A week ago at this time, I was driving home from The Gospel Coalition's Women's conference in Indianapolis. I attended the conference with my friend Meredith, and we met up with our friend Kristen, along with several other friends, old and new, while we were there.

It was such a life-giving and affirming experience for me, and I enjoyed reconnecting with friends from my days at Beeson nearly as much as I appreciated the Biblical teaching I received. It was a welcomed and much-needed reprieve from daily life.

But from the moment I dove back into the real world craziness of life as a mom of two active little girls, I've caught myself wondering if the weekend away was really real.

Did I really listen to Don Carson give a Christian response to suffering in this day and age? Did I really receive sound parenting advice from Jen Wilkin on raising children to be different from the world? Did I really hear my friend Betsy Childs Howard propose a Biblical viewpoint for approaching all our periods of waiting? Did I really get to meet and hear about the work of several recent Beeson grads for TGC and Proverbs 31 Ministries?

The answer, of course, is that yes, the conference really did happen. I really was there, and I really was encouraged and renewed by the people that I met and the messages that I heard. 

But in the midst of swim team practice and playdates with friends and preparing for Limitless and ohmyword catching up on the laundry and figuring out what in the world we're going to eat for supper and balancing the checkbook and paying bills, it seems so very far away. 

The good news, though, is that TGC has uploaded all of the conference media to their site, and I can listen any time I want to remember. There are several sessions that I know I want to revisit, and I'm looking forward to doing that over the coming days and weeks.

Conferences and camps and trips are always fun, but our faith is lived out in the real world. I'm thankful to TGC for giving me a piece of the conference to bring with me into this everyday ordinary life.

Until next time, grace and peace.