What Women Need

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This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Seek your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Good afternoon, Truth Talk listeners.

This is Alicia Grimes, and I'm with my friend and gospel partner, Carly Dixon, maybe partnering crime here and there. But we're here today just to talk to you and ask the question. What do Christian women need? Yes.

So if you are a man out there, you are definitely invited to call in. Our number is 866-348-7884, and you can give it your best shot. We know there's been an issue around you reading our minds, but if you have an idea of what you think Christian women need, call in. And if you're a female out there, we would really love to hear from you. What do you need?

What do you need to grow? What do you need to thrive? What are your challenges in life?

So that's our topic for this afternoon. And we're going to talk about how we are stepping into that realm as ministry leaders to really figure out how do we help women grow and thrive.

So I'm going to toss it over to Carly. Carly, just introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about you. And we have lots to talk about today.

Well, my name is Carly Dixon, and gosh, I've known Alicia for many, many, many years. What do you say since before Moses was born? Have you thrown that at me before? I believe you have, even though you're younger. I think I say since Moses was a baby.

Moses was a baby.

Okay. But it has been a long time. And we've done ministry in different realms together for a long time, which has been really fun and neat to see how that's grown and different things that we've done.

So that's pretty exciting. What I'm doing now is. Um I do have a private practice. Um I'm a therapist and I specialize in um working with people with PTSD and coaching people with anxiety. And so I kind of combine the idea of neuroplasticity with coaching.

Um, help people with that, but also on the ministry side. I have a real heart for women and for women's ministry. And my husband and I recently, in the past few years, we started going to Collide Church in Yadkinville. and started serving there and I've um been recently on the Women's Ministry leadership team, and we've started a women's ministry there, and we're doing a conference in April, April 18th actually. Um And so we're really excited.

We're excited to see what God's going to do. We've had a great response. Alicia is going to be speaking. She's one of our speakers, so I'm very excited about that and to be sharing that together. But we're just really excited at what God's going to do and what God's going to do in Yadkin County and the entire area.

It's It's a new, kind of a new area. There's not been a lot of women's conferences or things like that. And this is your first conference, right? Yes.

So exciting. Yes.

So very excited. It's going well. There's been a great response, and I'm just excited to see what God's going to do. on April 18th. From nine to two.

Tell us about your theme. Yeah. And how did you come up with that? Tell us the backstory of that because when you told me, I was like, ooh, I like that.

So went back and forth, you know, with themes, but finally settled on the idea of woven. Because I feel That is a theme that speaks to women no matter where they are, no matter their age, their story. It speaks to where they are at any given point because. We all sometimes struggle with knowing how everything that has happened to us. the places God's put us, the people he's put in our life, the circumstances we've faced, how are all those weaving together into the perfect story that he has for us?

and it doesn't always look perfect. Just like what it does. No, it does not.

Well, I I've never really met anybody who felt like their tapestry was just immaculate and all pulled together just for the perfect perfect. Absolutely. And you know, just like When you look at a tapestry and you look at the back of it, it's just a hot mess. Right. And I think most of us kind of feel like.

Our life looks like the back of a tapestry most of the time, and we fail to really see. The front. We fail to see, like, what is the story that God is weaving together and how is He able to take, you know, even threads that where we've messed up or other things have been thrown at us, he can take even those ugliest of threads and weave those together into a beautiful tapestry. And so I think woven and the idea of finding peace. purpose and courage in your story, no matter where you are in your story.

no matter what life has thrown at you, is just an invaluable. um thing that God can teach us all.

Well, I love that theme, and I'm looking forward to speaking to that. you know we have So often we don't understand how our lives are coming together. But on a bigger picture, and you and I have talked about this, we it's so rare that we get a glimpse of what God is doing with our life and his story. And so when we back off, you know, 25,000 feet, And start to look at the story God has been weaving from before eternity. Yeah, when He existed as Father, Son, and Spirit in this relationship of love and created us out of that, and He has been moving towards our redemption through Christ and has a plan through eternity.

And so, you know, when you look at your little life and you feel like, wow, I feel so small. Yeah. Well, in the hands of a an amazing God, he takes our tiny little thread and he weaves it into this grand narrative of scripture. And I feel like when we see ourselves from that perspective, it changes the way we see our identities and our purpose. And, you know, it takes me from living for the...

Small thimble of purpose I can come up with for my life to realizing that God. is drawing me in. And and that feels Just so, give me a word: purposeful, meaningful. Yeah, well, it just redemptive. It feels.

Intentional. Yeah. Like our life is very intentional. Exactly. And I think, you know, when you said that just a minute ago, it reminded me of that song back in the 80s.

I don't know if you remember, but it was sung in every church, I think, Alfred. I was in elementary school. I was too, but I still heard the song. I'm just sorry. But do you remember the song, Thank You?

Do you remember that song? And the guy, he's singing about he gets to heaven and he sees all the people that you know, he has um Spoken to over the years, and they're all saying thank you for giving to the Lord. Thank you for being there. And I just think that's amazing. And that just kind of reminded me of that because.

We just never know when Our little thread and our little corner is going to make all the difference in someone else's life. Right. Which is why women's ministry is so important as well. What is unique about women's ministry? You know, I've talked to various people and they have, you know, different different versions, different takes on it.

And some people are like, You know, women don't really women learn just like men do. And I'm like, oh, you're not a woman. Yeah, exactly. Or you haven't talked to women. But what is unique about the way we minister to women And how do you see that played out?

I think one of the most unique things is the collectiveness. I think women's ministry It needs to be done with the idea of connection. Yeah. Whereas men, they do need connection, but not quite as much as women. Maybe not in the same way.

Yeah. And so I think the idea of connection, you want, when you're doing women's ministry, you want to. provide opportunities for women to connect because When women are lonely, um, they that is I think they're at their their hardest point when they're lonely. And loneliness is an epidemic right now among women. And so I think the collective nature of it is probably what...

stands out the most to me um in women's ministry versus other areas of ministry. I do think there's this desire for multi-generational relationships.

So I can learn from you, you can learn from me. And so I think that's one thing. It's not unique to women's discipleship, but it is something that I think women really long for. And depending on the settings that we're in, there's not always a lot of opportunity.

So women's discipleship does bring that unique opportunity to connect with women who may be 20, 30 years older, 20, 30 years younger than we are.

So we'll be right back and we'll continue this conversation. But if you want to call in, it's 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. Truth talk line. Anyone can choose to make a difference.

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This is John MacArthur inviting you to join me for Portraits of Grace. The Greek word for integrity speaks of genuineness and authenticity. It literally means without wax. You see, in ancient times, pottery often cracked during the firing process. Rather than discard the cracked pottery, dishonest dealers often filled the cracks with wax.

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This is John MacArthur, Trusting Your Lives Are Portraits of Grace. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm here with Carly Dixon, and we're just talking a little bit about women's discipleship. what Christian women need in order to grow and thrive. As single women, married women, single again, there's so many different phases of a woman's life, and sometimes I think we have.

A narrow band of Women that we really speak to and speak life into, and then a lot of people kind of get lost in the shuffle. I know something that you're really passionate about is this just the idea of being seen. Yes, so unpack that for me, yeah. Um.

So actually, your conference a few years ago, that was part of the theme, was being seen that has kind of uh popped up. in my life lately with just um in conversations and there was a conversation recently where I was in a group and we were doing a study and someone Mentioned that they just wanted to be seen. And so that has just kind of bounced around in my head ever since then. And I just really have thought about that, and I think really that's what it is. I think there is so much noise in our society today.

There's so much visual noise. And, you know, everything is just loud. And I think people feel like they're not seen. And that peop and, you know, and I think in the church we can be guilty of missing out on people and really not seeing them and I think they need to be you know, and and people are so, um, I guess just self-centered, also. And so, if we're always looking at ourselves, it's hard to look at other people.

I read a statistic yesterday. that I think it was last year alone there were forty five billion selfies taken. That's a lot of selfies. 45 billion. Can you imagine?

And, um, You know, but that just fades out as you get older. Yeah, it does. It does. As you get older, close-up selfies.

Well, as you get older, you take more because you got to find one that looks happy. You might be right on that. You might be right. You may have to take more just to get one that works. You know what?

I love about being seen is when you read the Gospels, there's this phrase that you see over and over: Jesus saw him, Jesus turned aside and saw him. And even Peter and John, I was studying yesterday, they turned aside and they saw this man who needed help. And I think there's something about believers. That part of our role in the world is to turn aside and to see people and then to speak. To speak the good news of the gospel over them.

It's not just that we see them, but God sees them and He loves them and He's drawn to them and He wants to, you know, heal their wounds and forgive their sins and draw them into His family. And, you know, we have a beautiful story to tell. Yeah. Sometimes I think we get lost in translation, but not literal translation of the Bible, but the way we tell the story of Christ. can often start.

not with the love of God. And the redemption of mankind from our sins, but you know, more from a place of harshness. Yeah. And I think people long to be part of that. more beautiful story, I think is what Jen Wilkin calls it.

We need to learn how to tell the more beautiful story. And learn that Jesus does see us. And I think we forget that. We feel like we're not worthy of being seen. I think that's a big thing is knowing who we are in his eyes.

I think about the woman that washed his feet with her hair. Yeah. And, you know, and Jesus said, look, look what she's been doing. She gave me water. She washed my feet.

He saw her and he didn't look at her and see all of her past mistakes. but he saw her devotion to him. And he saw her. And I think that's just a beautiful story. And he even says, from this day forward, wherever the gospel is preached, they will know about this woman and her love for me.

Yep, absolutely. And she's just, you know, a woman from Bethany, a small town, but her devotion to Jesus, because of his love for her. Yes.

I love that. I love that. I love that story. A couple of other questions. As far as really, let's just go there.

Let's talk about what it means to be a biblical woman.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't tell you we were going to actually go there, but we've talked about this. We've had lots of conversations.

Yes.

what it means to be a biblical woman. I think it is Biblical in general, you know, I think it is striving for holiness. And I think as a woman, that is something that You know, where do we find that? And we talked a lot about mentors. You know, when we study scripture, it teaches us what holiness looks like.

I think mentorship is important, seeking out other women that have walked difficult paths or walked your season. And how did they manage to maintain holiness in the midst of that? There's so much in our society that pulls at us. To make us think that holiness isn't as important as it is, yeah, we don't really like to talk about that. We do not, no, because you maybe it's the sense of, oh, I think that means I need to be perfect.

Yes, and I'm intimidated by that. Yeah, yeah, but I think it's you're right, we don't like to talk about it, and you know, maybe there's this show that you really like to watch because it makes you laugh, or you know, or it's things you like to read, yeah, and so, but I do think, I mean, you know, the Bible's very clear to guard your heart, guard your mind, you know, think on things that are good, and so I think that. The pursuit of holiness, we don't talk about it a lot. But when I think of biblical womanhood, I think if you focus on the pursuit of holiness, then everything else falls into place. Because when we do that, then our desires line up with God's desires for our life.

I love that. I'm thinking even As far as biblical womanhood, I start in Genesis.

Some people start in the New Testament. I think it ultimately culminates in the New Testament. But I start in Genesis when God placed the image, His image, the image of the Father, Son, and Spirit in the man and the woman.

So we start off with that as our core identity. And then we move from that to kingdom partners. You know, when we get to the New Testament, we're kingdom partners, we're partners in the gospel. We see women. Throughout the New Testament, who lived out of that identity that they received from Christ.

When they came to know him, they met him. You know, Mary Magdalene met him when she was demon-possessed. And all these other women came into his ministry. And he He esteemed them. They were with the 120 when the Holy Spirit came.

Absolutely. And so I think sometimes. because culture downgrades marriage and family, that in the church we can elevate that so high That we almost make an idol out of being a mom and a wife. Yes.

And, you know, I see those more as roles under this primary identity of image of God, identity in Christ, gospel partners, and that's so. inclusive for all women in different roles and different walks of life. But I you know, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about identity. I'm sure you see it in your practice. If you're working with women who are struggling with anxiety or depression, You know, all those really seem to come up out of I don't know who I am, and I don't know how to get my footing.

And where I belong. Yeah, that's a r that's a really good point about identity because And you were talking about the roles. And if we don't start out and we aren't seeking, you know, our identity in Christ rather than our identity in our roles. Then when those roles change. When things change in life, when you're, you know, we're both at the age where our kids are adults off on their own doing their own adulting thing.

And If you don't have a solid identity in Christ, then when your roles change, that can shake you. Absolutely. And that can leave you. And I think a lot of what I see with women that are struggling with anxiety, especially. is they don't know what to do next.

Is when they go through life transitions, um when a woman, you know, when her husband leaves her and she's no longer a wife. If her eyes are absolutely devastating, it shakes her to her core. Yeah. But It's less devastating when you knew who you were before those things shifted. Yeah.

So I think our identity in Christ has to be solid, and that should be what we are. Always seeking because roles change, but that never does. Right, exactly.

So, there's so much joy and purpose we receive in our roles, but not if they become the ultimate thing.

So, identity in Christ, I'm all about that. Absolutely. When we get back, we'll talk a little bit more.

Okay. Truth talk live. Welcome back to True Talk Live. I think we have Mike on the line. Mike, are you there?

Mike. Yeah. Hey, Mike. I'm here now. Hey, I'm here now.

How are you? I'm doing great. Great to hear from you again. Yeah, it's been a while since I've been in the studio and I wondered if you might call. Tell me what's going on in your world these days.

Well, I asked my wife. you know, about uh what would make a good yeah. And she said She said a good, good Christian husband. Oh, nice. Are you sure she said that?

Yes, she did say that. I think she's got a great Christian husband, Mike. I'm so thankful.

Well, she wouldn't she wouldn't call in. She wouldn't t talk. She sighed.

So I'm. I don't like speaking for her, but that's what she said.

Well, that's a great answer. You know what? A Christian husband who loves the Lord is just a treasure. And to have somebody to walk through life with who You're running in the same direction with the same values and Um, that just makes all the difference.

So, I what's her name? Tammy. Tammy, will you tell Tammy that we said hello and thank you for her input? That's right. And I have one more, okay?

Okay. God's been dealing with identity a little bit. Yeah. And men in general, maybe women too. Um they always They always think about their job.

You know, they're identified by their job. You know, I'm a carpenter, I'm a grass cutter, I'm this. Right. And they even tried to pin that on Jesus. He was a carpenter from Nazareth.

You know what I mean? They tried to do that a lot. And that's the worldly thing. We want to be followers of Christ. Yeah, if anybody knows one thing about me, that's what I would want them to know.

You know, that is my ultimate identity. Right. I'm often a little pained in groups where maybe you go around and introduce yourself. And they say, tell what you do. Yes.

And I just want to say, tell me what you love. Tell me what you're passionate about, which speaks so much more to the person you are. And some people, they love to tell you what they do. And other people, that's not a question they really enjoy answering because maybe they're, you know, but when we put our hope and all of who we are into our Our identity as a, you know, whatever it is that you do for your work. I appreciate that perspective as a man.

And Mike, I think you're right on. I think that is. very much a temptation for a man and some women, but to put just your ultimate identity in what you do. Yeah, I, you know, I think we need to be more godly-minded and not less worldly-minded. You know what I mean?

That's a good word. Yeah. We really want to be followers of Christ. You know, we want to know what God wants us to do in our daily life. Ask him in the morning.

and and say, Hey, God, what do you have for me today? And, you know, that's called a follower Christ. That's exactly right. And that's, you know, when we think about. What do women need?

What do men need? We need to know how to follow Christ. We need to know how to love him and love other people. And what does it mean to share our faith? I was pained by a statistic I read earlier this week that the average Christian Um Shares the gospel, and someone comes to Christ once in every 26 years.

And so, no wonder.

So many people are still lost not hearing the gospel. If, and you know, do I blame the individual or do I say, you know, are we discipling people well to help them know how to grow and how to share their faith with other people? Yeah. So, Carly, you want to chime in on that? I will speak up here and say that on the identity of the subject of identity and work.

Is people need to realize that you can share Christ and you can have a ministry no matter what you do. Absolutely. No matter where you work. You don't have to be in ministry. to have a ministry.

I will add to that, Carly. women in different seasons of our lives.

Sometimes we think We're waiting until this different season to live this abundant Christian life. And, like, God has an abundant Christian life for you, no matter what your season. Yes, absolutely. And I think sometimes our comparison and our envy over wishing we were living someone else's life. Yes.

If we kind of understood that God is meeting us today, where we live in our season, and He has something for us, and He's calling us into partnering with Him for what He's doing in the world. And that just blows my mind. And even a wilderness season can have abundance. Yes.

You know, you think about the Israelites, and they had abundance. It was the same abundance every day. But wilderness seasons, too, and we feel like those are waiting times, but oftentimes those are just growth. periods for us. Right.

Yeah. Well, Mike, I think we have another caller, but anything else? Any final words? Yeah, um You know, ev everybody thinks that uh you have to meet the masses. You know what I mean?

You have to be this big evangelist to be in the will of God. just being will of God as ministering to your grandkids, ministering to coworkers, ministering to the people at your church, ministering to the people around you, is that is a massive ministry. You know what I mean so. I love that. Yeah.

I think everybody these days wants a platform. Yes.

And to be known and to be an influencer when really Jesus is like, I took the humble road. I came to the lowest point as a human, and then I washed the disciples' feet. And I think if we could capture more of that mindset that just live your life every day, faithful to the Lord, loving the people around you, being a light in the darkness, that our lives have more impact than we realize. But we're waiting for this big platform that for 99.999% of us will never come.

Well, he doesn't need our platform. He does. He just needs us to point others to him. Absolutely. So, yeah, that's a good.

Good place to end that, Carly.

Well, Mike, I'm glad you called and tell Tammy that we said hello. Yes, absolutely. I will.

Okay. All right. Bye-bye. And I think we have another caller, Bucksman. Hey!

Hey, buddy. I heard my fellow Daytonian Mike call in. I'm in the bus mobile. I thought I had to say hi to my. My dear friend Mike, who lives just a stone's throw away, basically.

Hey, Mike. And yeah, I had to chime in, ladies. I had to say that, that his wife Tammy hit it on the head, I think. Um How much needed it is for society as a whole, ladies. For man Especially if they call themselves Christians, to be actual godly men.

Living by the word. And nothing else. Not the influence of the world, whether it be your your you know, your leisure uh hobbies or whatever. But keeping your nose in the sixty-six books Of the Holy Bible and actually doing it. And I think our sister was asking: you know, how do we do that?

Honestly, the manual for being a little Christ on the earth, ladies, and this is for the women and the men. is all recorded in that wonderful book that God gave us called the Holy Bible. And so if we if we keep our noses in that book, And actually, do what it says, not just talk about it. I think being a husband, it's going to be a lot easier of a burden. And being a wife is a lot easier of a burden.

And then, as the united group, You can change your community. When people see true Christians walking and living according to the book, the community changes. And I think as men, we were to be the leaders. And we are to be washing you ladies with the water of the word, Paul says in Ephesians.

So that means in the 21st century to me, guys, is, honey, did we go over some scripture today together? Yeah. Honey, did we pray today? And start doing that and make that a regular habit. and not only want your house change, but watch your community change as well.

That's a good word, Buxman. I hear you. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I appreciate that, and I think. We all long for men to step up and You know, take on the roles that God has given them and also.

Esteem and pull women into that. You know, I see myself as a gospel coworker alongside my husband. And I look to him as our leader, but he also has deep respect and affection, and he calls me. to walk with Christ with him. Then, you know, when I look back at the book of Genesis, it talks about that God made Adam a helper, and that word, ezerconecto, it actually means that we contend for the things of God together, like we work together in the world.

For the thriving of our families and the thriving of our communities and our cultures and to the ends of the world. And so I think, along with what you said, I think women long to be called into the kingdom. And to see themselves from God's perspective as like kingdom co-workers. And so I think as much as the husband can. See his wife as a kingdom partner that really brings her into something that maybe she's never even known about herself.

Carly, I know. Gives her value. Yes, incredible value. Definitely. Value, you know, in even a bigger identity.

Yes.

Because I think, you know, we find value in marriage and parenting, and those are such a good, good gifts. but when or called, Like into kingdom partnership, we realize that our lives transcend our little block of the neighborhood and our individual little home and that. God is calling us into what He's doing. And that's really exciting for me. That's part of what I love to do, help women realize.

You know, you've seen your life from such a small perspective. And what could God do with one life? Never been a woman who's given birth. But I'm glad to hear that, Mike. That's a different show.

But here's the thing, guys, giving spiritual birth has got to be just absolutely mind blowing. When you see a man or a woman or a teenager or a child start walking in the ways of Christ because of your intervention, I can tell you, as a spiritual father and an earthly father, I've watched two of my beautiful children. I have two beautiful children to be born. But the spiritual fathering is incredible. Where you've sewn into a man or a woman's life.

And then finally they come back and they say Busman. I get it. I want to thank you for leading me to Christ. I'm walking a whole new path now. That is incredible.

And I hope everybody listening to Truth Talk Live right now. Experiences that.

Well, thank you so much for all the time. Yeah, well, we're wrapping up this segment, but thanks for calling, and you have a great rest of your day, BJ. God bless, guys. When we come back, we're going to talk about several opportunities in our community and encourage you to think about how you can implement these things in your community. We'll be right back.

Okay. Truth daughter. Hello and welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Carly Dixon and I'm here with Alicia Grimes. And we've been talking about women's ministry and what do women need.

And I want Alicia to share about the upcoming OASIS conference that her ministry is putting on on May the 2nd. May the 2nd. Tell us all about it.

Well, we're in Winston-Salem, and so we are having a regional women's conference. About three years ago, I started just a women's discipleship pathway organization for women in our community. It's a nonprofit, and we offer Bible studies, discipleship pathways, conferences, mentoring, lots of things that we feel like were just a need in our community. And so we just bring together women from different ages, stages, denominations, and we study God's Word and we... Create spaces for multi-generational relationships.

And it's just been amazing.

So this will be our third conference. Yes.

Last year we had about 550 women from 80 churches really around our region. High Point, Greensboro, some people who, you know, obviously came to see their families and came to our conference from Florida. I don't know that they just flew here from Florida. But we have praise and worship and three main speakers this year and then about twelve fourteen, actually fourteen breakout sessions.

So what I'm really excited about is really all of it because it's just A beautiful thing when women from different backgrounds come together on a common foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ. And we get to hear from people who have walked different paths Some paths of grief and loss, and you know, celebration, just the whole spectrum of what life offers, and to hear their personal stories and some of the things that they know, you know, maybe vocationally or from the background with what they do, and they can share those things with us. Yeah, I'm personally excited about the women's health. I mean, I'm excited to teach my breakout session, but I'm excited to attend. Yes.

Which I hope it's not at the same time as mine. But we'll check on that. But yeah, we do have one breakout session that we've talked about for a couple of years, and this is the first time it's come together, but it's for perimenopause and menopause women. Bring it. And, you know, if you're in the thick of that, bless you.

Bless you. The Lord help you. May the Lord bless you deeply. Cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious. Yes.

But I feel like in the season of life I'm in, walking through that. I'm like, no one is talking, or if they've been talking, they haven't been talking to me. Because I could have used this information a good ten years ago. Absolutely. And so we're going to really intentionally talk about that topic.

Tell us what you're going to be talking about, Carla.

Okay. Well, I'm going to you know, I'm all about the brain.

So I'm going to be talking about Calm My Storm is is kind of the the title, but It's really what does the Bible teach us about ways that we can live our best Mental health life. Things that God teaches us that are in His Word that People go through a lot to try to learn, and it's all right there. And things that we can do in our everyday life to improve our mental health and to prevent a lot of the issues that we have.

Well, I love that. And you've spoken on a sidebar of that same topic before. Highly received. Definitely appreciated by the women who attended your breakout session.

So I'm just thankful to know women in our community. Who have backgrounds in things that we are living every day. And so, most of the topics we're covering, all of the topics, we wanted to be topics that women could receive because they're walking in this. Yes, they're very relatable. Very relatable.

So, some of the other topics that we'll cover. Um We have a session on grief and just how to navigate grief well. Raising adolescents, teenagers, and if you have a teenager. that that might be the one for you. May the Lord bless you as well.

Absolutely. Shine His face upon you. But it's amazing, you know, when now my teenagers are all in their 20s. And I just remember having mentors and people who You know, basically said, Alicia, be the adult. Yeah.

Don't burn down the relationship. Yeah. Love your teens. You're going to see this through, and you know, we all made it. You made it to the other side.

You make it to the other side. And now we have these great friendships that I'm so thankful for. They're your favorite people in the world. They are. They really are.

Last night, my older daughter and her husband came over for dinner. And when they left, JT said, Oh, your love tank is full. My daughter and her husband come over tonight for dinner.

Okay, there you go. We'll have a session on singleness, dating, and identity. Which identity is so key? In navigating our seasons of life.

So, especially when you're in a season of singleness. Yes.

A session on contentment, Christian contentment. Faith is you are in the healthcare field.

So we've got a lady who's a PT, lots of letters after her name. And she's been in the healthcare field for about 15 years, and she's going to speak to how you live out your faith in that setting. And we have so many medical people in our community and women who. They're navigating that, hoping that someone will come along and help them with that. How do I do this in my workplace?

Mentoring, we talked about mentoring already, but Mary Kay Rack and her friend. Oh, I went to that last year. Did you? It was the opposite of mine. It was right, yeah.

Very good. What else do we have? Um, mental health issues. And, you know, in a world where so many people are either Experiencing their own mental health issues, which are much broader than we used to think about as that category. Or walking through somebody as a caregiver.

Yes.

Just how do we How do we, you know, give us a little bit of your thoughts on that particular, because I know that's something that you've spoken to. Absolutely. I think, as a caregiver of someone with mental health, that one important thing to learn is. how to do it and preserve your own mental health. I think that is something that people really struggle with and that's an important thing to learn.

And it takes a tremendous amount of patience and understanding. And it can be very traumatic for people. that are that are dealing with that to try to understand what's going on. But I think learning how to preserve their own mental health is I'm sure that's going to be touched on because that's a major issue. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, the details of this conference is May 2nd at Pinedale Christian Church. Pinedale is hosting this third annual Oasis Conference. We're partnering with them, which is a phenomenal church, so giving to our community. I really, really have appreciated.

that partnership. And it will be doors will open at 8.30, then 9 to 3. We'll have worship, testimonies, speakers in the morning, and then two sessions of breakouts, and then lunch in the middle.

So, lots of time to come and meet women. Absolutely. So, often. One of the frustrations for women that I speak to is I just don't know where to meet other women. Yes.

So there are going to be 700 women there on the second. Absolutely. So come with your eyes wide open, introduce yourself. Maybe you'll make some friends. It's such a great event.

I've been really enjoying it.

So you can register online at oasisministriesnc.com.

So oasisministries NC, because we're in North Carolina, dot com. On the homepage, it has all the instructions for how to register. It's $50 for the day. Right now we have early discounted registration, so jump on there sooner than later, and you'll also get your priority. um options for breakout sessions.

So it's a great day. You don't want to miss it. Tell us the details of Collides Conference.

Okay, because we have two of your spring weekends or Saturdays waiting for you. Yes.

Collides Conference. On April the 18th, and it's from 9 to 2. We're going to have some amazing worship with Collide's worship team, which is just phenomenal. And then Alicia here is going to be one of our keynote speakers, and she's bringing us an amazing message on purpose and courage. and excited about that.

And then um We have a comedian, Michelle Miller, who I'm so excited to hear live. I've never heard her live. She just happens to be in town taking a break from her Aspire Women's Tour. She's been on Dry Bar Comedy and Naked Night Moms and Dr. Oz.

And so I'm very excited to hear her.

So she's going to be our kind of middle of the day. And then we do have lunch. and child care is provided. Um Child care provided on site? Yes.

Okay. It has provided birth to three years old on site. And then the YAG and Y is actually going to partner with us for a four and up.

So they're providing the child care.

So that's so we do have that provided. Thank you, Yak and Wye. Yes, they're wonderful. But you can sign up and find out more about it. You can go to collidechurch.com.

C-O-L-L-I-D-E church.com. and go under events and you can find the link there to register. or you can go to Facebook. And find Collide Women's Ministry and find out all the information you'll need to. register on there.

But two great events And you'll get to see Alicia at both of them. And you will, you'll see me at both of them too, yes. But I think it's just going to be incredible times of connection and learning and worship. I'm just excited to see what God's going to do. Carly, I'm going to ask you a personal question.

Sure. Uh what are you hoping that God will do in your life? in you through you in the next year. And the next year. Um I definitely didn't tell you that question.

I know. I'm gonna have to think about it for a second. There's a lot of things, but I would say. Because the idea of scene has been rambling around in my mind for the last few weeks. I would say that I hope he teaches me how how to see others, how to really see Anyone that needs me to stop and speak to them, anyone that needs me to offer, you know, prayer and ministry.

I hope, you know, that across my life, That that Blades through. I love that. Yeah. Well, I'm hoping that the Lord will just draw me to Him because sometimes I'm very good at being a human doing. Yes.

And not so much a human being. And so sometimes I just need to draw back to His heart and live out of that. Yes.

Well, thanks for listening today. Carly, thanks for being on here with me. Absolutely. Have a great rest of your day. Have a good day.

Bye. Truth, talk lie.