As you may have gathered by now, I went to Women of Faith last weekend (yeah, yeah, I get a little excited and exuberant about these things…). This is one of the coolest things I not only learned about, but also experienced in the first session.
So, my friend Jan and I were in our seats at the Rose Quarter, waiting for the conference to begin on Friday night. I had gone to the “preconference” during the day on Friday and was already pretty fired up and excited for the rest of the weekend. Jan? Well, let’s just say she’d never been to Women of Faith, was totally exhausted and had admitted to me that if she hadn’t already paid for her ticket, she wouldn’t have been going. That was a sure fire sign to me that Satan was on the prowl and that she was in for an AMAZING weekend.
Now, if you’ve never been to Women of Faith, you need to picture something here…we are in a HUGE stadium filled with literally 11,000 women. Just before the music started Jan said to me, “Wow, you’d think in a place with this many people you’d see someone you know.” I agreed but said I hadn’t seen anyone that I knew at all during the day.
Then the music began. People were still getting to their seats…it’s a stadium filled with women after all. Getting that many women to stop chatting is no small feat. Everyone was standing, preparing to sing worship songs. I was just glancing around in amazement at the sight of that many Christian women all in one room when I noticed a woman two rows ahead and directly in front of me. She was turned around looking and talking to someone behind me. As my eyes and brain began to focus on her, I realized that it was a very dear friend of mine, Debbie (see above photo), that I had lost contact with and who I’d been seriously looking for over at least the last three years! You have to picture the look on my face now…I remember the feeling that my eyes were open as wide as they would go and my mouth was literally wide open and I felt sort of paralyzed. I literally could not move or say anything. At first Debbie glanced at me and in that instant I could tell she was thinking, “why is that woman staring at me?” but then the same recognition kicked in for her as it had for me…and she had the exact same look on her face. Neither of us could speak. Then without saying a word, she slowly pointed and I realized she was pointing behind me so I turned around. Seated directly behind me was her sister, Danelle, another dear friend I’d lost contact with! When we finally had the opportunity to speak to one another, we realized that about 19 years have gone by since we “lost” each other.
One of the speakers that night mentioned “God Winks”. She said, “You know those times when you get a totally unexpected surprise that cannot and should not be chalked up to ‘coincidence’? That is God winking at you and letting you know how special you are to Him.” At that point, I reached back and squeezed Danelle’s hand. Out of a room filled with 11,000 women, my two friends, who I’ve been searching for, were literally within 3 feet of me now. THAT was a God Wink.
Oh, and as for Jan, who really didn’t want to be there Friday night? Remember she was tired and dragging before we left for the conference? Well, afterward…at 10:00 p.m. she said, “You want to go get something to eat and chat before we go home?” I spent the night at her house on Friday and guess who was up looong before me, bebopping around and anxious to get going for Saturday’s sessions… As we parted ways on Saturday night, Jan told me that for someone who really didn’t want to go to WOF, she was more glad she went than I could know. I also got a phone call from her today. When I answered the phone I heard, “Guess Who winked at me this morning…”
So, my friend Jan and I were in our seats at the Rose Quarter, waiting for the conference to begin on Friday night. I had gone to the “preconference” during the day on Friday and was already pretty fired up and excited for the rest of the weekend. Jan? Well, let’s just say she’d never been to Women of Faith, was totally exhausted and had admitted to me that if she hadn’t already paid for her ticket, she wouldn’t have been going. That was a sure fire sign to me that Satan was on the prowl and that she was in for an AMAZING weekend.
Now, if you’ve never been to Women of Faith, you need to picture something here…we are in a HUGE stadium filled with literally 11,000 women. Just before the music started Jan said to me, “Wow, you’d think in a place with this many people you’d see someone you know.” I agreed but said I hadn’t seen anyone that I knew at all during the day.
Then the music began. People were still getting to their seats…it’s a stadium filled with women after all. Getting that many women to stop chatting is no small feat. Everyone was standing, preparing to sing worship songs. I was just glancing around in amazement at the sight of that many Christian women all in one room when I noticed a woman two rows ahead and directly in front of me. She was turned around looking and talking to someone behind me. As my eyes and brain began to focus on her, I realized that it was a very dear friend of mine, Debbie (see above photo), that I had lost contact with and who I’d been seriously looking for over at least the last three years! You have to picture the look on my face now…I remember the feeling that my eyes were open as wide as they would go and my mouth was literally wide open and I felt sort of paralyzed. I literally could not move or say anything. At first Debbie glanced at me and in that instant I could tell she was thinking, “why is that woman staring at me?” but then the same recognition kicked in for her as it had for me…and she had the exact same look on her face. Neither of us could speak. Then without saying a word, she slowly pointed and I realized she was pointing behind me so I turned around. Seated directly behind me was her sister, Danelle, another dear friend I’d lost contact with! When we finally had the opportunity to speak to one another, we realized that about 19 years have gone by since we “lost” each other.
One of the speakers that night mentioned “God Winks”. She said, “You know those times when you get a totally unexpected surprise that cannot and should not be chalked up to ‘coincidence’? That is God winking at you and letting you know how special you are to Him.” At that point, I reached back and squeezed Danelle’s hand. Out of a room filled with 11,000 women, my two friends, who I’ve been searching for, were literally within 3 feet of me now. THAT was a God Wink.
Oh, and as for Jan, who really didn’t want to be there Friday night? Remember she was tired and dragging before we left for the conference? Well, afterward…at 10:00 p.m. she said, “You want to go get something to eat and chat before we go home?” I spent the night at her house on Friday and guess who was up looong before me, bebopping around and anxious to get going for Saturday’s sessions… As we parted ways on Saturday night, Jan told me that for someone who really didn’t want to go to WOF, she was more glad she went than I could know. I also got a phone call from her today. When I answered the phone I heard, “Guess Who winked at me this morning…”
2 comments:
way cool April! I've never been to Women of Faith but hear it's amazing! Next year... remind me it's coming! ! Janet
You HAVE to go next year! It really is amazing. The most spectacular thing about it is how PERSONAL our God is. He can take the exact same message and speak to the heart of 11,000 women exactly where THEY'RE at in their lives. We serve and awesome God!
BTW, I'm going to be a group leader, so if you want me to, I'll keep you posted and maybe you can join our group...and bring some of your friends!
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