Lesson 1: Get your hopes up

Last week, I gave you the link to a women's conference I was going to attend that weekend. If you weren't able to join me there, I hope that you'll read through this and get a taste of what I learned.
Today I chose one of my favorite talks, "Get your hopes up" by Amanda Dickson. As a young girl, Sis. Dickson was told not to get her hopes up and she always wondered why. Her talk to us focused on getting our hopes up and why it is healthy and important.

She said, "Instead of thinking about the worst thing that can happen, what's the best thing? Not getting your hopes up doesn't protect you from bad things" She even taught us that we may end up liking the "worst thing". You see, she was pregnant at the age of 41 and stressed about how her unborn child would be affected by her age. She expected the worst and knew he was going have some sort of handicap. And he did. She spoke of how this was her worst fear and it had come true...and she loved it because she loved her son. He was perfect just the way God created him.

"We fear change because we are unfamiliar with it." Sis. Dickson spoke about how most of us probably sit in the same spot every Sunday at church. And we probably have many other things that we do out of habit. We fear change. This part of her talk really hit me hard because I fear change. A lot. I have done a lot of things the secure way...getting a job from my dad being one of the biggest things. I have had much anxiety and fear towards making the leap to stay home...especially not knowing exactly how we are going to make it. But we always do. And I know this is where I need to be.

"If you never change your mind, why have one?" Sis. Dickson spoke of how she usually drives to work and one day as she pulled into the parking lot, she couldn't even remember the drive there. Because it was so engrained in her mind, she didn't have to fully wake up to drive to work. So she started taking different ways. This made it so she had to be aware of her surroundings in order to get to work. She enjoyed the drive more and was more attentive in the mornings.

The most amazing thing about Sis. Dickson was that she is not a member of my same faith. And yet, she stood in front of a group of us and spoke so lovingly towards us AND about us.

This truly was an amazing weekend full of spiritual talks. Stay tuned for more lessons taught by others, portrayed by me. :)