But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6

I woke up with this scripture on my mind. I thought it apropos given the aftermath of the Allume Conference and Hurricane Sandy.

Courtesy of Kurt Wilberding

It was a blessing to be able to attend the Allume Conference and finally meet Tricia Goyer (who is an absolute sweetheart), Mary DeMuth, Sarah Markley, Sarah Mae, Jessica Heights, Christin Slade, Kelly Thorne Gore, Rachel Wojnarowski, Christy Stroud from Tyndale Publishers, Revell Publishers, Zondervan Publishers and so many other wonderful people.

We drove three hours to get to Pennsylvania, checked in and headed over to register. I was given a beautiful bag filled with goodies.

It was my first time attending this conference, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I was definitely excited with the line up.

Darren Rowse (a.k.a. ProBlogger) and Ann Voskamp were on the top of my list. I never heard either one of them speak before.

I was really touched by what Darren Rowse shared at his key note. He didn’t speak about how to make money with your blog, but more about his testimony and faith.

I enjoyed listening to Sarah Mae and Jessica Heights key notes as well. I love their hearts.

My hat goes off to Sarah, Jessica and their entire team for all their hard work and pulling off such an amazing conference. It truly was a success.

After awhile, it began to feel more like a Christian woman’s conference than a blogger’s conference which was refreshing.

My favorite place was the Prayer Room which was sponsored by The Seed Company.

Courtesy of Laura Gish

Isn’t the prayer room beautiful? I spent my free time there to unplug, pray and write in prayer journals. The Seed Company blessed us royally.

The highlight of this conference for me was hearing Ann Voskamp speak for the first time. I never read Ann Voskamp’s blog or her best selling book, One Thousand Gifts. I only heard wonderful things about her through the grapevine. Now I know what they were all talking about.

Prior to her keynote, there were two videos shown by (In)Courage and Compassion International which moved me. I love to support causes helping disadvantaged children and Compassion International does amazing work.

After the videos, Ann Voskamp began to speak and tears rolled down my face. What she spoke about pierced my heart. I was riveted and touched by her every word. What an anointed woman of God. I pray I could get a copy of her key note, because I want to hear it again. I felt God used her to confirm what He was speaking to my heart throughout the conference.

Unfortunately, I had to abruptly leave right after she spoke due to Hurricane Sandy. We left and drove home to prepare for the impending storm. I do not believe I have to reiterate how devastating this hurricane was to our city. It was truly unprecedented. Please keep us in your prayers.

I am grateful the Lord is still in control and on the throne. Despite the devastation, I chose to see rainbows in the midst of the storm. I continue to pray for all those who were affected.

Please let me know how I can pray for you today. Please leave your prayers in the comment section below.