Practicing Real Love



The beautiful décor!

 



This past Saturday, over 100 women gathered together at our church for the  annual GEM Conference.  This year's speaker was Bianca Olthoff and our special music guest was Moriah Peters.  This year's theme was entitled "Authentic."

 

"Authentic" was the vision from a group of courageous, and bold women who felt an overwhelming response from last year's conference, that there was a desperate need for authenticity. As a team, we each committed to memorizing (I challenge you to do the same!) 1 Chron. 29:17 which says: "I know, dear God, that you care nothing for the surface, you want us, our true selves, and so I have given from the heart, honestly and happily." This verse became our hearts, it became the backbone for this year's conference theme, and then we became INSPIRED!

 

fun group selfie!
 

The truth is sisters, we all crave authenticity in our relationships.  There is something in our spiritual DNA that has a longing to be real with ourselves and others. We also want to know that we're not alone in our struggles! But know this, your story matters! Bianca shared with us, that when we are free, we have the obligation to free others. The way we free others, is to share our stories! The very cool thing about this, is scripture encourages us to do so! Here is one verse my dear friend, Kris, Shared with our team; that stuck out most to me:

1 John 3:18-20: "My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality.  It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it."

 

(L. to R.) Kris, Bianca, and Tiffany

I LOVE THIS!!  How many of us have dealt with the evil, debilitating self-criticism? The antidote is found in practicing REAL love; or  AUTHENTIC love! Ladies, I encourage you to practice the authentic love, share your story and see before your eyes, how God uses that to free others....and yourself!

 

Yours in the journey,

Shannon :)

 

girlfriend selfie!

Moriah Peters rockin' out!