genuine wisdom

well, i started writing this post about three weeks ago, and i finally finishing it! okay, so about a month ago i attended genuine wisdom, a women's conference at church of the apostles in atlanta. it was a refreshing weekend full of wonderful speakers, enlightening small group time, delicious food, and of course lovely little things like these flowers.

my dear friend meghan was in charge of this shindig and she did a wonderful job! each table had a unique table setting and each girl got a journal, handmade bookmark, and le pen to document the weekend. below is one of my favorite table arrangements. best part about this display? those are real eggs from one of the woman's chickens. chickens in the city? yes please.

okay, so now to the real reason for this post!

so, what did i learn? what nuggets of truth can i share with you? well, i wrote about 5 1/2 pages in my journal, so i believe the best way to share some of the things i learned with you will be in bullet form. i will also include some reflection questions through out, the exact ones that i asked myself while listening to the speakers.

• Fact Train vs Feel Train - this concept connected with me on a lot of levels. a lot of times in life and throughout the day to day we are faced with choices. personally, i ride the "feel train" often, and if i wasn't a Christian, i would never get off it. let me give you some examples: i don't really feel like cooking dinner. FACT: we need to eat dinner. i don't feel like cleaning the kitchen. FACT: if we don't clean the kitchen, then we will have bugs everywhere. now, i know those are simple examples, but this idea can be applied to much more deep and spiritual ideas. example: i don't feel like donating any more money to help that cause. FACT: as a Christian, i am called to give generously and serve others for the glory of God. i don't feel like forgiving the person who just hurt my feelings. FACT: i need to be quick to forgive and not keep a record of wrongs.
• which train are you on?
• definition of marriage - marriage is a permanent exclusive public commitment to share your entire life with someone else {roughly taken from a Tim Keller quote}
• the best gift you can give your spouse: spiritual independence
• we must be vulnerable with God first and deal with our sin before we can be honest and open with our spouse
• no one, not even your spouse will never satisfy our God-sized whole in our hearts. if we put our spouse on the pedestal where God belongs, we will either become clingy or exhausting.
• marriage is a sacrificial love - practice this in the mundane things in life
• raising children - Colossians 3:18-21; Ephesians 6:1-4; Psalm 127:1a
• the Lord must be your rock and foundation before it can be your family's
• pray, a lot. and then pray some more.
• freedom - only the free gift of grace through Jesus' death on a cross can bring you true freedom {John 10:10}
• grace is all we need. keep running back to the gospel!
• freedom comes when we give our struggles to the Lord - anger, bitterness, selfishness
• what are you holding on to?
• God is interested in change.
• are we allowing Him to change us?
• Isaiah 55 - the whole chapter!

i hope you find these words encouraging no matter what stage of life you are in or what you are going through. click here if you want to listen to any of the speakers from the event!