The word “No” is a complete sentence. A profound thought, a grammatical truth and a foreign concept this girl.

I digress… I said “YES!” to Women of Faith and Booksneeze when they offered me the opportunity to attend the Women of Faith Over the Top event in Spokane this last weekend. I have been to one other Women of Faith event several years ago and it was a great experience, so to say I was excited to go was an understatement. I brought my friend Brittany and we had a great weekend of connecting together, connecting with some of our other friends that were also attending and most importantly developing our connection with God. The speakers were great, the music, drama and worship were fantastic and I got to meet some of my favorite authors.

I really enjoyed every speaker and performance, and I can’t really do them justice here but I thought I would highlight a few of my favorite things!

Andy Andrews
If you have been reading here for a while you would know that I love Andy Andrews books! He is a wonderful author with an easy to read style. His books The Final Summit, and The Butterfly Effect are a couple of my favorites. As a speaker, Andy Andrews is easy to listen to and very, very funny. I won’t give away his message, but there were several points that really hit home to me. He said (I paraphrase)  Discipline is when the result we want to achieve is great enough to make us do something we don’t want to do. I thought that simple definition was so powerful, and truly applicable to many areas in life – weight loss, schedules and our walk with God.  Another thing he said that really stood out to me was about life not being fair… this is something I struggle with in my personal life. He said (paraphrased again) Everybody is cool when things are fair, great things happen when you are cool when things aren’t fair.

Brenda Warner
Brenda has a touching story and is freakishly flexible… but the nugget of truth I appreciated the most is that she stressed it is never too late to become who you might have been. A reminder that God is still working on me, and just because I am not where I think I should be doesn’t mean I need to stay here.

Mandisa
Mandisa is amazing. She has an amazing voice and the ability to get 7,000 women on their feet singing and dancing to some awesome worship songs. She said: Sometimes you have to praise God first and feel it later! Praising God in the struggle is something I struggle with. She was so inspirational both in her words and music. If you have never heard her, check out her music… you will love it! My favorites are: Stronger and What If We Were Real.

Lisa Welchel
Lisa talked about friendships and drove home the point that there is a difference between being transparent and being vulnerable. I am planning on putting her new book Friendships for Grown Ups on my reading list.

Sandi Patty
She spoke and sang… she is marvelous! She spoke about her abuse, weight and challenges in life in such a unique perspective. She focused on letting God heal you from the hurt you have experience and how He can use you no matter what has happened in your past.

Marilyn Meberg
Marliyn is so funny, she looks a bit like a sophisticated grandma (which she is) but then she starts talking and you realize that she is hilarious and down to earth! She talked about how we were created for more than this earth can provide and that God created us to long for more. He gives us needs that are more than any person can fill – we need Christ and heaven to truly fill those desires. She said: I was created for a person and a place: Jesus and Heaven.

Amy Grant
Amy Grant preformed a concert for us with some of her latest songs, classic hits and a song she has never recorded. It was great, I have never heard her in concert before and she was amazing. She received a standing ovation and did an encore! During the encore there was a dance party with a bunch of the speakers and an impromptu Conga line formed by a few fun girls in a section near us.

Patsy Clairmont
I saved my favorite for last… Patsy = fun!
Pasty Clairmont spoke about saying No to busyness and Yes to God. Saying No to things that distract us from our purpose. She spoke about waking up everyday and saying Yes to God. She said we all need to learn how to be big girls and learn how to say no. Saying No at appropriate moments is actually saying Yes to God..  Another thing that was just hilarious was that she said she “gets flu-like symptoms when she has to apologize“! Ha… that was so funny, the entire room was crying from laughing so hard hearing her talk about apologizing.  She also made the point that we wouldn’t have to apologize so much if we just kept our mouths shut more! Ha!! I almost fell out of my chair laughing at this point. How true! I think Patsy is one of my favorite speakers because of all she has been through and  all the wisdom she has to offer us, communicated in a hilarious way!

I really had to laugh at what happened after the session was over too. They announced that Patsy would be signing books after the session so I grabbed my copy of Stained Glass Hearts and hoofed it up the 10,000 billion stairs to the concourse so I could get her to sign my book. I stood in line panting from waddling up those billion stairs with a bunch of other ladies with the same idea. A lady with a cool haircut and a cute scarf said “Patsy only has time to sign 35 books today”. I know there are far more than 35 people standing there in line, but I am hopeful (after all I did run up 10,000 billion the stairs).  The counting begins… #34, #35, and me: a crestfallen #36.  So close, but not good enough… it is funny how something as silly as being so close to getting a book signed can bring up feelings of rejection. Immediately my thoughts went to the negative. I didn’t make the 35 because I am not good enough, too fat, not pretty enough, not popular enough.

As if any of those things had anything to do with it.

I tweeted my disappointment.

Then I remembered what Patsy had said about refusing impure thoughts… replacing them with Godly thoughts and I snapped out of the negativity. I was disappointed, but in the scheme of things I am so blessed.  I was born in America and don’t live in extreme poverty like the thousands of children waiting for sponsors at the World Vision booth I had run by in my haste to get to Patsy’s signing line. Hello… nothing like an attitude adjustment!

After getting settled back in my seat for the rest of the evening… I saw on the screen that Patsy was signing books again before the beginning of the conference the next day. I was so excited and it felt a bit like a second chance for me to make the right choices. I was able to make to the conference early enough to secure my place in line and get to meet Patsy, have her sign my book, chat for a brief second and pose for a horribly blurry cell phone shot. She was so sweet and gracious.

I really am thankful that Women of Faith and Booksneeze offered me tickets in exchange for writing a review of the conference, it gave me an opportunity to stop and focus on the important things for two days!

If you get a chance to attend a Women of Faith event – do it! They truly are Over the Top! Check their site for more conferences this fall or if you are local make sure to set aside August 17th & 18th, 2012 to attend Women of Faith: Celebrate!