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by Captain Catherine Boyd –
“Lord, Lift Me Up!” was the theme and corporate prayer of more than 200 women gathered in Spokane, Wash., recently, for the Northwest Division Women’s Ministries Conference. From the Friday night opening session, when the women wrote their hopes for the weekend on kites, to the morning closing ceremony, where prayers were sent aloft on the wings of dozens of doves, the weekend was an uplifting experience for all involved.
Mary Glenn Peeples, plenary speaker, shared the message of Christians “Living Above Your Circumstances” with a unique blend of Southern wit and down-to-earth application of Scripture. Major Nancy Martinez, Santa Ana corps officer, was the guest speaker for the Spanish-speaking attendees, and Stacie Buchanan Brown, M.S., M.F.T., shared her testimony and perspective from a counselor’s point of view in “How to Stay Up in a Down World.”
Saturday workshops covered a wide variety of subjects from lifting up eyes in prayer to lifting feet in exercise of holy humor. Saturday evening’s elegant dinner was followed by an often hilarious trip around the world (“in 80 minutes or less!”).
The “Reality of Christianity in a Woman’s World” was the challenge presented by Peeples on Sunday morning. The mercy seat was lined with women committing themselves to take up this challenge. Lt. Colonel Janice Buchanan, director of Women’s Organizations, led the closing ceremony by the river’s edge, just outside the meeting room. Doves flying in the clear blue sky punctuated the prayers of women gathered in small groups.