GIANT...Faced and Defeated

Well, I'm back from the FaithWriters conference. And the one word I would use to describe it is: WOW.

As I shared with you before the conference, I was more than a little nervous (OK, "petrified might be a better word) about teaching two workshops. But I was on the receiving end of a miracle this weekend. Because of all of your prayers, the moment I started speaking, the nerves disappeared. As in, completely vanished. There were no jittery hands, no quaking knees, no quivering voice. The peace that came over me was like nothing I've ever experienced before. It was amazing.

In fact, an interesting thing happened. After the workshop wrapped up, a woman I'd never met who had been sitting in the front row, approached me and asked for a few minutes of my time. She introduced herself as June, and told me she teaches public speaking (and has for 22 years). I piqued her interest because I started off the workshop by telling everyone that it was my first time speaking and that, basically, I'm a WIMP (which was the topic of the workshop). From that moment, she started observing me (talk about a reason for nerves!) and jotting down a few things that she wanted to talk to me about later if I was open to feedback. But she just wanted to let me know that she thought I was a natural. A natural! And that I should be speaking at conferences all over. She said besides showing no signs of nervousness at all, there were several things I did instinctively to connect with my audience.

Talk about blown away.

We had a chance to sit down later to chat, and she offered some more positive feedback on my presentation and delivery, as well as gave me a couple pieces of advice. Her encouragement and expertise meant so much to me.

My second class (This Little Writer Went to Market) didn't go quite as smoothly as Writing is Not for Wimps, but my nerves behaved themselves and I felt okay with the overall presentation, if not quite as satisfied as I did with the first.

Because I shared with you guys my massive fear of public speaking (on a couple different occasions), I wanted to also share how God showed up. That's so like Him, isn't it? He confirmed to me, yet again, how much I need Him and how He can use even the most unlikely, insignificant people (me) to accomplish His purpose.

I know the question you all want to ask: Will I be speaking to crowds of hundreds soon? I'll admit, I can't quite go there yet in my mind. But I will say that God is confirming to me more and more that His thoughts are so much higher than my thoughts and His ways are miles and miles above mine.

My biggest takeaways from all of this:

• Fear is largely overrated
• If I take a baby step in God's direction, God will leap a mile in mine.
• You can actually feel prayer at work.
• People aren't scary! (At least, most of them.)
• ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.
  

"With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible."
- Matthew 19:26