Sweet Sisters…
If you haven’t read my blog post from yesterday titled “Vulnerable”, please click here first.
If you want information about registering for She Speaks, please click here.
If you want information on raising support to write your own scholarship for She Speaks e-mail Samantha@Proverbs31.org and write “Raising Support for She Speaks” in the subject line.
Above all else remember… you are loved and treasured by God. He does have a plan. And my greatest hope today is that I’ll see each one of you at She Speaks this summer.
Now, we celebrate the Cecil Murphy She Speaks Scholarship Winners 2010…
#40- Teske at Mommies with Hope
#79- Amelia’s Blog
#102- Kelly Langston
E-mail entry: Allison Anderson
Here’s Allison’s entry~
I am a simple woman. I am a wife, a mother, and a teacher. I don’t have a fancy web site, blog, or title. I am the least of these.
I do have a passion for God and a gift of writing to share.
Proverbs 31 ministry has had a profound effect on my life. For 16 years, I ran from God. When tragedy struck and my sky fell, I blamed and I hid. I shook my fist at God and I gave up on Him. But God does not give up on anyone.
My Mom had given me a book entitled “The Bathtub is Overflowing but I Feel Drained”. When she gave it to me for my birthday, I just felt guilt, not hope. It was just a reminder of feeling alone.
I literally took the book in the gift bag and left it on a shelf in the garage. I had it for over a year in there. Finally last summer, I hit rock bottom. Somehow I thought of the book. I opened it and I read. I couldn’t stop reading.
I needed to now find that Bible that was somewhere in the house. I dug through dusty boxes piled high in the back of my basement.I was searching for the Bible given to my husband and I when we married.
Believe me, it was under a lot of outgrown sweet newborn baby clothes, long forgotten text books, and discarded mix tapes. I had hid it well. But God knows our hiding places. And He found mine.
My story doesn’t end there. I found your web site and saw that Lysa was speaking at the Barn Church in Simsbury, CT. I started listening to the pastor’s sermons. I now had Jesus, a support group, and a church to go to.
God spoke to me.
I believe God speaks to me still I felt compelled to write an entry for this contest. I believe that we are His voice and His pen. My heart says that the She Speaks conference is an important piece of my journey for God.
She Speaks has so much to offer for a woman looking to find a way to share God’s message. There is training to become a better speaker, further your efforts in women’s ministry as well as opportunities for new Christian writers.
If it is God’s will, I would put that scholarship to good use, to attain my goal of reaching out to the least of these – just like me.
Those women that are still shaking their fists at God need to know that God still loves them.
Thank you for your consideration. It means so much to me.
Sincerely,
Alison Anderson
Congrats winners!
Congratulations to you four! You are blessed
Congratulations to all of you winners! God must have great and wonderful plans for you all, since my goodness, you were chosen among 300 entries! Whoa! His wisdom has spoken and we can trust in Him.
1) Thank you for the opportunity to do something brave.
2)) Thank you for "ripping off the bandage" tonight. It will make tomorrow a lot easier not having to hit refresh a thousand times.
3) Thank you, Judges, for prayerfully taking the job seriously and for caring about choosing the right recipients.
4) Thank you Lysa, for caring for the hearts of all of us.
5) Remember that scene in Broadcast News… when Aaron (Albert Brooks) whispers to Jane (Holly Hunter) to please laugh so everyone thinks he's not dying inside but has so much style he said something funny? Well, if you all could just take a second to laugh…. ahhhh, thanks!
So excited to read how the Lord has answered for these 4 women by providing these scholarships. Now I can't wait to read how He supplies for 296 other women who are trusting in Him. As you said yesterday Lysa, it might be 'yes', 'no', or 'not yet', but each will have a story to tell and each will encounter God in that story if they/we keep looking for Him and trusting and believing. So, to those of you to whom God did not provide via these scholarships, don't lose hope. Your story is just yet to be written and God makes everything beautiful in His time. I'm already anticipating how He's going to write mine…because there is one thing for which I am certain…regardless of how things may look, Jesus never fails!
Have a blessed Easter, because He lives,
Joy
Ok…I'll be honest, I checked in here first before having my quiet time today…well…I just might have had something to wake my husband and son up early about…
I opened my devotional this morning and based on a verse from Exodus, it encouraged me to keep looking up. We cannot yield to discouragement when disappointment strikes. Don't allow the enemy to harass you with doubt. "Search for specific promises of God, saying aloud of each one, 'This promise is mine.'"
I must never lose my skyward look. "I must keep faith, I must keep hope, I must keep courage, I must keep Christ. It would be better to crawl immediately from the battlefield than to not be brave. There is no time for my soul to retreat. Keep your skyward look my soul; keep your skyward look!"
Recognizing that the voice taunting 'loser' is NOT God's, His love for me is independent of my performance. Oh, how I love Him and how I love the way He daily speaks and breathes life into our circumstances when we're looking for Him.
Praying He will breathe His Word of promise and hope into each one today.
Hugs,.
Joy
First of all, what excellent choices! Wow! I cannot be too upset about not being chosen when I read them and see all that will be accomplished for His kingdom through these ladies! Congratulations! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful hearts for the Lord!!!
And thank you, thank you, thank you, judges, for reading all of these entries…for taking a peak into our hearts and prayerfully choosing the scholarship recipients! And, of course, thank you Lysa for an obedient life for Jesus that led to this conference in the first place! Still praying for a way to come IF it is His will!
And what a sweet day to find out about the scholarship…Good Friday. For the many, many of us with hearts that may be aching at the "no" today, we get to be reminded of a love that would go to the cross for us. A love that sacrificed all for us. A love that has not stopped, lessened, or waned one bit. A love that has not rejected us, but also a love that can fully understand what rejection feels like. May we run into His arms and let Him love all over us. And may we patiently wait with trust in that love to see if He provides another way for us to go.
Thanks, again!
K
I'm so happy for them!
God is good!
Enjoy it sweet ladies! Thank you Lysa for being so sensitive to the hearts of those who didn't hear YES, YOU WIN!
I know God is working through this ministry. It's one of my favorite places to visit!
I posted a little tidbit about hearing NO on my blog this morning.
It's just some encouragement that I felt God wanted me to share.
http://queenieslittlekingdom.com/?p=2701
Congratulations to all the winners! May God do exceedingly abundantly above all that you could even ask or imagine with the dreams you have placed in his hands.
Sweet Blessings,
Pam
Congratulations to all you ladies! I pray God will richly bless your time at the conference (I know He will!)
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the winners…it will be exciting to see what great plans God has in store for you!
Thank you again to Lysa, Cecil and P31 for all your work!
I want to personally thank you Lysa, the staff at P31, the judges, and every woman who entered the contest. Even though my entry was not chosen, like the Shunamite woman said, "It is well." And it truly is well as I trust in God and in His perfect will. I have peace and comfort in knowing that He sees everything from beginning to end and is in complete control-always! Psalm 139:16 states "your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." I trust your word, Lord.
Praying earnestly, and claiming in advance, that our Almighty God has already created ways for every woman to come. May we walk in the victory that we have already attained..
Unveiling His Splendor,
Ashley Cloninger
http://www.unveilinghissplendor.com
Congrats, gals! I've linked your blogs on mine along with "Waiting for My Heart to Catch Up" and am resting in the reality that even God's "No" is good.
Congratulations, winners! Fabulous entries:) Enjoy the conference to the fullest!
Congrats to the wonderful winners!! I read each of the posts and as I did Lysa your comment, "I'm not equipped to handle what they have" comes to mind. I believe God has big things in store for these four and all the others as well. When one door closes another opens…
And like Kimberly said, what a day to read this post! It is Good Friday!!!
Just have to testify to God's faithfulness. I posted on FB I didn't win and congrats to the winners and a person from my church has offered to pay for me to come to the conference! Yayyyyyyyyyy! PRAISE God! Look at God working on our behalf!!! Thank you team for not picking me!Thank you..Thank you..Thank you!!! I would have missed this blessing!
Congratulations to the winners, wonderful choices! Could there be some new P31 girls among the choices!! Enjoyed reading their entries and I am so excited for each one of them. Praise God that we all all winners! After my devotion time last night, I posted to my blog and knew God spoke to me…….I'm not ready, but will be one day! Thank you Lysa for this wonderful opportunity. Hugs and hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter!
Wonderful choices! God has a very special plan for each of these four women.
Allison, your submission is so REAL! The Lord will surely use you to reach out to many, many women who have run away from Him. Be blessed.
Congratulations…especially to Allison!!! How awesome a story to share of God's faithfulness in pursuing us even when our hearts have been hardened!
I so love being part of this community!!!
Pamela in TX
I took a deep breath this morning and opened my laptop to see what the results were for the scholarships. I was shocked to see my name among the recipients. I am deeply humbled, particularly as I read through the other entries, that the judges picked me. I have returned to Lysa's blog several times to see if perhaps I was mistaken.
Thank you to Proverbs 31, Lysa and the judges for offering the scholarships and making what I am sure was a very difficult decision. I am praying for all the women who would like to attend- many by name. Each of you have an inspirational message of God's provision, grace and love.
Love in Christ,
Amelia
PS- For Allison who posted on FB that she didn't receive a scholarship and had a friend commit to covering the cost for her- PRAISE GOD!!!
You go, girls!
Sweet Sisters,
I pray this verse will be an encouragement to each of you, whether chosen as a scholarship recipient or not…"Do no be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent." (Acts 18:9) The Lord shared these words with Paul as he was sharing the gospel! Don't let the disappointment keep you from speaking…speak, write, blog, lead – whatever it is you do – all in the name of Jesus!
I can't even begin to put into words how surprised I was to be chosen as a scholarship recipient! I have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from you ladies and can hardly contain my excitement. Thank you so much for your encouragement, and thank you to the Proverbs 31 team of judges who had to make the very tough decision of choosing just four recipients.
Psalm 115:1 "Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."
Praise Him!
Teske
Congratulations to the scholarship winners! I hope to see you as Friday guest bloggers with a recap of your conference experiences!
I am so very grateful. Thank you again to Proverbs 31 ministries, to lovely ladies who have written such kind words, and Lysa. Thank you.
Alison
The "sting" you mentioned Lysa is just that, it is slight and it will pass. I too want to offer up congratulations to the ladies who won, as well as the ladies who will get to attend this year. Sometimes it is so difficult to see His bigger purpose! The amount of prayer and the thoughtfulness of even offering scholarships blesses. Thank you for the opportunity.
Congratulations!
Checked out these ladies' blog sites. I was blessed and humbled by their faith and love.
Congratulations to each winner! Hope to meet you all at She Speaks this summer!! Loved each ladies' blog, too!
Congrats to all winners!!! God Bless!
Well, I already revealed that my disappointment was more than a "slight sting"…
I'm never sure anyone "gets me" so, just to be clear…. Yes, I cried myself to sleep; Yes, all night long I dreamed about losing… but No, I wasn't *actually* dying inside.
Now that I've adjusted to losing, I am OK with not going. The semi-psycho part is that losing seemed the bigger disappointment. I'm still trying to figure that out. Of course it's never out of the question to go, but it would just take a miracle.
(I'm like the other lady; if the *money* dropped into my lap, I still couldn't go. I'd just have to spend it on milk and shoes for the kids and gas for the car…)
What I need is a Non-Transferable Act of God.
So that is why the scholarships were such a blessing to the women who received them.
This was PRAYED over by women I trust to pray over things! And I believe the God I trust answered them. The four winners, then, weren't merely "picked" but they were "chosen" and they don't have to be concerned about the rest of the provision for their weekend….
If one of them can't get herself there, the rest of us can just each kick in for her plane ticket! And we would, too, so let us know!
(Excuse me while I just speak for 270 strangers, and 30 web-acquaintances!)
Rejoicing with those who rejoice!
Trusting with those who are trusting!
Isaiah 30:15
"…in quietness and trust is your strength…"
Romans 4:17
"He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."
I know how exciting it is to get to go! You will love it AND God will speak to you there. Treasure this time. Go expecting many seeds to be planted. Blessings, B
Congrats Alison! Loved your entry!