After sharing all of my deepest insecurities with all of you, I went to Atlanta to see Beth Moore and to face them head on. I also got to spend lots of time with some wonderful women that I’ve grown to love over the past couple of years, but had not met yet.
The Lord spoke to me about a lot of things through Beth Moore and there are a few situations in my life that I’m ready to remedy. But for right now, I’m going to keep all of these things to myself and process them. I can’t change overnight, but I’m trying to take some big steps to changing the way I think about myself and stop obsessing over me. I think the biggest lesson Beth Moore taught me is that insecurity is NOT humility. Insecurity and narcissism are very close to being one and the same. So it’s time to stop obsessing over my flaws and start focusing on the woman that God created me to be and thanking Him for the many blessings in my life. It’s time to recognize that I am exceptional in my Creator’s eyes and I am clothed in strength and dignity. It’s time to stop putting myself down.
If you haven’t read the book, my new friend from Lauren from Adventures of Southern Newlywed is giving away her copy of the book on her blog. (I met her this weekend along with her mom and sister and they were so nice. I’ve been reading Adventures of Southern Newlywed since I got married and I was so excited when she came up to introduce herself. She doesn’t live too far away, so I really hope that we can get together again soon!)
I thought I’d share a recap of my weekend with all of you.
On Friday morning, I left Columbia and headed to Atlanta to pick up my good friend, Megan from Tales of the Trees. Megan has such a great, honest, hilarious blog. She’s so much fun to be around and she is one of the most real people I’ve ever met. The weekend would not have been the same without her. We totally “get” each other and have similar styles of dealing with things. I’m so happy that I got to spend so much time with her this weekend.
I picked up Megan from the airport and while I was there I met Caroline, Jenna, and Faith. The five of us went to kill some time before our next airport pick ups at a nearby Chick-fil-A.
Then, after a fun visit, we left to go back to the airport to pick up two more good friends, Mrs. NCF and Rachel from In No Simple Language. I had met NCF and Megan before, so I was so excited to finally meet Rachel. The best part is being with people and not feeling at all like you haven’t known each other for years. Everything was so easy and fun! NCF and Rachel are so much fun to be around. They’re carefree and love to laugh. Rachel is so sweet and easy to talk to. She’s so go with the flow and always points out the positive side of things. NCF is one of the kindest, most gentle, loving people I’ve ever been around. Both times I’ve hung out with her have been so easy and felt like I’ve been with an old friend. We even cried together a few times during the conference and worship.
The four of us headed to our hotel and then hopped back in the car to go meet Amy, Lianna, and Becca for dinner at a cute pizza place in Kennesaw, Georgia called Zucca.
I have been reading Amy’s blog since I started blogging and always feel like I learn something every time I read one of her posts. She is a great writer and a teacher (not to mention gorgeous!) when she probably doesn’t even realize it. I was thrilled to finally get to meet her.
After dinner, we hung out in our room for a while and I met Trina, Jenna, and Jennifer. We stayed up way too late and getting up on Saturday wasn’t easy, but we were going to see Beth Moore!
On Saturday morning, we woke up and went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel where we met a few more bloggers and Twitter friends. All the girls from Friday night except Becca joined us for breakfast and then we added Lyndsey, Natalie, Kim, Jennifer (Natalie’s twin sister), Rachel (their friend), and Kelly. I was so excited to finally meet Natalie. We’ve been Twitter friends for a while now and her family is so precious.
Natalie and me
Lyndsey and I have been “friends” for a long time. We started Weight Watchers Wednesdays together with Mojito Maven back when the three of us were struggling with gaining the “happy weight” after getting married. Then we were pregnant at the same time and emailed a lot about what we were experiencing during our pregnancies. Now we both have happy and healthy babies and I can’t wait for our chunky kiddos to meet each other soon. Lyndsey is also one of the most hilarious people I have ever met. Her voice, her expressions, her stories. She’s great!
Lyndsey and me
everyone at breakfast
Trina met up with us before we left for the conference and we were off to see Mrs. Moore! The conference was incredible and we even got to see Beth make an appearance in the “overflow room” when she came during lunch to do a question and answer session. The praise and worship during the conference was a great experience. There’s nothing like worshiping with 300,00 other women nationwide and standing next to some of your newest, most wonderful friends and singing to the Lord.
After the conference, we headed to a fantastic restaurant called the West Egg Cafe (Amy had some great dinner recommendations) and met up with PinkSass. It’s a great restaurant where all of the food is grown locally and served fresh. I had a delicious fried egg sandwich! (Disclaimer: we’d all just been rained on and our hair was a mess. Just wanted to put that out there before showing what we looked like after walking/standing in the rain.)
Megan got to try grits for the first time.
We all had delicious cupcakes and cookies.
On Sunday morning, I got up early and headed home. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but I know that we’ll see each other again. I missed my boys so much and was so happy to get home to see Hudson smiling at me after church. I feel completely refreshed and ready to go. If you ever get the opportunity to take a girls weekend away, you should definitely do it.
I am not gonna LIE, this made me tear up! I want to do it all over again! It was so good to finally meet you; you beautiful, sweet thing 🙂 Can’t WAIT to see you again and Hudson too!
Sooooo glad I got to meet you and chat with you! You are precious!!! So glad you had a great weekend!! 🙂
“Insecurity and narcissism are very close to being one and the same:” brilliantly put. Glad you go so much out of your weekend!
Completely jealous that you got to meet all the girls 🙂 Sounds like y’all had a great time! Happy Monday 🙂
Hi friend! I loved this post and I’m like Lyndsey, I completely wish we could do it all over again. Lianna said that she said the weekend just kept getting better each night and hang out sesh so she wished we’d had a couple more days! I feel like I grew this weekend, not just from Beth but also because I faced some of my fears of meeting “strangers” and walked away with several new friends! What a great thing! Can’t wait until you come back to ATL or we make a road trip up your way. Miss you already!
Looks like you all had so much fun!
What a fun, whirlwind weekend! (And witnessing Megan’s first taste of grits? That’s one for the record books…hard to imagine!) So glad y’all had a great time.
Sounds like a fabulous weekend and an amazing experience!
Gosh this made me kinda sad just reading it. It was such an amazing weekend that went by entirely too fast. And I just read Amy’s comment about Lianna saying each night got better and I couldn’t agree more! I am SO thankful for your friendship and glad that I can just be myself and know that we will be on the same page. Can’t wait to do it again!
I can’t believe it’s all over! It really was amazing. I got so much out of Beth’s talk, and you are so right. Praising and worshipping our awesome God together was my idea of a great day!
It was such a blessing to get to meet you and spend the weekend together! I hope it gets to happen again 🙂 Have a wonderful day, friend!
Such a wonderful experience! Love the new blog header!
Sounds like an absolutely incredible weekend. I loved reading what you got out of it! And it looks like you ladies had so much fun! So jealous I couldn’t go!!
looks and sounds like such a fun time! I would have loved to hear Beth Moore and spend some time with all you ladies!!
It sounds like you guys had a fabulous time! Glad you enjoyed the conference. And mmm, I love Zucca’s!
My favorite part besides {of course} Beth’s talk was our super fabulous dinner. I had such a great time with all of you. Thanks for letting me tag along!
Thank you so much for posting about Beth Moore’s book. As soon as I finished reading your earlier post I hoped on Amazon and ordered the book ASAP. I’ve only read a couple chapters but I already have notes all over the book. Thanks for being so honest and open. It was just the push I needed.
I would LOVE to get to see Beth Moore. I haven’t read her book yet, but I have done a couple of her Bible studies and think she is fabulous. It sounds like you had a great weekend!
It looks like you guys had a great weekend! I am reading so long insecurity and it’s SO GOOD! I’m jealous you all got to hear Beth!
What a fabulous weekend you had!! I can not wait to start the Beth Moore book. 29 more school days and then I’m all over it!!
Hi, it was so nice to meet you Saturday. You are so very sweet and I’m so glad I got the chance to talk to you! 🙂 I’m glad you made it back safely!
How amazing! I am so jealous of the amazing weekend you all had, not only for the wonder worship but also for getting the chance to meet so many great women! Thanks for sharing!
It was such a treat to meet you this weekend – I hope you had a wonderful reunion with your boys and that the open house went great! 🙂
Wow, what fun! Y’all look like you had such a fabulous time!
I was at one of the telecast sites and it was phenomenal. I’m jealous you got to see her in person!
You all look so happy in these pictures (and gorgeous)! I am glad that you had a great time!
Isn’t it so awesome listening to that many women sing praise music? I love it every time. There is never a dry eye in the house!
Hey Erin, I guess I would be labeled as a lurker, cause I read quite often, but never comment. In fact, I don’t that I have ever commented. Intimidation maybe? I don’t why that would be though. Anyhow, I loved reading your recap of Atlanta, what a great time and what a great word from Beth. Such a powerful message and I love reading about your experience this weekend! All you girls are so cute, I loved reading your recap from the weekend!
I think I really need to read that book! I love how you said… being the person God intended you to be! That really hit home! Looks like you girls had a great time. I’m so jealous you got to meet up with all the wonderful women of the blogging world! Hopefully there can be another meet up like this and I can come too!! All the pictures are beautiful of you girls! Love you!!!!
Hi Erin!
I’m from Atlanta, so I’m so glad that you had a good time while you were there!
When I read this post, I kept replaying your words: “I am exceptional in my Creator’s eyes and I am clothed in strength and dignity” in my head the whole day. I think it has become my personal mantra and I say it to myself whenever I start to put myself down or feel insecure — and it works! I’ve now framed it and put it next to my computer as a constant reminder. 😉 Just wanted to let you know how much that one little sentence made a difference in my week. I’ve ordered Beth Moore’s book and I’m looking forward to reading it.
Blessings,
Shelly
oh it was so much fun!!! and inspirational too! 🙂 you seriously are stunning in all the pics, it’s just not fair 😉 can’t wait to see you again SOON!
and i meant to add following “it’s just not fair” that i am secure… in my nose and other features i at one time wish God had tweaked a little :-))))