It’s less than 6 weeks to She Speaks!
I have to confess to ya’ll that I have a little, bitsy problem. I’m obsessed with my own birthday. I know. I know. That’s so narcissitic that your opinion of me has probably dropped into the basement. It’s just that my mom let me choose all my favorite foods, baked a yummy cake and really treated me like a princess for the day… I digress (and it’s not nice to blame your mama for your narcissim).
What I meant to tell you is that I love She Speaks so much that it has surpassed my birthday. That’s a huge deal as you can tell.
For the next few weeks, I want to give tips for getting ready for She Speaks. For those of you not attending this year, I promise to write these so that you’ll have something practical to take away too.
My number one, most important tip is to remember that you are in the spiritual battle of your life! The good news is that you can win.
I’ve covered this thought in this post, so I won’t cover old ground. I just want to encourage you to start each day with Jesus, reminding yourself of who He is and who you are to Him. Fill yourself with truth and pray through the spiritual armor in Ephesians 6. Don’t forget to pick up that shield of faith to extinguish Satan’s fiery darts, because I guarantee that they’ll be flying.
Speaker Girls, Satan hates that you love Jesus and want to share Him with others. He will use any opportunity to speak lies about your calling and abilities. He’s not above causing conflict in your relationships to distract you. This is war! I didn’t recognize the battle the first year I attended She Speaks, and the war took a toll that it never should have. Here’s my story. (Please note that this post is 2 years old, so disregard the opening contest information. It’s long gone!)
If you’ll recognize it as such, you’ll arrive at She Speaks with a few of the normal nerves, but your spirit will be strong.
Fight the fight, Speaker Girls!
Love you, Amy. Thank you for serving us in this way! Cannot wait!
I wasn’t recognizing the battle at first and then it dawned on me what was going on. Your email is an affirmation that I need to pray my way through it . It’s like I’ve been living in a twilight zone where everything is twisted and chaotic with fear at every turn. Today is a new day. God is a God of order and peace. I’m standing straighter, breathing lighter and trusting in God. The battle belongs to Him. The glory belongs to Him! (cartwheel)
I’m feeling the battle, that’s for sure. Satan’s doing his best to keep me from preparing spiritually and professionally for this conference. I need to be more intentional about kicking that jerkface to the curb!
I’ve never heard satan referred to as jerkface…good one girlfriend!
Thank you for writing these tips! I attended She Speaks in ’08 as a writer, now I’ll be attending using the speaker track. Looking forward to the advice you have to offer. I appreciate this first reminder about the battle that is going on around us! The whole armor of God is so vital.
Glad I came over here and read this. I am attending for the first time this year and for the last few days there’s been some ugly insecure thoughts running through my head. Thank you for the reminder to be intentional at putting on that armor everyday.
I am attending the conference for the first time this year. I am so blessed to be able to go with my sister, who is also a writer. My stomach has been in knots at times, when I think about what is ahead. But this blog was a great reminder that God has a calling for me and there is one who would like to stop that. I look forward to future blogs!
Amy,
Thank YOU for this! A friend forwarded this to me–knowing I have been too busy to be online at all! Now I will have this hooked to my phone!
YES the warfare has begun! I will go back and read your other post! Thank you again, Amy for being the support and prayer warrior that we all NEED!!!
There IS A JOB to do–and it will take equipped–prepared warrior fighters to win!
(Coming from Florida!)
Amy, thank you for sharing your story… again! I am new to P31, I am not attending the conference this year :(, but I am richly blessed by the words you wrote 2 years ago. I hear the voice of the enemy daily, whispering, “who do you think you are to attempt such a thing as this?” (writing / speaking). Thank you for showing me that I am not alone in my fear, for reminding me that fear is an unhealthy focus on myself, and that I can win the battle through Christ who gives me strength.
God bless you! I pray the conference will be blessed with the power of the Holy Spirit!
Amy,
Thank you so much for this wonderful post. I am not even attending for the speaking part but wanted to read it anyway and I’m so glad I did. Why? Because, even though I am attending for the Women’s Ministry training, I have never thought of myself as a ‘leader’. I’m one that’s always more comfortable in the background, helping things to get done and not having to be “out front”, so to speak. However, over the last year and a half I have really felt God calling me towards Women’s Ministry. I KNOW He is the one that provided my conference fee so I KNOW He wants me there. But there is still that little, nagging fear you spoke of – “What in the world do I think I’m doing? I’m no leader! Why am I going to this?” I know exactly where that is coming from, though, and refuse to let it stop me. Instead of focusing on the conference or wondering what it might be like, I am choosing to focus on the fact that I will get to visit with a friend I haven’t seen in over 20 years the night before the conference and then……AT the conference I am going to be able to meet at least one of my “Twitter” friends that I’ve never met before and I am looking forward to meeting many more wonderful friends there that I haven’t been introduced to yet.
Thank you again for this post – and for your post from two years ago – it REALLY is nice to know that others deal with this “fear” thing, too. I don’t know why we always tend to think we’re alone in what we’re going through – that is just what the enemy wants but I am learning that so many of us women deal with all the same insecurities – it’s what we do with them that can make a difference. I am doing my best to let God have mine so that He can use them for good 🙂
I look forward to seeing everyone in just SIX WEEKS!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!
How I wish I was attending She Speaks this year! I was blessed to attend 3 years ago for the She Writes portion and learned so much and took away from the experience many wonderful tools to use in my writing! God has shown me speaking before people for a while now and like one of the comments above, I was shy about acting on this! NEXT YEAR!! 😉 I am so looking forward to receiving your speaking tips through email. I have been asked to speak this fall, my first time, at a small college in my state!! So, I need all the help I can get! Bless you! and PS…I am getting in the habit of putting on the Full Armor of God daily! It’s part of my wardrobe! 😉
Amy, I saw this link on facebook and I know it was a God moment that HE led me here. I will be attending She Speaks this summer for the second time. The first time I came was 3 years ago and I went through the women’s ministry training. For several years now I have felt God leading me to more of a speaking role in ministry. I have never been one to be in front of people with ease. With fear and trembling hands I shared my testimony with my MOPS group three years ago and have done a couple of speaking things since then. When I read about She Speaks this year I knew in my heart God wanted me back. I needed to be there this summer for what He was leading me into in the future. It has been a year and a half since I last spoke in front of women and honestly my fears have a hold on me again. I have been asked to pray about being the speaker for the Christmas MOPS meeting to present the gospel this coming December. I have been praying for open doors if this truly is what God wants me to do. God has given me a wonderful starting point for a Christmas gospel message…but fear. I am seeing that what I am feeling is ALL from the enemy and I need to stand firm and fight with the weapons God has given me. I can relate to every single thing you said in this post and the one with your story.
I am so glad God led me to read this today and I am going to stand up and fight against the fears of thinking I am not good enough or that I can’t do this. In myself, I can’t, BUT I don’t have to do it. Jesus is the one who does it, He just wants to use me to relay some messages.
Can’t wait till July! I better get to working on my talks some more 🙂
Brandee, TN
The thing about this post that makes me laugh is I am crazy about my birthday too, but I always chaulk it up to never having a party or being made to feel special on my b-day.
I can’t wait until She Speaks. I attended as a writer in ’08 and will come as a speaker this year. Can’t wait for the honest feedback! See you there Amy!
Such great advice, Amy! Even after attending the last two years, I still need to hear this!
It’ so funny your mentioned your b-day because… My b-day is July 20th and I’m arriving at the Conference on the 21st. So excited! It’s like a super-duper special b-day present to me.LOL
I love, love, love that you’re doing this, Amy! What a HUGE blessing! You rock, girl!
The funny thing (or not so funny thing) is that I aloud my fears and insecurities of speaking in front of amazing Godly women (the P31 team) control my choices while registering for the conference. Sadly I opted to not join the speaker evaluation group because of this fear. After realizing that I was not taking full advantage of all the conference has to offer, I emailed a P31 team member only to find out that there is now a waiting list for the speaker evaluation groups. 🙁 Thank you for this encouraging word!
I totally understand, Emily. Don’t worry, though. You’ll still receive so much that will help you with your ministry. Do an eval group next year. 🙂
Amy – i don’t even know how to express what it is that I am feeling right now. I came to She Speaks last year not knowing what to expect. I knew God had called me, but was scared to admit He called. I came anyway and was super charged and confirmed in my calling. Yet this last year has taken its toll. As I prayed about coming this year, I felt the tug to go, but honestly felt like I have been so beat down this year that I wasn’t sure God still wants to use me.
Reading this post has just encouraged me to spend my time with God in Ephesians, preparing my heart, preparing my mind and preparing for battle.
To quote Jesus himself, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:23)
Praise God for the timing of this message! And praise God for winning the battle for me!!!
See you at SHE SPEAKS!!!!
What’s the date and location of this conference???
Miranda, the conference is already full this year, but here’s the info so that you can plan for next year. http://www.shespeaksconference.com