And if our GOD is for us......

Our God is greater, our God is stronger,

God you are higher than any other.
Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God!

Our God!

And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.

warning: you will be so tired of my face after this post. I did the entire atlanta weekend in one! ha! Sorry

This is one of Chris Tomlin's new songs. It became the theme of our weekend...well at least it was the theme for Jenna and I.

Most of you have seen these pics on a number of other blogs so I will not give details to what we did because most of you already know. I do, however, want to spend this time just bragging on the God we serve. From the beginning of my trip He began showing me that He was a very Big GOD that is into the TINIEST of details. We were just along for the ride and it seemed that the more we praised Him for the small things the more He just kept showing off. By Sunday night I was in tears because He had just gone above and beyond what we even knew was possible! And we just love Him so!

I was up around 4.30 am Friday morning. I like to take my time and knew that I needed to be out the door by or before 6.30 so that I had plenty of time to fight the Dallas traffic.

15 minutes into the trip I had just finished some very bold and serious prays when I turned on the radio to Chris Tomlin's new song above. I smiled partly due to my minor crush on him and partly do to the fact that I had just prayed against satan and for God to use this weekend in a MIGHTY WAY. Our GOD IS GREAT, our GOD IS STRONGER....i sang at the top of my lungs! I was so pumped to be apart of this weekend away.

And then I hit stand still traffic on all sides. I mean NOT MOVING AT ALL! I was still downtown and knew I still had a bit of a drive to go. But I refused to let myself get upset over something I could not control. So I sat patiently. An hour later I was still sitting. At this point I was about to go crazy. sent out a text for others to pray I did not miss my flight, called the parents (didn't cry or go crazy) and then I said out loud........"YOU, OH GOD, ARE GOD OVER THIS TERRIBLE TRAFFIC. YOU ARE GOD OF THIS MESS AND I PRAY IN JESUS NAME THAT YOU MOVE IT!" hahahhaha. I was about 30 min away from my flight leaving and I was still sitting. And then the waters parted and I hauled it (driving too fast I will admit), parked my car nearest the check in area, not even worrying that it was going to cost me an arm and a leg, jumped out and RAN RAN RAN to yes, the wrong check in area. THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE. Turned around and ran to the next place. Threw them my suitcase, grabbed my ticket, skipped all the people in the security line, and was at my gate with 5 minutes to spare.

I had made my flight. It was then and there that I clearly understood what CT's song was saying..."If our God is for us, then who can stand against us". My trip to Atlanta was anointed on many levels and I was not in control. God was in control and wanted me to know that He did not need my help to make this trip great.....because He was gonna make it Great!!!!!!!! and He was not going to let satan at us!

anyway, I got in to ATL and did not realize that you could take the tram thing and I walked the ENTIRE length of the Atlanta Airport. ha. i was sweating so bad by the time I found Jenna and Faith!!! I was so glad to see them!!!! We screamed!

Jenna



faith


this pic by the baggage claim 4 is special because my luggage did not arrive with my flight. apparently "throwing your luggage at the person and running to catch a flight" is not really the best thing to do ha. Good news is that it was on the next flight and would be there in 45 min! PRAISE GOD!

so we hung out, got a drink and talked! IT was soooooooo GOOD to meet Faith face to face!

Then Megan Tree arrived and we got to give her a big hug!!!



We then met up with Erin and decided to go have a lunch snack with them while we waited for all the other bloggers to arrive.

Faith and Jenna are amazing! They drove us all over Atlanta ALL WEEKEND!! we are all so thankful to them for being so kind to us!

We met up with Erin and Megan at Chickfila where we got to relax and get in some good convo time before the craziness began! I enjoyed both of them so very much!



megan and faith


then Jenna drove Faith and I to a darling shopping area in downtown. I forget the name but it was SO BEAUTIFUL and had the best shops!


I had not been with Jenna since Oct so she was overdo for me to make her take funny pictures! She is just a doll! I love her!

hahahhahhah this one makes me laugh

later that evening we went back to the airport to get the AR girls.

Kelly, Laurie, Jennifer, Amanda, and Hillary



it was pretty late and we were all STARVING so they took us to this great city landmark....The Varsity. Old diner like place and kinda looks like Sonic got its drive up idea from them. It has been around for like 80 year, i think, and they yell at you "What'll ya have", ha! It is all great fried food and I loved it!

i tried their famous onion rings and chili cheese dog! YUM YUM

Here we are with our cute Varsity hats! ha.

we then hit the road north-ish for our hotel room. It was late and I was starting to feel my 4.30 am in a real bad way. But I was still so excited to see other friends! I first spotted Betsy sitting by the pool, yelled her name and ended up scaring her to death hahahahha. I was sooooo excited to meet Betsy and her daughter Ashley. They are the most full of life people I know! So precious!

We got checked in and then some of the girls came by our room to chat. Here is my Jill, Faith, Jenna, Mandi, Betsy, Kelly and me. It was loud and fun and felt like we had all known each other for years. It was perfect!



Went to bed REALLY LATE and got up really early. Left hotel and headed for.......



First Baptist WOODSTOCK!

here are a bunch of the girls walking in. the weather was kinda crazy but held off till we were inside. PTL

There were women EVERYWHERE! ha. here is the overflow chapel which is like the size of two
of my church inside ha.

hear we are right before we all started meeting our other blog friends and readers! I am just going to list the photos and not add words because there are many ok!

ashley and betsy

laurie, amanda, mandi, and jennifer

this is Jill, their Mom, and Joy. I met Joy and Mom at the Memphis LPL. I love this family. Joy has been such an encouragement to me with her sweet emails and Jill is like an old soul. She is one of those people you are just drawn to..do you know what I mean? funny, beautiful, lovely.......they are a wonderful family!

hillary

Jennifer

Julia, lives in the area and is another one of my very first blog friends! I have prayed for her so many times. She is about to give birth to her second baby! She was so precious and it was just a huge highlight for me to see her!





Then the conference began! I have so much to share on what I learned. I will share all that soon I am sure.

We had a lunch break and got to meet a few more friends. Jenna using the famous Freeze it hair spray in the bathroom ha

i borrowed this pic. I just loved it!


Jenna and her mom Deb! I love reading about what her parents are up to so it was a full circle moment so meet the famous Deb.

Beth and her daughter Melissa came over to the overflow room and did a question and answer time. It was fun and interesting to hear the funny stories Melissa told about her parents.






can i just say that my favorite time on sat was always when we got to all worship together. I cried several times as we sang because I was so grateful to be surrounded by friends that i might not get to see all the time but I love them all the same! It was breathtaking to hear all the voices!

We then said our goodbyes to others and got in the car for our 2 hour traffic ride to leave the church ha! It was perfect quality time for Jenna, Mandi, Jennifer, Kelly and I to talk through the day and the people we met.

We then headed to Copeland's. It was my first time there and I LOVED IT!!!!!!

this pic of Joy makes me laugh. The girls were doing funny poses and I missed getting Joy being silly but still got this cute shot of her getting tickled with herself!

here we all are. notice the guy waving in the window!!!!!! hahahhahahhahahahhaha who does that hahahaha. so funny.

it was then back to the hotel for pj's and lounging. Jennifer, Joy, Jill, Mandi and her boys came over and we just hung out before saying goodnight. I got to hold Mandi's precious baby boy for awhile and it was so delightful. plus he smelled heavenly!!!!

here is jenna with one of my headbands! doesn't she look soooooo cute

Sunday morning came way to fast. as you can see in this pic, I am still in my pj's with a cardigan on hahahahah. no makeup either ha! It was sad to say goodbye. Some of these women have been my blog friends since the day I started. I am just so grateful for them and what they mean to me!

after the sad goodbye's, Jenna and I were back on the road to find a new home to stay for sunday night. We had passed a SpringHill Suites right by the airport. I love SpringHill because we all stayed there when my sister got married! They are super nice, big rooms, and a great breakfast!

So we called and they said that we could go ahead and check in at 8.30 am and they would not charge us extra time. Another praise.

The hotel was very new and very modern. Jenna and I screamed when we saw our room!!!!!! It was the size of like 4 hotel rooms!!!!

it was HUGE! and I mean huge and it reminded me of a hotel in Tokyo. It was so cool. ha. We went downstairs and pigged out on breakfast and then took my pic in the lobby to show that I was matching the hotel. Another blessing in our long line of God blessing!

we stayed in our beds for HOURS on sunday. watching movies and falling in and out of sleep. We snacked and then started getting read for church that night at PASSION CITY CHURCH!!!!!!!

Here is Jenna getting the gps thing ready! i was soooooooo nervous. So we started the trip off with CT's same song that we had been singing all weekend. "our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other".........all the while I thought I might go crazy.

side note: a lot of us used some kind of fake tanning before Atlanta. What was funny is that we all had these bad areas and patches of white on us! it was so funny...here is Atlanta in the background and Jenna's crazy tanned hand ha! Oh it kept us humble. Plus half of us woke up on Friday morning broken out on our faces hahahahhaha. It was just funny how it was happening to so many of us. crazy tan, crazy skin!

we praise and worshiped while we drove to church....and then we saw our exit......and I started getting so nervous!

Passion City Church doesn't have a building till June, I believe, so they have been meeting random places. Sunday it was here.......

Here is their gym where i would hear louie and meet Chris!

Jenna waiting and putting up with my craziness

me.....when i get nervous I tend to stop talking. (shocking i know) We got there so early that I had some time to just sit and pray. I just didn't want to be going to meet Christ Tomlin. I mean, I was going to church and I wanted to learn something and praise God in a real way minus the fact that I would get to meet Chris or not meet him.

When we were about to go in we saw Matt Redman outside and his wife. that was cool! We walked in and I then became pretty calm about the entire thing. Whatever the Lord did I would be ok with it. Here is Jenna and I waiting. She got some good inside photos that I don't have.

while waiting, I looked over to my left and there Chris T was. I was like "jenna there he is". At first I was in shock, and then excited and then i asked jenna if she thouht he spray tanned. The lighting made him look really dark hahahhahaaa.

He got up on stage and started sharing info and then said he would not be singing but that Matt R. would be leading worship. The first second my heart was so sad and then in the next second I was thanking God for yet another answered prayer. i would be able to worship HIM fully and not just pretend to worship Him while I stared at Chris. See, Chris was 4 rows up and to my left but I was still able to be in the boundaries that allow me to keep my worship on Christ and not on a man. It was a HUGE thing for me. A huge act of love from God to me. Did that make sense? CT is just a man. I kid about him and stuff but he is just a man that belongs to God and being used by God. That's it. and it's so good for us to remember that about people. that they are real and without the grace of God on their lives they would be somewhere completly different and we would not be drawn to them.

anyway, it was an amazing time. Louie had a wonderful message about us being the doorkeepers...holding the doors open as we allow God to use us to usher others into His presence.

and we had more worship time and matt began to sing CT's song "and if our God is for us, then who can stand against us". It was amazing because the very song that had become our theme song was now right in front of us and I could not help but shout it out!

and then i got to meet him. Mr. Chris Tomlin. I walked over and a guy was already talking with him. So totally made eye contact with him a few times and patiently waited my turn.

I introduced myself. talked 90 miles an hour while feeling the pressure that others had started to gather around me. I can't remember all I said. I was just talking fast and no I did not ask him to marry me (would never do that), did not tell him that we both graduated from high schools about 10 min from each other, did not tell him that I kid about him on twitter all the time. No i did not! I just tried to play it cool! Which if you know me......i don't have any "coolness" about me. I am just like loud and foolish. Oh well! He was kind and took a pic with me. I thought I was gonna pass out hahahahhaha! I know my different smiles in pics and this smile above is my "i have a double chin and chris tomlins arm is around me.....i think i might scream or panic...will he catch me???". haha. Jenna had to help me out of the building hahahahhaa. jk

I was very calm when we got outside. I think Jenna was worried that I was somehow let down. I was just still in shock. I had gone in with ZERO expectations. I knew that I could be there and still not get to meet him. But God just made a very clear way. I was so overwhelmed but all He had done for me that weekend that I screamed at the top of my lungs like 5 times in the car. Poor Jenna. I think she thought I had lost my mind!

After my screaming I then began to just sob hahahhahha. And i mean big time tears....this is all while we are just in the car in the parking lot! I think it was built up emotion and graditude for meeting dear blog readers and friends and then getting to meet CT. I just cried and cried and then I could not stop sneezing and within minutes I had a cold. It was crazy weird but at that point I was praising God so much that I could care less if I felt bad!

see the tear filled red eyes hahahahhahahhaha



Here is the school's Forum Gym thing as we drove away. Oh the memories


I have to add this picture, below, because Jenna looks like she is the First Lady of the United States or something hahahahhhaha. She looks beautiful. I cried talking to her in the car because she is such a true picture of a friend. She would have jumped on CT if it meant that I could meet him. She drove me around and stayed an extra night all so i could go to Passion City Church. She did all that for me and I was so grateful to her.

After talking to several people we then headed to eat mexican food. I was so on another planet that I could hardly eat but drank the largest Coke of my life. Then it was time for bed.



Monday morning we were back up and headed to the airport. Here is our last picture for awhile! I love Jenna Babe!!!! and here is a very short video of a few things from the weekend. I think it is funny! You can see other bloggers in it too!

ATLANTA from chughes on Vimeo.

if you even made it to this point....hahhahahhahahahhah I want you to know that I loved being in Atlanta. I love that God kept anwsering prayers of all sizes and continued to show Himself in multiple ways. This trip would have been a disaster had His hand not been on it! I want to thank all my dear reader friends that came up to talk with me. I know it may have been awkward for you but know that I was blessed by you and your beautiful faces. Thank you for even taking the time to read.

I want to tell my fellow blog friends that I love you each.........all for very different reasons. Some are so sweet, some are amazing mothers, some are amazing wives, some so very transparent, some so funny I start crying, some are bold, and they all have a very real love for God. That is what I see in them most. I am so glad that you have shared your friendship with me!

I will share more later on all things of the heart. Just know that I needed this weekend. I needed to be around women of all ages and from all walks of life. They understand this blog world and how special it can be. I am just thankful that God allowed so many of us to come together and I am glad that is was centered around setting us free from our insecurity! He is a wonderful God! Thank you for praying for us!

I love you and I will talk with you very soon!