I just finished typing the whole post, clicked over to add in some pics and the post was gone.
So this is a shorter, much more condensed version.
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I’ve been back from the USA for just over a week.
After three days at the She Speaks conference in Concord, NC, I spent a few days in Charlotte and then Dion joined me in New York City.
People have been asking me about the conference and it’s been hard to explain how it all went.
It was mostly wonderful, but parts of it were also challenging and overwhelming.
Let’s get to the detail.
The good bits…
God
I went knowing not a single soul and while I was lonely, I wasn’t alone. He was with me. I really prayed a lot more over those three days than I have for a long time so that was all good.
Morning worship and devotions
I wasn’t even expecting this but it was such a welcome surprise starting the day off in the right order before dealing with all the other conference stuff. I love worship and it was AWESOME – every single session.
Conference sessions
The sessions I went to were all good but my favourite one was Emily P Freeman’s one, From blog to book. Emily writes the blog Chatting at the sky and while I wasn’t a regular reader before, when she started speaking, I just felt so drawn to her authenticity. Also, BONUS – her sister, The Nester, was also there helping her out and I got to chat to her for a few minutes later that day to tell her how much I liked her blog. I love the Nester’s whole take on imperfection… and the posts she did for Compassion International.
My speaker evaluator
Mary Snyder was my speaker evaluator. She was awesome at calming me down when I freaked out a bit before I even left Johannesburg, and then she was just so encouraging not only to me, but to our whole group. I told her this but it meant such a lot to have her speak into my life like she did. I was feeling a lot of “am I good enough” and on Sunday morning, she spoke so nicely to me and just affirmed God’s gifts in my life.
Oh wow! This sounds so inspiring. So great that you got the opportunity to attend the summit.
Yip, I made it a priority this year and went for it full out 🙂
Oh, it was MY JOY to meet you and spend time with you at She Speaks. You are gifted by God! Let Him guide your next steps and I so hope that He allows our paths to cross again.
Loved our time together!
And you are such a blessing to the body of Christ.
Thanks for visiting!
XXX
Wow. This is amazing. I LOVE reading Emily Freemans blog. Actually want to get her book.
Let’s get it and read together.
What a gift to stumble upon this post tonight. Thank you for your kind words – I’m thrilled you enjoyed the session. And how much do I hate when blog posts disappear like that – it’s the worst. Glad you were able to gather up your thoughts enough to re-post.
Emily, thanks for visiting and for such a great message at She Speaks. I really loved it!
Looks like you had a wonderful time.
Been trying to email you about one of your courses but it keeps bouncing back, so can you contact me? The payment keeps bombing out, not sure why
Hi Rachel
I had some trouble emailing you. The email just didn’t want to send til the other day.
Did you eventually get my mail?