It’s Monday. Monday carries such a “feeling” with it, doesn’t it? Some people view it as a fresh start….a new week. Others view it as the starting point of another dreadful week that is interrupting their fun-filled weekend. This particular Monday, things are good for me. I have declared this a day off of homeschool so that we can get organized and do the many loads of laundry that await me from our time out of town. We are chilling out and getting things done at the same time. We are getting ourselves organized for a very productive rest of the week. I also wanted to make sure that I had some time in the next few days before I head back to work to blog.

Otis and I just came home last night from a glorious five days in New York City! We were so blessed with this opportunity by our church to take this trip and attend The Hillsong Conference. It was such an amazing time! There are not enough words to even describe the worship- the energy and authenticity was so evident- every single time. The speakers and sessions were full of great content that I intend to apply to my life. And hello…did I mention that the conference was in NYC!?!? It was Otis’ first time and only my second visiting New York, and it was the first time that we had been off without our kids in, well possibly since we had kids. We were there for a conference, but packed in as much sight seeing as possible. We even purposefully made time for afternoon naps and downtime for rest. I can’t imagine the trip being any better than it was ( not counting a little flight mix up on our way home that made for a stressful couple of hours).

It is easy to look at my FB or IG feed and see my check-ins, pictures, and videos. You can tell that we had the trip of a lifetime. We made so many memories and had such a great time. Although, it’s not as easy to measure the impact that a trip like this has on a person’s heart. Let there be no doubt, this trip had an impact on my heart. In fact, I know that God was even working on some things in me before we ever even landed in the city or stepped foot into Madison Square Garden for the conference.

Let me just tell you what I mean…. I buy 99% of our books on amazon. If I hear about a book or see a book that I am interested in, I immediately search for it on amazon and will usually either buy it right then or add it to my cart. I have been trying lately to pass books on once I have read them. However, I do have a few favorite that I have kept…along with a stack that I have not read yet on my nightstand. Hours of lists, laundry, preparation, and packing occurred the day before we left for this trip. At the very last minute, I ran into our room and scanned the stack of books to decide which one that I should grab to take with me. The book that I grabbed without even giving it a second thought, spoke straight to me….I was in tears while we were still in flight. God knows your struggles and the things that you might be struggling with within yourself. Even if you haven’t told anyone else about your thoughts, God can speak to you through a book that you think you grabbed at the last second that will just help you pass the time.

This shows me that God was lining up the details and working in me before I was even expecting it.

My hope is to write a few posts over the next couple of days to share some of my God moments and blessings.