A Full Heart

My heart is so full from this past week. We'll start it off with last Friday. The start of Teen Girl Conference. I was a leader for our junior high girls, which was so much fun! We had many churches from all over the state come out for the conference. I learned so much in that one weekend. I discovered as a leader what I'm willing to do for my girls, and just how far my patience really reaches. I'm thankful to say that I was able to stretch it much much farther than I thought I could. And my love for youth ministry grew significantly.

I also learned that being a leader means you have to do the tough things. Having difficult conversations, be a mediator for a teen argument, and dealing with confrontation. And not only that, but also learning that its okay to ask for guidance instead of trying to handle it all on your own. If any of these girls had known me when I was their age, I'm sure they would have NEVER pegged me for a future youth leader. I'm truly grateful for all the leaders I had back then who took the time for me. Some of them had to have those difficult conversations with me and I am so glad they did. I don't want to know where I'd be today if they hadn't.

Moving on to this past Saturday. My husband and I attended the OMN Synergy conference. We took many training sessions focused on leadership and particularly youth leadership. I chose my sessions based on where I was at in my life. The things I wanted to learn more of. Most of them had amazing lessons. I will admit there was one that I feel like I didn't get anything out of it. But I'm sure I did learn something that I have not realized yet. Or later on God will reveal something to me from that class.

The wonderful thing about both of these conferences is their passion for networking. They wanted us to meet new people and find a way to keep in touch. But I noticed that I was running into a lot of people from my home town. We did a lot of catching up and reuniting. And its awesome to actually see how everyone is going after God and trying to further their relationship with Him together. I also saw a lot of other people that looked SO STINKIN' familiar but I have NO IDEA where I know them from. But now I have a connection. :-)

I've included a couple photos from the week with my friends from home. It was so wonderful running into you guys! And my heart is so full from the reuniting.

 From Teen Girl Conference, love these two ladies! They always make everyone feel special and they can pull the silly out of anyone! Sorry for the poor camera quality, I'm not exactly a selfie (or a camera) person.

And this lovely lady was a huge part of everything! She was a volunteer for kids church when I was little, and then moving into youth she was a part of our very close group of friends. She also is an amazing photographer and did a few of my engagement photos. :-)

I know I've said this before, but I'm so grateful for everyone in my life and how they took time to help me grow into who I am today. Again, my heart is so full!