The IF: Gathering

Favorite theme song of the conference...Oceans Rise....

I was supposed to be on a plane to Europe and my husband and I changed our plans at the last minute.  We had frequent flier tickets, a free hotel stay, and yet the timing for this trip seemed off.  So, instead, Carl flew to Florida for a conference and I was able to attend the IF: Gathering at the last minute.  The strange thing was I had seen this conference advertised on the web the very first day it was made public.  I knew I wanted to go to Austin, TX to be there to attend.  The registration was flooded with entries as women from all walks of life wanted to attend.  As a result, they decided to make satellite locations all around the world.  So, in the end I was able to drive fifteen minutes and attend here with some girlfriends in Mission Viejo...and I am so glad I did.  It even made it ok that I wasn't in Europe...maybe God wanted me to be here more.  I kind of think so.

There were so many things I loved about the gathering.  I love variety.  Are you like me where you are the kind of person who orders as many flavors as they allow at the local yogurt shop?  This conference featured about fifteen women mainly in their late thirties to early forties casually dressed in jeans and cowboy boots. I loved the different personalities, and different styles of teaching.   The music was phenomenal. These women love the Lord with all of their hearts and they desire to be used by Him to make a difference in this world.  One woman had been a prostitute and now heads up a ministry called Hookers for Jesus.  These women are tired of the Christian culture of defending our faith and doing nothing about loving the poor, helping the sick, and feeding the homeless.

It was so encouraging to see the Lord raising up the next generation of women leaders.  These women want to be free, free to live, and free to love the people God brings across their path.  And their message was for every woman in the crowd to just play the one note God has given them to play.  We also had breakout sessions that encouraged women to go deep quickly...which everyone loved to do.  We were an army of women mobilized and released around the world to allow God to work through each one of us.

One of the most meaningful stories was hearing from Kristin Armstrong, former wife of Lance Armstrong.  She talked about the pain and how hard it was to watch her teenage children have to suffer the consequences of their dad's behavior.  One day she was standing in her kitchen when Lance approached her and said that he had gotten his new girlfriend pregnant.  Because of all of Kristin's work for the past decade on forgiveness, getting rid of bitterness, and allowing God to work in her life, she was able to ask Lance how she could best love him at that time.  In answer to her own question, she ended up taking nine months to knit a baby blanket for the new baby.  She taught her own children that this is how we welcome a new baby into the world, and show love.  Wow.

I encourage you to like the IF: Gathering's Facebook page so you can keep up with all that they will be doing in the future.  You won't want to miss it.