Boston Women's Conference

I was blessed this Friday night to be able to attend this year's Boston Catholic Women's Conference.

It was a beautiful night and I was so happy to be able to be there and listen to the beautiful talks and experience the spiritual atmosphere. There were so many highlights from the night that I may have to write a few different posts so as not to make this post terribly long.

Martin Doman and his wife (I think it's Charlene) were there providing the music. They brought two of their daughters, one who is less then a year old. While their music as alwasy was beautiful I found myself watching Martin more when he wasn't playing.

I loved the way he watched his wife as she nursed the baby. And the way he interacted with his older daughter who is probably 10 or 12. And the way he cradled that baby. Talked to her, walked with her and then as she began to get tired and fussy the way he held and rocked her made me think that that is how God longs to hold each one of us.

There were three talks throughout the night by three beautiful women of God.

The first talk was by Stacey McGovern. She is a young mother who ten years ago as she was coming back from her honeymoon realized that her ears felt funny. Within six months or so she was deaf. She recounted the birth of her two children....that she agonized over not being able to hear the first cries of her babies. How one day her infant son who had just learned to crawl fell down the stairs because her older son opened the gate. She knew that she couldn't find the baby but couldn't hear his cries to learn where he was.

She eventually had an implant done in her ears that gave her her hearing back. Only a year after this beautiful gift from God another tragedy struck. She and her sons had taken the train into Boston. On the way home at as the train pulled into the station she lifted the stroller off the train and as she turned to lift her 3 year old off the train, it began to roll away. As the 18 month old in the stroller began to unbuckle his strap she ran screaming after the train. She somehow managed to leap back on the train and grab the 3 year old. But then she needed to get off the moving train to get back to the baby. She held on tight to her son and jumped. When she woke up she couldn't see anything but she heard the baby crying (who had managed to not jump out of his stroller) and her 3 year old screaming "Mommy get UP!"

She snapped her pelvis bone in half and spent many months in the hospital learning to walk again. The doctors told her and her husband that she would never again be able to carry a baby. Less then two years ago through the grace of God she delivered their daughter. Her first baby where she heard the precious sound of crying as she entered the world.

A beautiful testimony to the grace of God. Stacey prayed for five years to be able to hear. And God finally allowed her to hear again. But as she kept repeating everything is in HIS time. That our prayers do reach His ears and even when we can't see things changing through prayers, things are changing--it's just all in His time.

The next talk was by Kimberly Hahn but I'm going to devote a single post to that later today or tomorrow.

To close the night out Patti Mansfield talked about the Power of the Holy Spirit. Which as I look over my notes also deserves it's own post. So again....I'll post on that soon!