I have had the unique opportunity to say that I have attended every Pink Impact. Each year has been different and yet equally amazing. It is a time for women to make the decision that it is worth the blood, sweat, and tears that it takes to schedule themselves away from home for a few days! Those of us with control type of issues have to mentally decide that the world will go on if our kids have donuts, McDonald’s, pizza, and teeth that aren’t brushed for over 48 hours. 2015 was a year not like any other for me. Over the period of two weekends, 8,000 women gathered to encounter Pink Impact and, more importantly, to encounter God.
For me, each year Pink Impact is packed with a series of teachings that inspire, motivate, and teach me to be a better woman in every area of my being. While the three days include little sleep and lots of stimulation both visually and physically, I leave filled up. I reenter my world ready to be Jesus in any way possible. You could look in the drawers of my bedside table and find my notes from each year. I remember Lisa Bevere speaking about fighting like a girl. I remember Christine Caine sharing the vision of A21. I remember Rita Springer telling about her then 10-month-old son, Justice. I remember Holly Wagner teaching about Proverbs 31:15, teaching us to rise while it is yet night. I remember Pastor Debbie teaching about the woman with the issue of blood. I remember countless dances from Dance Revolution that powerfully proclaimed what I felt in my heart! I remember Blynda Lane throwing on a swimsuit over her clothes to help us visualize how amazing the first Pink Impact Cruise could be. So, you see, I have heard messages that have spanned many years and still take residence in my heart.
For me, 2015 was very different. It was less about the messages and more about God seeing me. It wasn’t the type of experience where you hear your name publicly from the stage for a prophetic message. No. It was about God whispering quietly in my ear that He saw me. And not only that; He saw my son. You see, my youngest son was born with a cleft lip/palate. He started his first year of life with surgeries. Just a few months before the conference, I had been told by a doctor that he would be needing more surgery, and they would be the toughest ones yet.
Duck Dynasty is a popular show, watched by people everywhere. As sad as it sounds, I had not seen it. I knew a little about it and could name and identify Willie and Phil, but I was unsure of who Missy was in reference to the show. Nevertheless, it sounded fun to hear her speak and to hear her perspective of being on the ever-popular show. Little did I know that she would only be a few sentences in before she started telling the difficult story of her daughter and their struggles of surgeries due to her cleft lip/palate. While I know it touched many of the women to hear that her life was not as perfect as they had all probably imagined, I sat and listened with tears rolling down my face as she described her daughter’s recovery. I quickly realized that our precious kids even had the same surgeon. You see, in the sea of women that attend Pink Impact, God was showing me that He saw me. I didn’t need a deep message or a hyped-up camp type of experience (although I often need those times too). I needed to know that God saw my tears. If my life were a never-ending sentence, Pink Impact has become a way for me to use commas to put this life-changing prepositional phrase in the middle. And for me, this phrase completely changes the next part of my sentence.
Pink Impact is a space in time where God’s omnipresence and His omniscience come together to show every woman how He can reach them personally in the most individual way while simultaneously reaching us together as a group. My experience with God is mine, and our experience with God is ours, and they are both equally impacting our walk with Him. While a sentence can be complete without a prepositional phrase, it is not the same sentence. Prepositional phrases often enhance a sentence, and my favorite prepositional phrase each year is “at Pink Impact.”