This weekend, our church had a women’s conference. The speaker was Angela Thomas who just happens to be hy.ster.i.cal. The music was amazing and there was chocolate everywhere. Who could ask for more, right?

Clearly, however, there is something wrong with me because my thoughts went a little something like this:

Oooo, I love this song.

Yes, Lord.

Hey, I wonder where she got that shirt.

Oh, there is the sign language section. 

Am I the only woman alive who doesn’t own a pair of boots?

Are we supposed to be praying?

I wonder what the kids are doing.

Did I tell my mom to give the baby her medicine?

I love this passage.

That is a good point she just made.

Did I remember to thaw out the meat for dinner?

Do we turn the clocks back tonight or is that next week?

What? It’s over? I’m not ready for it to end. 

The thing is – I am rarely away from my kids. Even when I have a chance to run an errand by myself, one of them begs to go and I usually take them. And that is okay.

But then, I get to go to a conference and the whole time I’m just kind of enjoying the time away. I’m content to just sit there and breathe for a moment. I can laugh with a friend. I can enjoy a leisurely lunch without sharing my cookie. My brain may be mush and I may not be able to take in every point that was intended, but I can sit and enjoy the sounds of six hundred women praising.

I’ve heard women say that they just aren’t the “women’s conference” type. Here’s the thing, though. There is no type. You just show up. Maybe you arrive with your own special journal and colored pens ready to write down every word. Maybe, like me, you rush out of the house leaving a crying baby behind and you just hope you are fully dressed. Either way, God has a way to speak to each heart.

And it works the same way when we approach God in our living rooms or on our lunch breaks. You just need to show up. Open his word. Ask him for wisdom and discernment. Whether you have your perfect Instagram photo with the pretty coffee mug sitting next to your Bible opened to the page with the most highlights or you are desperately trying to read just one verse on your Bible app before the kids come and hunt you down – God knows how to speak to you.

Just show up.