She Speaks Conference

She Speaks Conference Scholarship Entry Contest

It all started about four years ago. Fresh off the heels of becoming a new mommy, I got the question. "So, what do you like to do?" Besides changing a colorful array of dirty diapers and wiping spit up off my shirt, I had completely lost myself in my new role. Hobbies or interests had become a foreign concept to me. A simple question really. What do you like to do? But I was at a loss.

Ever since I was a child, I loved to write. Somewhere between then and having a precious little girl named Grace, I found it harder and harder to find the time to do so. But, that simple question from a friend reignited a passion in me that had been pushed to the back burner of life. When you decide to write again, the next logical question becomes, "About what?" Write what you know. Every writer knows that. At that time four years ago, I didn't quite know what to write about that could impact souls through my words. Then, I started to pray.

It can be a very dangerous prayer to ask God to give you something to write about. Very dangerous. After that prayer, it seemed that the next three years were riddled with trial and difficulties. First, my parent's marriage unraveled in a messy and traumatizing way. My father, who has suffered from bipolar depression his entire life, attempted to end his life. My child and I both had a serious health scare. My husband, a US Marine, deployed four times in the course of two years. We experienced two miscarriages. Job became my favorite book in the Bible. The Psalms were salve to my gaping wounds. Writing became my refuge.

In the midst of these trials, God began pointing me towards the personal ministry He had for me. We got involved in a local church and I shared my heart with one of the leaders of women's ministry. Prior to moving to our current home and before my "Job Season" as I call it, I had begun a Bible study in my home for fellow military spouses. Military families stole my heart. After my own experiences with loneliness, depression and anxiety from military life, I knew the importance of growing in God's word with a fellowship of women. After sharing this with our women's ministry leader, she encouraged me to begin a ministry for military families.

The ministry, Operation: Hope Front , began first with a lot of prayer. I had some pretty big wounds that I needed God to heal a bit before I set out ministering to others. As I prayed, I asked God to reveal what He wanted in this new ministry. He told me to dream big, not to pray just for a repeat of the home Bible study I started at our last duty station. He began a vision in me. A ministry that took care of the whole military wife: her soul through a Bible study, her physical needs through practical helps when her husband was away. He gave me a vision of a conference that brought military wives together for encouragement and spiritual nourishment during the desert of military life. He showed me a church body getting involved with the daily needs of families who were, for a period of time during deployments, widows and orphans for all intents and purposes. I met with the pastor's of our church and shared the vision. They blessed me forward and so I went, unsure of the steps God wanted me to take.

We started with a Bible study for military wives. Our first meeting had about 10 ladies. We continued forward, meeting together, getting into God's word about what He was saying to us as military spouses. We planned our first conference, 100 military wives and 100 military children attended. And then we grew. Now, we have about 50 women involved in two studies and are in the middle of the process of planning our second annual "A Day of Hope" conference on Saturday, May 14th. The ministry has begun to expand, with a new Bible study about to start for military men and a short conference session for them as well this year.

Throughout this time, God has also given me plenty to write about. How to deal with the tragedies of others. How we can use suffering to grow our spiritual walk. How to minister to fellow military families. He has crossed my path with several incredible ministries such as Proverbs 31 , Faith Deployed, and Wives of Faith who have used my writings for their publications or websites. I was recently given the opportunity to be a part of a second edition of the Faith Deployed devotional for military wives that will come out this summer.

God has also been working in me as to what He wants me to write about in the form of a book. I have been swimming in a sea of ideas for the past few years, waiting ever so patiently on the gentle nudging of the Lord as to which one He intended for me to pursue. I have been dreaming of the opportunity to attend the She Speaks Conference since I learned about it a year ago. It is an opportunity for budding Christian women writers, speakers and those in ministry to come together and learn how to follow in those dreams God has etched on their hearts. Publishers and Literary agents from some of the best Christian Publishing groups are in attendance. There is a chance to meet and fellowship with those who have a similar heart for writing, speaking and women's ministry in general. I was chomping at the bit to go last year, but the timing fell right around the time of my husband left for his most recent 7 month deployment and I was still reeling from the pain of a miscarriage. This year, however, I am just praying that God will somehow work out all the details to make it possible for me to go. I recently quit my part time job I did from home and we have gone on what I like to refer to as the "Dave Ramsey diet" (aka a budget!!) so I thought I would give it a whirl and enter to win a scholarship that is available.

God is incredible in how He can reveal to us our gifts and how He intends for us to use them. It can start with a simple question, followed by a dangerous prayer that leads to a wandering through a spiritual desert. But, at the end of it all, you can find yourself flourishing in the opportunities He presents through trials. He has used all my brokenness for His glory. He has crossed my path with those who are going through some of the same experiences I had already endured and has healed me through ministering to them. He can do a new thing, make a way for us in the wilderness, and streams in our wasteland! And I praise Him for that!

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland."

Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV