I could hear laughter as I approached the door. The moment it swung open it felt like coming home. The shrieks as we attacked one another with hugs likely disturbed every room on the hall. The three of us had barely stopped our, “I can’t believe!” and “Finally!” when the door opened to welcome two more sisters. Another round of hugs and exclamations before the five of us agreed to leave the room together and tackle the conference together.
This was the first five minutes of Allume. It’s a community of Christian women who share their stories or their art on their blogs. There were 453 of us at their annual conference this weekend in Greenville.
I went in with few preconceived notions of what would occur. I’d only ever been to one writer/speaker/blogger conference and it had nearly done me in. The pull of this conference was Ann Voskamp’s keynote and the fact that numerous of my God-sized Dream sisters were attending, including my soul sister Christine Wright.
I had no idea the work that God had planned for my heart. For my soul. For my vision and mission in life. It was one of the most compelling weekends of my adult life. It was little about blogging and a lot about God’s plan to use this community if only we’d step out of the way. I have only barely started to process what I believe God may be asking me to do as I try to follow His calling for my life.
Crazily enough, without my even understanding, I had spent the past two weeks wrestling over my working moms battlefields posts of last week because I never wanted to write them. But it took me revealing the hard parts, even getting some unkind feedback, to be ready to understand what might lie ahead.
As a result of the past few days, I’m going to be doing some things differently on the blog for the next two months. Fashion Fridays will be back in January (until then there are plenty of archives nuggets) and leadership will reappear again as well. But there are some things I need to write about that I’m still thinking through. I also need to write less. For three years I’ve had new posts up Monday through Friday. I’m going to take a little time to breath and try to write Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of the year. I hope you’ll stick with me through the changes.
I’m still writing for the same community with just a few different stories to share. I think I’m most excited about sharing the stories of some other women who don’t blog but have some incredibly cool experiences that deserve to be heard.
I laughed more than I cried this past weekend. I laughed so hard with these amazingly funny women from all over America that I brought extra underwear in case my bladder couldn’t withstand my mirth. They were single and married and divorced. From Michigan from Florida. They had little-bitties and high schoolers. We couldn’t have been more different. And I couldn’t have felt more at home.
God started to pull back a corner of His God-sized dream for me that I hadn’t even dared to start dreaming yet. And here I thought I had it all figured out. The best part is that He showed me the sisters in the faith that would be there to walk it with me as I walked theirs with them. The best gift of the weekend
I love you so much, friend…what a blessing it was to do life with you (in)RL for a few precious days! I’m so thankful for you and can’t wait to see how God continues to unfold your dreams! (((BIG HUGS)))
I love you too wonderful Mel! What a treat this weekend was. I am SO excited to see the plans the Lord unfolds in your life!
Oh this post says so much that I wanted to say and just haven’t found the words yet!! I too am seeing changes coming on my blog and I am trying to figure out how it will all look. Thank you for so many amazing memories I am better because of all of the dreamers support and encouragement!! Hugs friend!
Thank you so much for being part of that fab five – I feel so blessed to have gotten to laugh and cry with you dear friend!
Gindi – I love this post. Allume felt more like a family reunion than our first time meeting each other. I too felt like I was going home to be with my sisters 🙂 And I feel so BLESSED to have been there to be a witness to the LOVE FEST. I miss not seeing your amazing smile and hearing your incredible laugh. Good thing I have Voxer now 🙂 I can still get my Gindi fix. Thanks for sharing your heart with us.
Delonna – what a GIFT you are! And I couldn’t be happier that you are joining the Voxer addicts community 🙂
You can see the absolute JOY on each and every face…In fact, it’s so much….one like the other, it’s a little odd! In a good way! Glad you had such a wonderful time. We women don’t do that for ourselves near enough! Go and do something JUST for ourselves, to feed our thirsty souls! Glad you took the time! Looking forward to your “new” stories!
Thank you sweet Rae! It truly was all JOY!
Gindi, thank you so much for sharing your heart! It was so beautiful watching friendships finally move into spaces with flesh and bone instead of avatars and twitter handles. First names and hugs wrapping around the birth of lifelong friendships! I’m so grateful that you have shared your experience here! Thank you so much for sharing your time, your life, and your words! Heaps of blessings, Logan
Thanks so much Logan for making it such a place conducive to community. Lifelong friendships indeed!
OH, oh, oh…I’m still in the cry-when-I-think-about-it phase…and I’d just cleaned myself up from one serious crying jag, when I click on this post!! Sheesh – will the tears ever stop??? Oh, friend, what joy – what absolute joy – the time spent with you and the team was. It really was like a homecoming. A homecoming to place we’d never been – yet we were oddly familiar with – maybe a little preview of Heaven? : )
Oh I know, it was so hard to leave! Definitely a preview 🙂
Eek! I am still flying high. It DID feel like coming home. It felt like family. Honestly, I didn’t know that community like this existed. Thanks for making me laugh and cry and for lifting me up. Love you!
Oh I know dear roommate! Love you.
What a blessing indeed it was to meet all of you! You have put into words the sense of the weekend. Look forward to seeing how things unfold for you!
Yes – a complete gift!
Yes, Gindi! Such a delight to be together at Allume. You are clearly listening well to God…and I am walking with you. Blessings friend!!
Oh yes, it will be one of this year’s highlights!