Thursday, January 29, 2009

Looking for an opinion...

As many of you know God has been working on my heart lately to step out and share my faith, well with his strength, I'm trying to be obedient. At times some of this doesn't make sense and can be overwhelming, but he keeps moving me forward.

So currently I'm in the process of publishing a book I have co-authored with a close friend. It is titled, Letters from Leanne - The Beauty of a Spiritual Mother-Daughter Relationship. And as this moves forward, I'm realizing what God has really put on my heart is not just encouraging others to live out Titus 2, but to really share their faith.

So with that another project that is way bigger than me - organizing a woman's conference. It's been on my mind for over 2 years, but starting to become a reality. We meet tomorrow to set a date and discuss what comes next.

This is where I need your opinion - the event will need a name, something that will catch others attention, so over the past week my mind has been at work trying to come up with something. Our goals are to encourage others to live out Titus 2 (spiritual mentoring) and share their faith with their life.

So I've come up with Share and Shine (Share your story, Shine His Light), Connect Life - Reflect Light (Connect your life with God and others, Reflect His Light with your life), Ignite, and on and on, but this morning God put something else in my head -

Anyway this morning, I'm laying in bed - it's 4:30 and I'm awake, well time keeps ticking by and my husband's alarm goes off - time to rise and shine. It hit me - Rise and Shine, the name of the conference. A few thoughts to add with it - the Son did rise and still shines, we're called to rise up to what God has for us and shine His light as we walk that path. Even how sometimes literally rising and shining is a challenge, doing that for Him can be as well, but still it's what we need to do. Then thought of the song I sing up the stairs in the morning for J.D. and Joy, I say "rise and shine" and they finish with "give God the glory, glory!" Guess that's what we are doing with this conference idea, rising up to do what he's calling us to do, sharing His light with our lives and praying He gets the glory!

So my question, what would you think of a "Rise and Shine" Conference for Women? As my husband said the title is catchy, but is it goofy? Just looking for some insight, and looking forward to what my wonderful blog friends have to offer!!

6 comments:

Yolanda said...

Jill,

I think Rise and Shine is great.

I have a friend that lives in the sunshine 24/7/365 other than rain. No snow, no ice. Yep...an island.

But she signs her e-mails to me in just the coolest way...

Keep the Son in your eyes.

So maybe with the rise and shine you could incorporate that with part of the theme, such as all kinds of sunglasses on the tables? I don't know, just pitchin' an idea out to you.

Did you by chance read "Doin' the "thang""?

I'll be back, because mentoring is so important and I feel like mentoring is what blog land is all about. Encouraging with the love and heart of Jesus.

Blessings,
Yolanda

Marilyn in Mississippi said...

Hello Jill! I read your comment on another blog about you being a homeschool Mom on a farm and said to myself....I have to meet this woman because that sounds like me! ha Actually, my homeschooling years are behind me instead of ahead of my like you. I taught our three children for 17 (!!) years.....from kindergarten through 12th grade way out here on our farm. We started in the early 1980's when there were VERY few other homeschoolers anywhere. GOD is the only way I made it through! I can so identify with your saying that it is so overwhelming when you are involved in so many things! Even though they are all GOOD things! At the time our children were small and we were homeschooling I also taught a Sunday school class, did a little speaking at ladies meetings, did a LOT of gardening and canning and freezing of the fruits and veggies, plus the running of the house. Oh, and back then we had cows which just seems to break out of the fence WAY too often!

I don't have all the answers but I do know that if God is calling you to something, HE will give you the means to accomplish it! And I just LOVE the name "RISE and SHINE" and, no, it doesn't sound corny at all to me!

Yesterday morning in our ladies Sunday school class I taught about God doing humanly impossible things for or through many people in the Bible. (Moses, Abraham, Noah, Shadrach-Meshach&Abednego...to name just a FEW) One of our points was if you feel God is asking you to do something that you "can handle" then it's most likely not a very big task! If He is asking you to do something that you think may be impossible for you, then He's fixin to show up and DO IT FOR YOU OR THROUGH YOU if you will let Him!

I do apologize for the length of this comment! It's very unusual for me to leave on this long but the words just kept coming to my mind!

God bless you!

Marilyn

Sharon Sloan said...

Hi, Jill.

Rise and Shine sounds great! Ask the Lord to confirm His perfect will...He will!

Jill, I read your comment on Lysa's blog and just wanted to encourage you....if God is leading you to go to She Speaks, then go! :) I will pray that He leads you perfectly and clearly.

He so very clearly told me to go in 2007 and then again in 2008! For many reasons, He wanted me there. The best part of the conference is that the focus is about an intimate relationship with the Lord...that's #1. Yes, the conference also offers great sessions for speakers, writers and Women's Ministry leaders. It's just a blessing all the way around.

If it is His will for you, He will make that clear. Believe me, it was hard for me to leave my hubby and two kids. And I am not a fan of flying, but I did...two years in a row! (Dramamine helps!)

It will be fun to see how He leads you!

Looking unto Him,
Sharon

Anonymous said...

I love Reflect:Ignite. It gives such a powerful image of what happens in mentoring and in a close relationship between women, especially mother and daughter.

Thanks for dropping by my site this morning and commenting on the P31 devo. You blessed me.

Paula V said...

Rise and Shine sounds good.

I like the idea of having a title, a song, and then maybe a phrase beneath the title that would "explain" the title such as you did with each of your example titles.

Yay on your process to publish your book. I've not been here in a long time. I remember reading about your spiritual mother relationship. I came today because Lelia happen to mention you.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Hi Jill,
I like both of the titles. I don't think Rise and Shine is goofy. People like familiarity, and you could do a lot with this.

Congratulations on your book.