I’m not sure if I’ve had more laughter or more tears today. But both have been very healing.
The Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, NC, is beautiful.
On the second evening, I joined a bunch of strangers at a pizza restaurant where we all shared stories. Such an encouragement after feeling alone on this journey for so long.
There were so many wonderful speakers that I have been following via blogs, Podcasts, Twitter, or from reading their books. (Rachel Held Evans, Sarah Bessey, Jeff Chu, Jonathan Martin, Jen Hatmaker, Austin Channing Brown, Cindy Brandt, Audrey Assad, Kathy Escobar, along with many others that were new to me but that I will now be following, too!)
I have so many thoughts swirling around in my brain that I am still processing. Hope. Grief. Gut-punching conviction. Renewed faith. Joy over the many connections made with others on a similar journey from all over this country. So many emotions. I am thankful I went and to Greg who has been so encouraging and happily rearranged his schedule to make that possible for me to be gone for four days.Also, the conference is coming to DENVER next year on October 4-5!
Y’all, the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, NC, are gorgeous. (I feel like I need to say “y’all” after some time in the south. LOL)
I purposefully booked a late afternoon flight out of NC so I could have a few hours to explore before heading back to Colorado and I am so glad I did. I drove around on the Blue Ridge Parkway while listening to good music (including Fleet Foxes’ ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’) with great thankfulness for the beauty of the Earth around me.
Even though I live in Colorado and can see the Rockies every day, I do not take their grandeur for granted. It was fun to visit mountains that were very different, both in sight, elevation, and smell. (The Blue Ridge Mountains contained far fewer evergreen trees, but they also had a lot of reds in the fall colors!)
