Moved at Momheart & New Outlook on Friendship

So, as most of you know, I got to go to the Mom Heart Conference this past weekend. It was my first time to get to go because of my child needing me every single day of the year ((I soon learned though how much I need her too!))
I mainly wanted to go because I thought that maybe if I go and do everything with my friends, maybe it could make me closer to my friends- that didn't really happen though. But what God showed me through that entire experience was so much more than I could have ever imagined and I walked away with a renewed heart on fire- which turned out to be what I have really been needing this entire time.
I learned that it is good to have friends, but to not put your friendships before The Lord. God even went so far as to put me in a real life situation to illustrate what he has been trying to tell me- and two days after it happened it hit me like a ton of bricks and all I could do was just praise Him and give him glory for that. So here is that little story:
Friday morning we all loaded up to go to Irving for the conference. Since I couldn't be away from my child, I had to take her with me as well as my mom to hang out with her in our hotel room. A friend decided to ride with us so I wouldn't be too much out of the group that was going and we followed another friend who was hauling the rest of the group in her vehicle. Now, I love that friend dearly and she is one of the biggest encouragements in my life- but she drives extremely fast! (Haha!) I had no idea where I was going once we got into Dallas and was trying to find her who was always 6 or 7 cars ahead of me. Everyone in my car was in a panic, as was I. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. We lost her. So I had to pull over while we tried to reach her and some others in her car to see where they were going. No real luck there either. So I decided to google the conference and get the directions from the site and punch it in on my GPS. Once we did that, we were there within 5 minutes.
What The Lord showed me from that situation really came to me Sunday between church services and it went something like this:
There I was trying to get where I need to go (Jesus) but I was trying to follow someone who was way ahead of me (my friend) so much that I couldn't pay attention to anything going on around me- thus putting me and my carload in danger. Whereas, if I would have just stuck to my map (the bible) and really payed attention to everything God was doing in my own life- I would get to Jesus with much less frustration. Though we are on the same path to The Lord, she is far more mature than me and has different convictions too. So my lesson was to seek Jesus myself and to stop trying to compare myself to others- no matter how awesome and sweet they are to you. God's plans for you may be different than His plans for them and I would hate for you to miss out on the blessings He has for you because you were too busy trying to be someone else other than who he created you to be.

That was just one of the many things that I gleaned from that weekend. I know that since then, I have been so much more faithful to not just know the word but to actually BE in the word. And I am already seeing fruit! It is so amazing what God does when you lay everything at his feet and tell him "do with this/me what you want!"
As far as friendships go, Molli and I (she now LOVES for me to read her the bible.. This morning she flat out said "I want you to read bible to me!!!") were reading out of Mark chapter 2 the other day and there was a devotional at the top of the page about friends with special needs and them importance of including them in worship and being good friends to them. For those who may not know that story, Jesus was teaching in this house and all these people gathered around. Well there was this paralyzed guy and his friends were so motivated and dedicated to bringing their friend to Jesus that they cut a hole in the roof and lowered him down on a mat so that Jesus could heal him. Now THAT is a friendship. Loving your friends so much that when you see that they have a need- take them to Jesus! And that goes for any need! When I first read that devotional, it made me start hoping that my disabled child have those kinds of friends as she grows up. But NOW I am like, "wow! We ALL need those kinds of friends!". Instead of wanting to discuss my problems with friends and get their sympathy or understanding- I want them to point me to Jesus. Even if its to carry me on a mat and drop me through the roof! Haha!
Moral of my post:
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. That's all I need. HE will make everything else fall into where HE wants them to be!!
Blessings to you all!