Women’s Conference 2016
by Brandy Webb
This past weekend, I was blessed to participate in the New Church Lady Women’s Conference sponsored by Church of God International, Christian Educational Ministries, and other local ministries. It was an awesome uplifting experience. There were some tears, laughter, praise, great teachings, and wonderful ladies. I am so glad that my daughter and I got to participate.
For me, one lesson that I learned during the conference is how we need to strive to walk in the ways of Christ using the talents given to us by the Holy Spirit to spread God’s light into the world even if you don’t become popular for it. This path that we are all trying to walk is not an easy one, especially when you have to fight back against unfair biases and judgmental people. However, it never gives us a justification to not be nice because our job is to represent our Father and our Messiah.
All the speeches and round table discussions really fit together like intricate puzzle pieces. We were taught to live a life that “brands” us as true Christians, how to take care of our temples so that the Holy Spirit could freely work in our lives. Also, to work on figuring out your spiritual gifts so that they can be nurtured and used for God’s glory, even if they are behind-the-scenes type of gifts. We learned about important women in the Bible who played a valuable role but may not have even been named, or only had one small moment that is mentioned, showing that sometimes it isn’t the “big” things that are most important in God’s plans, but small moments can also be used to move His plans forward. We learned what the value of the heart is to God, and how we can’t just act like Christians on the outside. We have to have a Christian heart on the inside because God judges us by our hearts, and if they are not right with God, no matter how many “good” deeds one may do, it won’t matter. This led us into a teaching of the importance of being the bride of Christ waiting for our bridegroom to return.
This conference definitely lifted my daughter and me. It was edifying to fellowship with women from all different walks of life. In fact, some of us had varying doctrinal beliefs, but that wasn’t what was important. What was important was that everyone there is striving to walk the path of righteousness. We all had the same goals to love God and Christ, to love one another despite our differences, and to strive to make it to the Kingdom of God. It was truly a moment where we did not neglect meeting together, but instead encouraged each other like Paul tells us to do in Hebrews 10:25.
I’m very blessed that I went, and I hope and pray that all who were able to go will practice and share with others what we learned so that God’s loving light and wisdom can spread.