After many months of planning, the week had finally come for our fourth annual girl’s conference and our little team was more than ready.
Ready for exactly what we had been obsessively planning that is.
Not exactly ready for what we were about to experience.
The week before I received word that we would be over a thousand dollars short due to a misunderstanding about where the girls could sleep. Which meant now needing a whole slew of hotel rooms. And more funds then we had planned or asked for.
I cried.
I am aways prepared but was in no way prepared for this. I was not in great enough shape to call the team to let them know of our having to cancel the whole thing just yet, so I called my Mom and cried to her instead. In a surprising turn of events before I had ended the call we had the funds to continue on. I texted the team instead to share the wonderful miracle that had happened - and thanked God for taking care of us. As He always had.
I never imagined that very sentiment was about to be put to the absolute test. But it was. And well, here we are.
The night before the girls arrived we found out that we didn’t have a worship team. You know, to start off every session that we had posted about. No problem. I had a few connections locally and within a few hours it was settled. (*insert sigh of relief*)
Then when the morning came we received word that we didn’t have a sound person. No biggee - I could call in a favor for that one too - after all I knew a few just an hour away. We got the details squared away and soon we were packing the cars to head to the church to setup, with our newest edition of a sound person meeting us there.
We arrived in plenty of time to get everything in place… perfect! The first thing to go just as planned. Which would have been just great had we been allowed to be on the property at that same time due to the preschool that was still in operation. But no. No we were not allowed to be on the church/school grounds at that time. Alrighty then. We unloaded everything into a small underhang and waited for the all clear.
That time came and went. Turns out the school was a little delayed in releasing which meant that we were only allowed a small group of volunteers to get things put in place right at first. Which for some may have been fine, but I have a leaning toward over-doing themes and had brought a large truck load of things to decorate the spaces we intended to use to the brim. Which would have also been fine had our band had more than 12 hours of notice and didn’t need at least 30 minutes of practice time eating up almost all of the allowed volunteers allowed to go in. But this is fine, everything is fine.
I quickly sketched out a roadmap for the big stuff, sent in our one tribute to decorate with well wishes of God-speed, waved a cheery break-a-leg to the band, and sat back down with the rest of our items and the rest of our team to await the final approval.
I smiled as best as I could at everyone I could see but inside my head was doing intricate math equations of exactly how much we could do in the quickly escaping time we had been given.
What could we do away with? What could be done in the morning? What could we do while no one was looking? And on and on…
Crisis averted. We were finally let in and had everything placed exactly one minute before “open doors”. Yes, Jesus. Again taking care of all the things.
I thought how funny it was that for the one conference we had spent the most time planning was the one that had the hardest time getting started - but alas it was done and it was sure to be the best time. We had made it.
Oh Vanessa, if only you had known.
Basically everything that could go wrong did, culminating in my favorite thing to date as I watched every borrowed instrument being walked off of the stage during the lunch break - right before our last and most climactic session.
They were spoken for to be used at an outreach. Super awesome. Had no idea. It was genuinely laughable at that point as our worship band, who had probably every suspicion confirmed that I was the worst event planner they had known, watched their only means of playing music escape the room. Sooooooo, acoustic? Who has a guitar? A banjo even? How about one of those recorders? Every fourth grader has a recorder…
This weekend is one of my most cherished memories in all of the memorable events that I have ever hosted. I felt like I was leading a three ring circus. A game of Jumanji perhaps. But still, my favorite.
Not because it all went perfectly - obviously it did not all go perfectly.
No, this memory is my favorite because it was one opportunity after another to trust a God that said He would be with me always, even to the ends of the earth. (See Matthew 28:20) And I felt very much at my wit’s end.
My favorite because it was the greatest season of growth our team had ever experienced. Turns out that was the last conference we would all do together so it was also a beautiful ending for many.
And it was my favorite because through it God would speak to my heart something that I have repeated back to myself (and those around me) every time I find myself in troubled water again.
When things first started to come against us, one wave after the next, I attempted to rally the team who had all but given up (and no one would have blamed them for it) in what I thought would be a truly riveting pep-talk but instead was merely a sentence of the only thing I could squeeze out.
I gathered them, smiled through my own overwhelming stress, and said - “We are problem-solvers full of grace and love.”
I had them repeat it out loud and then to each other. And unbeknownst to me, this one encouraging mantra had become the underlying theme for the event. One that none of the girls who attended had any recollection of because it was all for us. The front of the line. The leaders. The responsibility-bearers.
We were problem solvers. Every last one of us. And we were going to problem solve not with bitterness or grumbling, but being full of grace and love. For ourselves and for others. We all needed it.
In fact, every time something new came up - which was almost hourly as we tallied almost twenty situations to be addressed - I would see the deer in headlights look and say out loud to both the one who would bare the responsibility of handling it and to myself, “you are a problem solver full of grace and love.”
Full disclosure, I almost made t-shirts at the end of it as I had said it that many times.
And while this could feel of no significance to you, I assure you that you are in need of that same encouragement now. Because life is not how we planned it, is it? The waves keep coming, don’t they? But I can assure you with every fiber of my being, that you are a problem solver full of grace and love.
This pandemic… this homeschooling situation… this adjusted work schedule (or lack thereof)… this extended time with those that you are in close quarters with… all opportunities for you to rise up as the problem solver that God has enabled you to be to meet life head on with more grace and love for yourself and others than you have ever had before. Friends, hear me, we were placed into this moment in history for such a time as this.
When there is panic and chaos, we are gifted peace.
When there is frustration and dead ends, we are gifted creativity.
When there is negativity and ignorance, we are gifted wisdom.
When there is hopelessness and bad news, we are gifted hope.
But not just to settle into our homes and wait out the storm. We are gifted these things to be the light in one of the darkest times we have ever known in our lifetimes.
The history books will tell of 2020, in none of the ways we imagined but they will talk about it none-the-less. How will you respond? What will you remember and be remembered for? Will you be the one to shout about the problems and air every grievance you may have? Or will you thank God for all of the ways He has gifted you to withstand the storm, and pray like never before for the mind of Christ and fruit of the Spirit that equips you to be a problem solver full of grace and love to GROW not just GO through it?
We have a great opportunity before us friends. Don’t be distracted. Don’t be discouraged. Take heart. This is our time to shine.
Wrapping up a whirlwind of an event with cherished new friends and fellow fighters. We Are Better Together. #WeAre2015
Matthew 5:1-16 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.