She Speaks Scholarship Contest

Hey Dear Friends,

I’m off my beat – posting a day early. Have the boys, in their bottled-up-boyhood (it's March), driven me so far off the edge that I’ve lost all sense of date and time? Nope! It’s a contest, and this post is my entry.

Proverbs 31 Ministries has announced the next annual She Speaks Conference in Concord, North Carolina, July 22-24. The conference offers teaching, training, and tools for women to become better communicators of God’s Word, written or spoken. It’s about encouraging and equipping women to follow God’s lead in ministry. About reaching others for Jesus. About preparing and presenting messages that will minister to hearts and help change lives. She Speaks Conference

Lysa TerKeurst is offering a conference scholarship this week. This post, explaining why I’d like to go, is an opportunity to win that scholarship. She Speaks offers a writing track and a speaking track. It’s my prayer to attend the (gulp) speaking workshops. She-speaks-scholarship-contest-2011

I feel a little vulnerable. Transparent. Exposed. Grace and mercy! First my fear of volleyball. Now this.

Well, here it goes. I covet your prayers. And sweet blessings to you!

(Regular My Five Sons post tomorrow)

With love,

Shawnelle

REACHIN’ FOR AARON

I love to talk about the Lord. His glory. His wonder. The way he looks low and breathes life into my days. Sit at my table? I’ll pour coffee and the words won’t run thin. Allow me to write? I’ll be blessed. Some of my favorite times are at the keyboard, feeling His love, knowing His grace. But ask me to speak? Out loud? In front of people? Even in the gentle safety of other believers? Well, I’ll think twice. I’ll pray. I’ll hear the Lord’s direction. Then I’ll say, “I’ll do it, Lord. But please, please, please send me an Aaron.”

Now, of course I’m not drawing a hard-line parallel in the circumstance. God was sending Moses into Egypt, to face Pharoah about setting His children free. He’s just asked me, on occasion, to share his love with small groups of Christian women. But the response is the same. “Please, Lord. I’m not eloquent. Send someone else. Oh, oh, oh. Not me. Me. Me.”

Yet I have a longing. A hope. A desire to walk in His will. I sense, somewhere in my spirit, that God’s hand is out. Not to push me into a place I don’t want to go, but to offer something. Though I’m not sure what God has in store for me, I am sure that I want to be in the fullness of His grace. If God is calling me to speak, no matter how small a gathering, it’s my desire to be prepared to answer.

I want to learn to speak effectively. I want to learn how to present. I want to learn to deliver a message that will move hearts and touch lives and draw others to the glory of God. I want to follow His direction and stand firm, unbridled by uncertainty. And I want to stand at that conference, on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, and face my greatest fear. Handing it to the Lord, moving forward in His strength and grace, learning, stretching, growing, and trusting Him for all it’s worth.

And the next time that phone rings with an opportunity to speak for His glory, I don’t want to look around for someone or something else.

I don’t want to reach for an Aaron.

I want to reach out, with new confidence and new skills, for the Lord.