faithful

When it is quiet, it is very easy to hear all that is noisy about life. There are thousands of women here at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. Women of Faith "Imagine" is the theme. I am a little cynical about life and people in general. While my career goes better because of empathy, I reluctantly use it in real life in some instances.

We have had two beyond excellent speakers today. I am grateful that Women of Faith brought them here. Marcus Buckingham is an inspirational speaker, born in England, now living in Los Angeles. He is so funny--I don't get every joke, but the France one, I got (Sorry,Jill.). He emphasizes our talents, what makes us unique and will help us interact with the world on a day-to-day level. He calls them strengths and wonders why most Americans would rather fix their weaknesses than focus on our strengths. God gave us all we need. All these wonderful qualities. For instance, when we were young, and parents looked at our report cards, they would fixate more on the F, than the A. He told us a story of his son when Jack was entering kindergarten. Not a fantastic artist, Jack's strengths are geared toward structure and math. He taught himself to read so he could understand baseball scores (at the age of 4).

His daughter, however, nurses her strength in "benevolent altruism". She is great with people for secondary gain. Her third goal for the first grade was "to stop fooling the teachers". When this was shown to her brother Jack, he said/thought, "What? You are not supposed to do that," and "Can teachers be fooled?"

Sheila Walsh had talked about Gideon in her first chat with us--urging us to trust. Gideon and the state of Israel did not trust God in the times after Joshua. So with 300 soldiers, God showed them what He could do.

Israel did not trust God.

Later, she told us about Mary, Martha, & Lazarus and their relationship with Jesus(John 11). One time He came too early, and another time He came too late. I saw the story with different eyes. The disciples said to Jesus, "You are going back to Judea, where they are threatening your life?" And He said yes, and Thomas said, "Let's go with Him."

Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead was Jesus' last public appearance before He was betrayed.
Sheila talked about a couple interactions with women. One where she was headed to Bakersfield, CA, and her flight was delayed. She said to remain open to God's scheduling.

In line to transfer her ticket from the transit route being Phoenix to L.A., the couple in front of her were a minister and his wife. They were having trouble with their church, and the wife had said earlier that day, "Does God not know where I live anymore?"

"God never interrupts without a reason." -Sheila Walsh. She started singing "Jesus Loves Me" after she told us about another lady who had buried her three sons. We joined her when she sang the chorus. And I started crying.

I asked God, then, "Why have you sent me a life partner who hates or is indifferent to the One I love the most?". It gnaws at my spirit.

Marcus said that marriages work because of benevolent distortion: the most generous way of that person's behavior.  A deliberately skewing to positive.

Ahhhhh! So much packed into 3-4 hours so far.

I am so happy to be feeling so healthy.