When thousands of women meet in one place to praise God, study his Word and apply it to their lives, Satan is not too happy. He gets out his flaming arrows, and has a bit of target practice. And this weekend, he hit a few of those targets.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Mum, sister and I went to Sistas over the weekend. Another friend from church (Sandra) also came with us. We travelled together in mum’s car, and stayed in a motel in Manurewa. The conference was awesome – great music, great speakers, great fellowship. We learned so much, and had a fantastic time.

But Satan tried to steal our joy. He tried to rob us of the blessings we received. How did he do that?

1) I had a horrible head cold from the first day of the conference. A sore throat and throbbing headaches which lasted all day and all night. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me from having a good time.

2) Our motel was awful. Dirty and awful. Other ladies from the conference were also staying there, and they had FLEAS in their beds!

3) On Saturday night, mum’s car was stolen from outside Valentines restaurant in Manukau. We had a 2h dinner break, so decided to meet up with another friend (Glenys) and her two daughters (Shelley and Lisa). We were in the restaurant from 6-7pm, but when we got outside, mum’s car was gone.
Thankfully we all had our wallets and phones with us in the restaurant, but my second bag was in the car. It contained my journal, all my conference notes, 2 new CDs, sunglasses and some other bits and pieces. Sandra’s bag was also in there, and it held her cheque book, make-up, glasses, conference notes, a CD and a conference T-shirt worth $45! Leah had left a plastic bag with a new CD in it.
Of course Mum was really upset and we were all in shock. But we decided right then and there that we were NOT going to let Satan get to us, so we went straight back to the conference and carried on!

4) When we arrived home, I got a horrible tummy bug. I spent all day yesterday in bed (apart from frequent trips to the bathroom). Later I discovered that Glenys and Shelley had the same thing! We are not sure if it was from something we ate at Valentines, or just a bug.

But despite all that, I’m determined to fight. I’m not going to let any of the things that happened over the weekend rob me of what I got out of the conference. Because I know that’s what Satan is trying to do. He’s trying to fill my mind with thoughts like “poor me” and “why is this happening to me?” so that I will forget the things I have learned. No way, jose! I’m not forgetting a single thing. I may have lost all the notes I took, but God has already helped bring those things back to my mind.

For me, one of the most challenging messages at Sistas was how to get rid of a critical and negative mindset. It’s something I struggle with, but I’m determined to change my thinking. I’m not going to focus on the negative things. Did you know that 77% of what we think and hear is negative? That’s not what I want for my life, and it’s not what God wants for my life. His power can’t work in me if I am critical and negative. I’ve made a conscious decision to change my attitude, to spend more time thinking about positive things, and less time being critical and judgemental.

I will NOT be allowing the “bad” things that have happened over the past few days to overshadow the good things!! I am NOT giving up!