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Are You coming to Allume With an Agenda?

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We were walking out of the hotel early Sunday morning, October 25th, 2014, catching the crack-of-dawn shuttle back to the airport. A rag-tag group of writers who had all come to Allume with an agenda: We planned to build our platforms, build connections, build our individual brand. But leaving together at the end of the weekend, 18 women crammed into one small bus, it was obvious that God was more concerned about building our faith, building relationships, building up hearts.

personalagenda

 

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)

I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have an agenda, as long as we come to each new day and opportunity remembering who’s plan always prevails… if we’re soft enough to yield.

Last year I was a newbie, a first timer, an Allume virgin, so to speak. I flew into South Carolina knowing one whole person there. Still, I had it all planned out – how I’d bring my beautiful business cards and tantalize people with my dynamic personality and conversation, I’d meet with agents and publishers, take copious notes, and leave with knowledge and connections that would benefit me in the future. That last line really sums it up.

(gag)

I hope you don’t all hate me for being honest up front. I’m just taking a risk and painting this picture incase some of you are prone to the same first time hopes and dreams. And like I said, they’re not all bad… as long as we’re quick to bend in the direction God has planned for us to go. Yielding to His push, His pulse, His prodding.

When I first arrived at the hotel last year, the Lord immediately started orchestrating His plan for me. I settled into my hotel room, slipped into my first fun outfit, grabbed my first cute handbag, and rummaged through my things to make sure I had everything I needed to achieve my agenda. Only… where was my little orange business card case that perfectly matched my branding? NOT THERE – That’s where! And the only cards I had, were half a dozen rumpled ones stuffed in the backside of my wallet.

Deep sigh.

My roommate promised me that very few people even bring business cards and fewer still hand them out, and told me to just hold onto them if I ended up meeting with any agents or publishers. So I shoved them back into my wallet, and walked out of that hotel room telling the Lord that I was open to whatever He had planned for me.

The elevators announced the ground floor with a loud and happy “Ding” and the doors opened. Right off, I recognized a woman that I had connected with online and cautiously walked toward her group. I introduced myself to them and was astounded by the immediate welcome of so many like-minded women. There in that very moment I started relationships with Jacque Watkins, Brooke McGlothlin, Stacey Thacker, Heather MacFadyen, Diane Bailey and Wynter Evans Pitts. Enveloped in the instant familiarity and open-armed welcome of community, my agenda fell limp and purposeless to the ground – and I knew that God had something bigger and better in store for me than I had planned.

On the last night of our time together, God was kind enough to speak directly to my heart through our keynote speaker, Sophie Hudson. She had us laughing from the start, but then suddenly leaned into the microphone and started talking about relationships. This is what she said:

“We have got to choose building relationships over building anything else.”

I knew her words were God’s Word for me, for I had bought my ticket to Allume that year, thinking that I was going to learn how to build my blog. But God wanted me to catch the vision of building something even better… relationships. Sophie encouraged us to be a safe place for one another. She challenged us, “What you’ve been called to, does not diminish what the Lord has called me to.” And then she told the familiar story of Mary, the mother Jesus, arriving at her cousin Elizabeth’s home.

Sophie reminded us that Elizabeth was carrying an honest to goodness miracle inside of her! (And aren’t we all? Full of miracle stories, miracle families, miracle dreams, miracle callings?) Yet still, when Elizabeth saw young Mary, the child in her womb leapt, and she knew instantly that she was hugging another of God’s miracles! In that moment she wasn’t thinking about herself at all!

Elizabeth made no attempt to promote herself, steal the thunder, or show off her own miracle. Instead she announced in a loud voice: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” (Luke 1:42-45)

I was seated in the very back of the room that night. As Sophie closed her message and the worship team took the stage I looked around the enormous dinning room and felt compelled to lift my hands. I prayed God’s blessing on each and every woman there. Then I thanked the Holy Spirit for gently shifting my gaze from my own agenda to His agenda, and then on from there to the plans He has for others around me.

This year as I prepare for Allume, I am praying the words that I had scribbled at the bottom of my note taking page that last night:

Dear Lord, Give me the eyes to see who I might encourage, support, and promote, rather than being on the lookout for others who might encourage, support, and promote me!”

 

Blessings,

Wendy

 

Comments

  1. I love your heart in this writing. It always come down to this one thing, “It’s always ALL ABOUT HIM.” I am excited and a tad nervous to be at Allume. I can sincerely say I have no agenda except to be there and I am totally open to what the Lord wants to do through me and in me. See you soon, Wendy! xo

    • Wendy, Thank you for such a beautifully open, honest, and transparent post! I so agree with Susan’s comment above, in fact, I only heard about Allume when Susan posted that she was going. I’ll be a newbie too, and truly can say I have no agenda but to be yielded to the Holy Spirit as He leads us through Allume. Many blessings to you all!

    • Susan, if there is anyone I know online who is all about promoting and encouraging others… it’s you. It’s in your God-design, your DNA! Can’t wait to hug your neck.

  2. Allume changed my life-both years. And it was in ways that I never expected. God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than mine. His plan is good all the time. And for my good. Since I don’t have His perspective, there is no way I’d ever envision His plan for me.
    So, go to Allume to be a blessing, and you will be blessed.

  3. Wendy, Thank you for this. Your words are so timely and beautiful. I remember that very same Tea with Sophie last year– I was so incredibly encouraged by her words about community over competition. I wrote down several quotes from her that day and I go back to them often. We need the gift of EACH OTHER so much more than we need to be “noticed.” Love. THIS.

    • Sophie’s keynote was my favorite last year. Though I really loved the imagery Shauna Niequist painted for us about how easy it is to get so focused on our goes that we forget to “throw candy”!

  4. Beautifully written Wendy. Every year that I come to Allume God does something different and new. The first year it was a friendship he knew my heart needed and the second year it was a friend challenging me where I needed to be challenged. I want to come into this year expecting that God will do what only God can do.

    • Great perspective! And isn’t that what we want each and every new day? “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it… And, by the way, Lord, go ahead and do what only you can do!”

  6. This is lovely. God meets me at Allume in different ways each time, but no matter what I always receive encouragement and more of Him. Mighty fine thing indeed. Honestly, I am not sure what my expectations are for this time. Hey – maybe I’ll meet you! But seriously, I just want to see God and remember to see the miracle inside of others too. Thanks for writing – I’ve never commented on your posts, but like your encouragement here.

    • Thank you, Jamie. Along these lines, I think I’m going looking for friends. That’s what I think God has planned for me, anyway. Like-minded, miracle bearing, Jesus following friends. So find me if I don’t find you first!

  7. What a beautiful prayer, Wendy, and thank you for sharing your story so honestly. Such a delicate balance wanting to “get stuff done” and also wanting to be open and available to what God wants to do with and through us. Ironically, though, I’ve found that when I lay down my agenda and walk with open arms, God brings along His chosen encounters, and many of them end up accomplishing more than I could have had I stuck with my original agenda in the first place. That said, I want to be looking for women to encourage and support rather than promoting myself. Thank you for that prayer. I’m going to steal it if that’s okay with you. 😉 (And I can’t wait to meet you and hug your neck in person!! I know I’ve said that a million times already, but everytime I think of it I get excited all over again.)

  8. Wendy, I was so blessed by your last post, and now this one is perfectly timed, too. Thank you for writing from your heart and sharing all that God was doing in and around you at Allume last year. I was a newcomer at last year’s conference, and I remember so clearly when Sophie shared about Mary and Elizabeth. They were FOR each other. I attended with a dear friend, and honestly, that phrase, “I am for you!” has crossed between us so many times this past year. It was one of the very best nuggets of widsom I took from the conference…and there were SO many!

    I felt a bit like a fish out of water last year, wondering if I had missed opportunities and whether I should have come more prepared to move my “blogging self” forward. I just had no idea what to expect, I suppose 🙂 But what happened was that I came home spiritually recharged and spurred on by the thought that all 450 of us were there, called by God for a purpose through the talents and promptings he’d given each of us to share and communicate truth, hospitality, openness, joy. It was a beautiful realization. At no other time in the year am I so surrounded by women who understand my heart for sharing God and life with others through words and worship. What a beautiful thing! I’ll hope to bump into you in just a few weeks…it would be so lovely to meet you!

    • Let’s find each other! Love what you said here, “At no other time in the year am I so surrounded by women who understand my heart for sharing God and life with others through words and worship. What a beautiful thing!” YES, IT IS!

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