On Saturday night I attended the Dare To Be Women’s Conference in Ashburn Virginia. My neighbor invited me to the event months ago and while I really didn’t feel like going the night before the event, I could feel it in my heart that God was going to speak to me at the event. Dare to Be was started by Christian singer Natalie Grant and speaker and Pastor Charlotte Gambill and it is an event designed for women to dare to be the women God intended us to be. It’s designed for us to step out of our comfort zone and take risks to trust Him, wholly and completely. From the Dare to Be website: This event is designed to speak directly to the part of you that tends to shy away from stepping out into the unknown. God is calling you on an adventure that is unlike anyone else’s journey—it is designed specifically for you! This is a journey that you don’t want to miss. It is yours to experience with your Creator.
Yeah. So when I first agreed to attend I thought I was signing up for a Natalie Grant concert. I figured I’d go and listen to some songs, get to worship God, and go back home to my nice comfortable house and my nice comfortable husband and my nice comfortable life.
Not so much.
As it turns out, God spoke to me at this event in a way I never could have imagined. It’s true that I’m in a much better place in my walk with God than I was even six months ago but Saturday night blew me away. I live in and for my comfort zone. I almost backed out of the concert because going out with a neighbor I really don’t know all that well is out of my comfort zone. I only recently began bringing God and my faith into conversations at work because up until recently I didn’t want to run the risk of possibly having to explain my faith or my God and step out of my comfort zone and have someone actually maybe think something different of me. “Risk” is one of those four letter words I don’t speak – I tend to describe myself as risk averse. I get heart palpitations when I think about doing something that scares me. So sitting in the audience at this conference and listening to Charlotte tell of the disciples who actually literally dropped everything when a man they didn’t know walked up to them and said, “Follow Me,” and hearing her dare us to do the same thing made my heart rate accelerate and my palms start to sweat.
Think about it. A stranger walks up to you and says, “Follow Me.” There’s no interview, there’s no career path, there’s no benefits package or travel allowance or 401K. Heck – you don’t even know where you’re going or what you’re doing! And yet – you follow Him. You drop your nets, all you’ve ever known, and you follow Him.
Can I do that? Can I stand up with my arms outstretched and say to Jesus, “Here I am. Send me.” (Isa 6:8) We don’t often know what it is God is calling us to do – and even if we know the “what”, rarely do we know the “how”. That’s where faith comes in. Do I have the faith to drop my nets and follow Jesus wherever He leads me? I can. I want to.
Here I am, Lord. Send me.
Bear Family Strong 
I’m glad you had a good time at the conference. We missed you at the Pampering Day on Saturday but it sounds like the conference was what you needed now. Wish we all could have been there with you!