Today It's About Me Time

I am so stoked today! This afternoon I will be meeting up with about 100 pastor's wives and women in ministry from around the country...we are all going to connect at "Armed and Dangerous", a 3-day retreat just for the gals!!

Yesterday I was in Walmart and was getting butterflies just thinking about being at the retreat and kept laughing at how silly I felt...it was kind of like the same feeling I had before Christmas Day as a little girl...that excitement and anticipation of knowing that I was going to get something great but not sure of exactly what! Yeah, I did say "get" this time...what I AM GOING TO GET!!! It's a little strange for me to think like this, however I'm looking at this trip as a gift from my father, God, to me, his daughter.

So I am planning to laugh a lot. I plan to connect with as many women as I can. I plan to listen and gain from the experiences of others. I plan to learn and be open to new things. I plan to eat good food and rest when I can. And I plan to seek God for His real purpose for me being in Nashville this week. Ultimately, I plan to bask in the gift of "me time".  Ahhh...just the sound of it...soooo good!

A Tribute to My She-Friends

Wow-wie do I have some really incredible friends in my life!  Are you experiencing this same thing?  Well I wrote a little  tribute to all of those amazing she-friends in our lives...I think it'll have a familiar ring...


...She knows what I am going through. She sits down and sends me a card. She picks up the phone and calls me. She spends time with me in conversation.  She talks. She listens. She shares. She can hear what I am saying. She laughs when I laugh. She cries when I cry. She tells me she cares. She is compassionate. She encourages. She completely understands me. She knows my quirks. She holds me accountable. She loves me for who I am. She stops her life and lends her shoulder when I am hurting. She supports my passions. She is patient when I rant and rave. She is an encourager and inspires me. She loves me despite my flaws. She makes my world a better place. She is wonderful. She is my friend. 

Thanks To The Women On My Journey. . .

Some of the wonderful women
on my journey

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I'd like to share with you one of my all time favorite poems and thank every women who had an effect on my life, in both positive ways and in negative. . .

. . .you have made me so much stronger.

To The Women On My Journey

Who showed me the ways to go and ways not to go,
Whose strength and compassion held up a torch of light  

and beckoned me to follow,
Whose weakness and ignorance darkened the path and
encouraged me to turn another way.


To the women on my journey
Who showed me how to live and how not to live,
Whose grace, success, and gratitude lifted me
into the fullness of surrender to God,
Whose bitterness, envy, and wasted gifts warned me
away from the emptiness of self-will.

To the women on my journey
Who showed me what I am and what I am not,
Whose love, encouragement, and confidence held me
tenderly and nudged me gently,
Whose judgment, disappointment, and lack of faith called
me to deeper levels of commitment and resolve.

To the women on my journey

who taught me love by means of both darkness and light,

To these women I say bless you and thank you

from the depths of my heart,

for I have been healed and set free

through your joy and through your sacrifice.

Rev. Melissa M. Bowers