Hope and I got to retreat to KY this past weekend for some girl time and to attend a very special event - The Women of Joy Conference. This was a first for both of us and we enjoyed our time together very much.
Hope was probably more excited than I was, mainly due to the guest speaker she would hear on Friday evening - Sarah Palin. The WOJ conference was sold out at Louisville. Last year 5000 attended the event. This year - there were over 16,000 women in attendance!
We were all surprised and Sarah was delighted that the media was banned from attending or entering this event. There were some reporters present, because the Louisville paper had a recap of the speech the following morning. But those reporters had to purchase tickets well in advance just like the rest of us, if they wanted to hear the speech.
Sarah's speech was not a political one, although she did make a couple of political points. Instead her speech focused on being a good mom, wife, and citizen. Her speech lasted nearly an hour. She had no notes that I could see, no telepromptor, and was never at a loss of words. The only time she bumbled her words, was as she tried to call out all the names of her children. All moms can certainly relate to that! She did show a couple of words scrawled on her hand with a Sharpie - and joked about this being the "poor man's telepromptor."
She shared some of her mom experiences. Like boarding a plane and noticing baby food on her suit, and realizing what she thought was her laptop bag, was actually her diaper bag. She also shared that in though times, all she has to fall back on is her faith and prayer. Sarah likes to have someone to pray with her before speeches and appearances. She mentioned that just before she was to give her first televised speech (with 40+ million viewers) as McCain's VP running mate, the only person she could find to pray with her was her daughter Piper. She told Piper to "come say a prayer with Mommy, and to ask God to speak through her" to which Piper replied, "MOM, isn't that's cheating?!"
Her main message is that all of us are always just a phone call away from having our world turned upside down. And for Sarah, it was faith that sustained her through a rocky year. Her son was deployed to Iraq, her daughter became pregnant, Sarah found out she was expecting and the child would have Down's syndrome. By the time McCain called her to run for VP, she thought, "Why NOT?"
I could certainly related to Sarah sharing about her questioning God for allowing so much trial and turmoil in her life in a short amount of time. Her faith never waivered, but she couldn't believe what was happening to her family. Often times, I think we are quick to judge those who would question why things are happening to them. But when Sarah finally told her husband Todd that their 5th child would have Down's syndrome, and complained, "Why us?" his gentle response was, "Why not us?" It is obvious she adores that man too :)
I've googled this event and am sad that so many reports focus on one statement she made about not being able to separate religion from government. Of course those news agencies were not present and able to understand the context in which her speech was given . As Christians, WE cannot separate God's presence, His will, and our faith from different segments of our lives. Everything we do, should reflect our faith. But mark my words, this is NOT how her statement is being presented. If she had any chance of running for President in 2012, the media will kill that chance because of this one statement. And that really is too bad.
WORST: Sometimes our lives were just plain "CRAPPY"
