Unpacking

I just got back from 4 days in Austin Texas at the IF: Gathering.

It was a women's conference and going into it, that was about all I knew.

We had many questions, 

"What are we going to?  What is this thing?  Who will be there?  Who is speaking?  

Is there a theme?"

Ending with our final, joking question, 

"What the if?"

Since we were traveling from California, you'd think we would have sought some of these answers prior to purchasing airline tickets!  But no.  

We just knew we needed to be "there," whatever "there" was.

Holy smokes!

4 days later and I have a lot of unpacking to do!

It was like going to an all you can eat buffet, where after 20 minutes of eating ridiculously rich food, your stomach aches, yet you cannot stop eating because the delicacies around you are far too valuable to leave without sampling.  So you start stuffing food in your pockets, your purse, your pant legs and even your ears so you don't miss a single morsel.

I felt as though I was in the current Hall of Faith with some of today's greats.

There was not one keynote speaker.  There were about 30!!!

Yea, just about 30 different people sharing golden morsels of truth 

in the short span of about 14 hours!

Well now I'm stuffed to the gills and have a lot of unpacking to do.

A lot of processing.

A lot of going through notes, praying, journaling, praying and then some more digesting to really understand what I just encountered.

I'm excited to share with you what God spoke through His servants at the IF:Gathering.

But I'd love for you to hear some of it for yourself!

Today only you can watch the live stream for free!

So, grab a pen and paper, a glass of water and your baggy pants because you will be filled to the gills!

Go to 

ifgathering.com

register to watch the live stream

at the top menu bar, click on "archives" to start at session 1

My favorites were:

Jo Saxton Session 1, 54 minutes in   time marker - 54:00
Beautiful Indian woman Session 2, 3 hours into the session    time marker - 30:33

Eugene Cho Session 3, 2 hours into the session   time marker - 2:00

David Plat Session 4, almost 2 hours into the session    time marker - 1:54

to name just a few!!!

Stepping Out Into The Unknown

My greatest childhood memories were on the lake.

Every summer we did a lot of water skiing.

A few years back some friends invited us to spend a few days with them on Bass Lake and I immediately was flooded with childhood memories!

The smell of the boat exhaust, lake water, and pine trees - a cocktail of summer!

It was so intoxicating, we've tried to get back up there every summer since!

My greatest highlight of this summer was our trip to the lake!

Tube rides, 2 out of 3 kids up on skies, jumping off the boat, breakfast burritos on the beach, jiffy pop, ice cream, sunsets, Yosemite the list goes on and on!

It was just a fabulous time.

Maybe even our best family vacation ever!

With all the glories of Yosemite and Bass Lake, my favorite part of the trip was an early morning on the beach alone.

Bass Lake holds many memories for me.

Many years ago (20 to be exact!) I came to work as a water ski instructor and boat driver at a Christian Camp by Bass Lake.  I came down on that lake every morning to fuel up the boats and get ready for a day of teaching kids to ski.  I had just graduated from Pepperdine and I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with my life.
On the shore of that lake I prayed and sought direction for my life.
What would I do after camp ended?
Where would I live?
What did God have for my life?
Well, summer camp came to an end and I had no answers.
I was asked to stay on through the Fall for family camps and continue to drive boats.
Great, I bought 2 more months God!  You still have time to reveal your great plan for me!
(because obviously He didn't meet my previous deadline!)
October came and camp was closing up.  My time at the lake was over and I was stepping out into the great unknown without any kind of direction.
I bought a few more days by hanging out with friends I had met; surely God was waiting until the last minute to reveal his grand plan for my life.
Surely I wouldn't drive home with no sense of vision or direction.
But time ran out and in disbelief, I loaded up my car to drive to my parent's house.
As I drove away, I remember pulling off and getting out of my car in the woods.
"You missed it," I yelled as loud as I could.
"What am I supposed to do now?," I yelled even louder into the expanse of pine trees that didn't even tremble at my question.
I just couldn't believe that God hadn't pulled back the curtain even a little bit to show me where to go next.  He was just silent.

***
20 years later, I'm sitting on the shore of Bass Lake, asking God some of the same questions.
What will I do after Summer ends?
What do you have for my life God?
After 2 years of homeschooling, all 3 of my children started school last week.
As Summer came to a close, I was repeatedly asked,
"What are you going to do now that all your children are in school?"
I spent a few moments feeling lost and panicked that I had no plan, no direction.
But luckily those moments were short.
I've learned my lesson.
Over the past 20 years, I've learned that
God is seldom on my time line, but never late!
I think I need to know the next step just before my foot hits the ground, but sometimes God wants me to keep walking, moving forward, with no apparent direction,
but with a blind faith to trust His timing.
In His time, He will guide me and direct me into the next chapter.
For now, I'm taking one more step forward in faith and I can't wait to see where it takes me!