SET APART

This Saturday, I went to a conference Set Apart for Women at Northwestern College.  During the week, my friend asked me if I would be interested in going.  I didn't think it would work, but Allen encouraged me to go ahead.   I had no expectations for the day and very little knowledge about the speakers.  I was just so excited to sit and listen.

One of the speakers had a very interesting life story.  It included three biological daughters and an unexpected call to adopt two boys.  I couldn't believe it when she started to speak!  It was as if God hand picked this lady and this message just for me!  I wasn't looking for any great word from God on Saturday, but I was very encouraged by her talk.

Lysa TerKeurst is her name.  She and her husband have three girls.  When this took place they were 9, 5 and  4.  She brought her 3 children to a boys choir concert for a good cultural experience.  These boys were all orphans from Liberia.  While Lysa sat listening to the beautiful harmonies of these boys, she felt as if God was  saying, "Two of these boys are yours, Lysa!"  She tried to ignore the thought, but couldn't get it out of her head.  Against all conventional wisdom and the advise of most of their friends, she and her husband adopted two teenage boys from that choir.  Over time, 14 families from their church followed suit to adopt over 30 children from this same orphanage!  It was an incredible story and very inspiring to me.

Lysa Terkeurst has a website which I would encourage you to check out.   Just google her name.  She (and the other adoptive families) were asked to do a 2-minute story on Oprah in 2006.  Lysa originally declined the offer to be on the show because she knew 2 minutes was not enough time to tell the whole story.  They would only agree to go ahead if they were given the freedom to talk freely about God and their faith journey.  Oprah evidently thought that was ok and they ended up doing a 15 minute segment on the story.  If you have a few minutes, look at it!  It is fascinating. 

The point of her talk on Saturday was how God can and will change you when you step out in faith and say YES to His call.  For me, it happened to be about family...about adoption.  No matter what it is, God will use these everyday experiences to mold us into the person he wants us to be.  Thanks, Cherie and Becky for spending the day with me!  It was a shot in the arm for me and really fun too!!