An Honor to Serve

Last weekend I volunteered at the Extraordinary Women Conference in Tulsa. I blogged about it here.

I worked at one of the products tables. I was honored to sell materials for Lysa TerKeurst, a woman I have come to really admire. (I don't want it to appear that I am idolizing Lysa, because I have mentioned her and quoted her many times lately. She just happens to be someone real who is working God's purposes through her, and I admire that.)

Lysa and me (not the greatest picture of me, but the light from the window in the good one erased half my face.)

It was a really great time! Honestly, I only sat in on a couple of speakers because I was having such a good time doing my job and talking with the other ladies God put at my station to work with me. Tracy and Terri were so great! And Holly, Lysa's partner, was right there making sure everything ran smoothly. I wish I would have had more time to spend with all of these ladies.

Lysa TerKeurst, Tracy, Terri, me and Holly Good

On my way to the conference the first morning, I wondered how significant a products table worker could be. I mean, it's not like I was praying over someone at the altar, or greeting a lady with a smile as she walked into the auditorium. But I just felt like God said, "Nicole, what if you hand just one book of Lysa's to a lady who desperately needs to hear what God has to say through her? What if that one book changes that lady's life forever and brings her closer to the Lord? If you weren't there at that products table, she might never have received the one word she needed. You are significant!" And, I felt significant the entire time I was there.

I helped many, many women find what they were looking for. I particularly remember one young girl who had me help her pick out the materials she wanted to buy. She told me that she is a newly single mother, and is having trouble being obedient to God right now. Hmmmm .... sounds like someone I used to know very intimately. (Heck, other than the fact that she's not still a single mother, I still know her too intimately.) It felt amazing to help her find some encouragement through Lysa's materials.

Another thing I did a lot of, that I feel extremely passionate about, was hand out postcards that had Lysa's blog address on it, to anyone and everyone I could. I have been extremely blessed by her blog, and I wanted the world to know about her and her Proverbs 31 ministry.

I also had the opportunity to meet Mary R. Snyder who writes the EWomen blog. She was a hoot and such a sweet spirit! I loved her, and I think her and I would be really great friends if we spent any amount of time together.

Mary R. Snyder and me

I know for me, I have had a hard time lately in the area of "service" because we are not attending a church. We are in a time of transition, very disillusioned with the local church right now. I know that my primary area of serving God is in my family, and in those opportunities He puts in my path on a daily basis. If you know my relationship with God, you know that just getting me to obey in the small things is a real daily challenge for God. So having an opportunity to serve God outside of a local church was a great thing. In fact, I saw more of "church" going on this past weekend than I have seen in any local church in a very, very long time. Women, and some men, came from many places to join together to work out God's purposes and further His Kingdom.

It was an honor serving the Lord the past weekend. I definitely plan to look for other opportunities such as this.