....how fun. Did you and Patty connect that I sold both of you a ticket? I read her post on LPM and could not believe that you guys sat together. Its all just too much. Loved your mountain driving story....we don't even notice! Love you,
Kelly

connorcolesmom said...

Shelly,
God does provide and I will keep a room just for you my friend.
Have a great weekend!!
God bless,
Kim

Lindsee Lou said...

Oh, how fun!!!! Did you tell Beth how y'all met? I bet she would get a kick out of that!!!

I am sure y'all had a blast. And, I did live vicarioulsy through y'all!!!

How fun. Y'all are just gorgeous and encourge me so. I hope you have caught up on your sleep...I totally feel your pain, but I def. prayed for you!!! :)

Y'all are precious!

jennyhope said...

Oh which deeper still are you and kim talking about? I am going on Aug 10th to the precepts conference in Atlanta. Do you think you are going to go? If so I will have to meet up with you and get our pic taken :) I am so pumped about that. I am only going to hear beth. I know she wouldn't be proud of me skipping out on the others but anytime LPL is remotely near me I head to go. I will even jump on a plane and go if it need be. Those are the only vacations I ever get.
Thanks for the moon comment I was totally diggin it!
You need to slap up part of your story on your blob so we can see how the Lord got a hold on you! Keep on girl! Keep on!!

Sacchiel said...

I love the name and content of your blog. Knowing Jesus is the highlight of my life.

jennyhope said...

Shelly,

I have a picture of little Morgan eating chips and salsa that I am going to post on my blog soon. I know you will love it.

I like cheese dip. It will be in heaven along with chocolate chip cookies. If I were Eve I would not have been tempted with the apple it would have been cookies. I am kidding. I know you are a prayer warrior and I need some prayer so please lift me up. My bible study is tomorrow night and I am sick with a migraine that started yesterday. Morgan was throwing up last night and she also has slap cheek. I am personally struggling to love a family member to.
I want to hear about your job you started. I think I to am going to throw caution to the wind and go to Nashville even though the tickets got sold out. we shall see.
anyway, i saw that on someones blog....that you were doing the same. :)

Anonymous said...

Shelly,
this is my first time at your blog but i've been seeing your comments on mrs. beth's and amanda's blog. (i should introduce myself- i'm sarah, i'm 18 and college-bound come august, and i ended up here from travis's blog.) i just wanted to tell you that i am SUPER jealous that you got to go to a LPL conference!!!! i have absolutley loved Mrs. Beth since i first heard her at Passion 07' and i want soooo badly to attend one of her events! Anyway, that picture of you and Beth is kick awsome. you should know that.

love a fellow siesta,
sarah in tampa, fl.

jennyhope said...

thanks for the comments and prayer. I could give you a laundry list of all of the health problems that are so random that have occurred with us in the last several years. It has been crazy but I wont bore you. We have spent thousands and thousands in co-pays and prescriptions. I am also surrounded by a lot of Jobs friends if you know what I mean. I am so thankful for the prayer. You are so precious. love jenny

Angela Baylis said...

Hi Shelly,

Thanks so much for stopping by to say hello to me! I just read yours and I am SO happy for you for one... going to see the conference and to meet your blog friend and two... the picture with Beth??? Oh my goodness, I'd give anything to have a picture of myself with her! Words cannot express how my life has been changed as a result of her teachings. I cannot get enough of what she has to say. How did you manage to get the picture? Do you know her personally? I too am SO grateful for
their obedience and for the LPM blog!

I think I read a while back that you were accepted to Wheaton. Is that true? If so, congratulations, sister!!!!!

debra parker said...

How cool is that. Next time I want to go along.

Anonymous said...

Very nice and delicious.