Knitting at the ACFW Conference

Two conferences ago, at the ACFW Conference in Minneapolis, I had a life-changing conversation with one of my author friends, Allie Pleiter. I'd been watching another friend, Camy Tang, knit, and the thought of knitting fascinated me. But I didn't imagine myself having the time or ability to knit, so I never pursued it. However, Allie explained how knitting helps her pay attention. And I got to thinking that maybe I should try it.

I learned how to knit. And I loved it. True to Allie's word, knitting helped my concentration. I'm not the best knitter, nor am I the fastest knitter. But it gives me a sense of satisfaction and completion that sometimes eludes me when I'm having a hard time with my writing. I began knitting in classes, at conferences, and yes, even in church.

Knitting at the Denver Conference was a blessing I can't even describe, even nearly a year later. I learned a lot. I also developed and deepened a lot of great friendships. I even got to knit with Debbie Macomber, who is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. We even spent part of an evening trying to teach John Olson how to knit. One of the things I found most interesting was how many people commented about how much they wished they had brought their knitting or crocheting.

My encouragement to all of you is that if you do something like knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch, or something else that's easy to bring along, bring it! And if you see me knitting, you won't have to wish you brought yours. You can take a seat next to me and knit along. I love meeting new knitting friends.

For more fun tips and information about the upcoming ACFW conference, you can visit these blogs:
Rick Acker http://rickacker.blogspot.com/ 6-Jun
Kit Wilkinson http://www.kitwilkinson.com/ & http://www.acfw.com/blog 6-Jun
Randy Ingermanson http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com/blog 7-Jun
Gayle Roper http://www.acfw.com/blog 7-Jun
Chip MacGregor http://chipmacgregor.com/ 8-Jun
Robin Miller http://www.robinswritingworld.blogspot.com/ 8-Jun
Terri Blackstock http://www.acfw.com/blog 9-Jun
Trish Perry http://trishperry.blogspot.com/ 9-Jun
Danica Favorite McDonald http://danicafavorite.blogspot.com/ 10-Jun
Susan May Warren http://susanmaywarren.typepad.com/scribbles/ 10-Jun
Colleen Coble http://girlswriteout.blogspot.com 11-Jun
Erica Vetsch http://onthewritepath.blogspot.com/ 11-Jun

A Sleepless Night

I started a super long post, then realized I sound like I'm rambling and whining. Which I probably was. So I deleted it.

Instead, I'll just say I can't sleep tonight. My feelings were hurt deeply today, and to make it worse, someone who did something very bad to me a long time ago decided to try to re-enter my life like nothing ever happened. I realized that as much as I think I have my life figured out, I don't. I'm just me. Floating around in this crazy world doing the best I can.

That probably doesn't make any sense. It's not supposed to. If it did, I'd be sound asleep instead of wide awake.

The comfort I find as I question and try to sort things out is that while I am completely uncertain as to where I stand on the plane of humanity, there is one place where I know the ground is completely firm. I know that God loves me. He sees every facet to who I am, all my weaknesses, all my flaws, all my sins, and He still chooses to love me, exactly as I am.

And I guess, as much as I don't know about a lot of things, I do know that all I really need to know is what I do know. Try saying that ten times fast.

So now I'm going to bed. My feelings are still hurt. And I still want to punch that one person in the gut for well, a lot of things. But I can at least sleep securely knowing God's love. If you're awake and reading this, I hope you know that God loves you too. Whatever your flaws. Whatever thing in your life that's keeping you awake. He sees it. And loves you anyway. So go to sleep, and get some rest.