Empower Her

This past weekend I went to a woman's conference in Sydney called Empower Her. This year's theme was Strong and Courageous. I left Friday with my friend Heather and got to Sydney around 12pm. The conference didn't start until 7pm so we went shopping and had lunch before checking into our hotel. We made the most of the opportunity and took a nap before going for dinner and heading to the conference.

Our 2 bedroom apartment

My friend Heather and I. Our boys are 8 weeks apart. It is nice to have someone else raising a boy the same age.

The first session was by a female pastor who lives in Malaysia and Western Australia. She shared her testimony and spoke about being strong and courageous in our lives as wives, mothers and woman. Her main verse/point was "No weapon formed against me shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17)and encouraging us to speak that verse over our lives. She was a great speaker.

Stefanie, my dear friend who was also my maid of honour. She lives a bit further away now so it was so nice to see her!

The next morning we had the pastor of the church speak and she was great too. The praise and worship was wonderful. I didn't know many of the songs as they were written by 2 members of their church, but they were easy to pick up. The also wrote an album so I bought that and haven't stopped listening to it, it is so good.

Amazing praise and worship

Friday night's speaker briefly spoke again on Saturday. She spoke about the story of Hannah and her story of waiting for a child. The speaker spoke on seasons of waiting for God's will to be fulfilled in our lives whether it be waiting for a job, husband or baby and how we need to keep seeking God and trusting in Him even though it may feel like we are being forgotten about. This message spoke home to me as we await to get pregnant again. One of the worship songs they sang had the lyrics of "You cover me with peace beyond understanding". I have been playing this song over and over again as it also speaks to me. When we miscarried in June, I was flooded with Gods peace in a way I never expected or really understood. I just knew it was God covering me with His love. It was really powerful and I still reflect on it all of the time.

The last speaker shared her testimony of her church in Melbourne and her work with youth. In a short time, their church has grown immensely and in the last year alone, they have had 1400 youth give their lives to Jesus, half of which had never been to church since entering their doors. She even had the police show up a few weeks ago explaining that they didn't know what was going on, but the crime rates and number of youth on the streets had dramatically reduced since their church opened their doors and it was the only explanation for the drop. So the pastors of the church are working along side the police to work with trouble youth in their city. It is pretty amazing what God is doing in their church! Her testimony was shared to show how when you have Jesus in your life, you are free to be strong, courageous and bold in His name and that Jesus can do amazing things in our life and the lives of others, if only you allow Him to lead.


All the ladies that went from our church. We had the biggest group with about 30 of us. So fun!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. I came home with my soul refreshed and energized. I really want to be able to show what God's love is like to my boys, colleagues and to the mums and children at playgroup. I am especially trying to be aware of how I parent Myles, how I speak to him and over him. I do think I need to make changes with him, to be more patient and gracious towards him (as he pulls out my kitchen cupboards as I write this!). The majority of what he learns is from watching Barney and I live our lives and this is something I am very aware of. We can only do our best and lean on Him!

I'm very glad I went to the conference and look forward to going next year!