TGC Women's Conference 2012

As I mentioned last week, I had the great privilege this past weekend of attending The Gospel Coalition Women's Conference in Orlando, Florida with two other women from my church. It was a privilege because I should have been at home taking care of the kids and house, but my husband joyfully insisted on taking over that role for a few days so that I could go. It was a privilege because conferences like that are expensive and I didn't have all the money to go, but some family members generously contributed so that I could. It was a privilege because I thought I'd be going alone, and God provided for two other women to come with me so that we could not only process the conference messages together, but also begin to put it into practise in our interactions with each other (and it was a whole lot more fun - I haven't laughed that much in a while!). It was a privilege because while millions around the globe don't have ready access to the gospel, not only does God grace me with such teaching each Sunday at my local church, He also poured out such an abundance of it at this conference that it made my head spin! Honestly, this past weekend, I felt like I got sprayed by a gospel fire hose!

Between the 8 main sessions, the 3 workshops, 2 pre-conference sessions (there was one more, but it took us a little while to make our way to the conference centre and we missed the first one), and an extra evening "focus gathering", I've come back with enough notes and things to think about to keep me busy for the rest of the summer (not to mention the applications which will easily take more than the rest of this earthly life to put into practise)! I'm planning to work through my notes on each session, at the rate of a couple a week, and make a new shorter set of notes outlining what is most important and applicable about each session (and the conference as whole), so that it will no longer be a jumble in my head. As I do that, I'll be posting some blog entries with thoughts on some of the main points that were made. Others may consider other things more interesting or important, and I'm sure there will be a lot of entries on various blogs about the messages over the coming weeks, but what I want to write here are the things that spoke most to me because that's what I'll be meditating on. Trying to put it in my own words and illustrations and applications will help me process it all. And I hope these notes will also be helpful to you, whether you attended the conference or not.

Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of hearing your Word preached, and may I also explain it clearly for the benefit of others!