.HEY HEY HEY! (And no it is not "Fat Albert!")
I have so much to share in so short a time!
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Pink Impact single handedly qualifies as the best time I've ever had in my life! I realize that this might be hard to believe considering in my time since discovering Bible study, I have twice travelled to San Antonio with women I ministered to - both times in 2004 when we attended Women of Faith in the Spring and Lifeway Women's Convention with Beth Moore in December of that year. I also attended LPL in March of last year with my hubby, but still as great - and I do mean great as those experiences were - Pink Impact this year has been my best time at a conference/ministry event ever!
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I can tell you in one word why: SERVING. It was the first time I had taken on huge responsibilities which would have required me to serve through the entire event. We were called by leadership to be ministers from our seats of both hospitality and God's Word as well as prayer. I saw God be so amazing and so huge as I followed His lead each moment I was at Pink Impact.
First major moment: Well, as I previously mentioned all the gifts were good to go the day before the conference began. That was a beautiful thing to me. I felt so confident going in that everything would be done in the Lord's timing and He would not let one of us be disappointed or left out by what happened with the gifts. And oh boy, did He ever. I was so fretting over the timing and who would be distributing, but God provided perfectly for our need and every woman was not only greeted when she came in, but was gifted when she left with a kind word in that exchange as well.
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Second major moment: I have been a member of the Lifeway Forums for more than 4 years - at least I think I have been... could be less, but I think that is unlikely. A friend and cybersister from the forums emailed me earlier in the year to tell me she was coming to Pink Impact. I was so excited. I offered to save her seats and be her "hostess" at the event. Teresa and I have never met face to face - but we have seen pictures of one another - but the comparison is a little vague in a sea of 1,500 women of so...
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Beyond that, I had been going around taking care of my team leader responsibilities making sure the women had plenty of journals and pens to distribute at each doorway when I dropped off the extra journals I picked up at the North entrance to the auditorium. I met a couple of very nice ladies there and we talked for two seconds before I went back and mingled with the gathering crowd. I was in the midst of several friends and a pastor wondering how on earth someone I knew but didn't know - who would be looking for me who she knew but didn't know would possibly find one another. I had the seats saved by faith and felt sure if we were supposed to connect we would. In the middle of my group of friends a very enthusiastic woman with flaming red hair came up and said, "Michelle Bentham, I Win!"
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I did a quick scan of my mind Rolodex and came up blank before responding, "What did you win?" She exclaimed with hands thrown high and great joy in her heart, "It's tntkart from the Lifeway forums..."
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I would later learn that one of those two women I met in the North entrance evidently met me for two seconds and memorized every detail of my appearance that evening. She perfectly described my hairstyle, my earrings, necklace and clothing so that Teresa easily picked me out in the crowd of women who had converged on Gateway Church that night. Glory to God! We returned to the seats I had saved and sat with my daughters and laughed as we both slipped off our shoes as we began to worship our Lord. We sat together and enjoyed the Lord together through all but one of the sessions those three days and I am so grateful God even gave us time to pray together before we finally parted ways.
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Third major moment: On Friday night, I was overwhelmed during worship. I got down on my knees and just bowed before our Great God as I sang of His love, His healing, His righteousness... I couldn't help myself, His Spirit was thick in that place and I was consumed by Him. As we took our seats after worship, there was a yound woman behind me. She was a slight woman in her 20s by my estimation with deep olive colored skin, large tear-stained dark eyes and beautiful silky black hair. She was trembling as she shared what she had just experienced in worship. She laid her hand on the back of my chair and said, "I was bowing down, too and I saw you were, but when I was down there - I know there are lots of women here in this room - but it was just like it was God and me."
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I smiled and my heart knew such joy as I told her it was like that for me every time I worshipped. She said, "I've never experienced that before, is that not amazing." I knew how she felt - I'd experienced it first several years ago when I first began to walk with God in deep intimacy and knowing - it had become a way of life for me. The lights dimmed and the stage filled and we had to end our conversation so I whispered, "Keep experiencing that with Him."
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As Christine Caine took the stage to deliver her soul stirring message about human trafficing and how God wants us to start in our neighborhoods and then concern ourselves with the world... I was still seeing the sweet, Spirit kissed face of the woman sitting behind me, I still felt her hand in my own when I felt God say open your Bible to Psalms. I did and found Psalm 63... a beautiful Psalm of praise and worship - a beautiful, intimate expression of man's desire to know God more and God's desire to be known by us. I began to write down the words filling my heart and my head as I read and re-read the the words of Psalm 63. I wrote it all down with speed and great joy and just before I had to slip out of my seat to go and oversee the gift distribution I slid the folded sheet of paper into the young woman's hand and slipped silently out of the sanctuary. I did not leave her my name, or my number just a chapter from Psalms and a sweet word from God about His love and delight for her. I cherish that moment. I know it is far better to give than to receive, and now I know why - I went there to be selfish and recieve, but God showed me what He loves about givers that night and I didn't even have to sacrifice financially to do it.
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The final moment: This moment will stick in my heart and my mind as long as I live. I had been busy about the sanctuary as the many women were leaving on Saturday morning after the last session. Over and Over again, the two women sitting wrapped up in a tight a embrace near the south exit came into view as I walked the aisles offering gifts to so many women. The younger woman was crying, weeping unashamedly and her older friend was holding onto her and rocking her as she wept. She was broken and beautiful.
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I wanted to honor their privacy, but my heart just hung onto them as I continued about my closing duties around the room. As I gathered my things and prepared to leave for the day, I approached and my heart again was moved toward this young woman. I went up and sat down in front of them asking if I could pray for her. She readily agreed. I cannot recall much of what I prayed, but what I remember is the deep sense of knowing I had as I prayed. Her precious, tear filled blue eyes were ever before me as I lifted her to the Lord. I sensed she was aching deeply and that God was doing a great work in her life. Much confirmed this sense I had, though no words were really exchanged. God just showed me how to pray. As we finished, I realized she was sitting with her mother and every word I had prayed her mother agreed with. I honored her mother and blessed her and then told the sweet child before me that out of great struggle and suffering comes great destiny and there were indeed great things in store for her in her life. She was just so sweet and so precious... I could barely stand the agony that I witnessed, my heart grieved with her.
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I would arrive home a bit emotionally exhausted and alarmed to realize I had somehow misplaced my Bible and notebook. I returned to the church and did not find the beloved Sword that had begun to mark out my Gateway Journey, but I had a peace about it and learned the next day someone had found it and sent it to the church offices for safe-keeping until I could retrieve! Alls well that ends well! And boy did the women of Gateway who ministered at Pink ever finish well this weekend! It was a glorious, Spirit-filled weekend and I will never forget what my Martha moments brought into my life this past week! Be Blessed, and register for Pink next year if you have a mind to come! I know you will not be disappointed!
