Every year our church holds a conference in Shenzhen, and we
always drive down as a family and have a great time. It’s a fun little road trip (about 2 hours),
we get to interact with members of our church who live in other areas, and it’s
always a spiritual boost to the system.
It’s become a great family tradition since moving back to China four
years ago.
This year, however,
we found out that William was going to be in Nanjing during the
conference. I felt way too nervous about
driving to Shenzhen by myself (I know it’s only 2 hours but I was worried I’d
get lost and since I’m illiterate in Chinese, that I wouldn’t be able to find
it!) and quite honestly, I just didn’t want to go without William. Things aren’t the same without him
there---plain and simple.
So, I’d kind of decided I wasn’t going to go. I don’t know if I would have stayed with that
plan or not, but I was working on some options.
Then, I was asked to speak at the Sunday session. That was it.
I was definitely going, and I was going to have to buck up and figure it
out. Figure out how to get there, figure
out the hotel arrangements, figure out how to find a place to take the kids for
dinner---I just needed to figure it all out!
Well, thankfully, it wasn’t as hard as I expected, and I
survived. Some friends (and one of their
daughters) rode down with us, which made the trip much more fun, and I was
grateful for the extra assurance that we were going the right way. The conference was wonderful, as it always is,
and I came away with answers…some overt, some more just feelings, but answers
and peace to questions I’d been thinking about.
It was one of those times when I knew I was right where I was supposed
to be.
The content of my talk was taken from Ephesians---about
putting on the “whole armor of God”.
What a great concept for me to consider.
I think I got more out of putting my talk together than anyone listening
did, and that’s okay. I was surprised by
how much my kids listened to my talk and how much they actually understood what
that meant. Of course, on the way
home, after this brief spiritual conversation, I was feeling very confident and
thought for sure they’d want to watch a scripture-based DVD. I tried to put it in and they tuned right
out, wishing to watch “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” instead. Hmmm…..one step at a time, I guess.
Lots to be grateful for!
