Understanding God's Plan in Your Suffering

On Saturday November 22, 2008 Fresh Start for Women again hosted and informative and encouraging conference at the Last Day Outreach Christian Center in Covington, GA. The speakers were Minister Willie Bell Pettigrew, leading the discusion on Self-Righteousness - What Did I Do Wrong, Ms. Darlene Sheardon leading the discussion on Friend or Foe and as always founder and CEO Dr. Janice G. Pettigrew with the subject - Your End is Better Than Your Beginning.

The conference used the Book of Job as the backdrop for the dicussions beginning with Minister Pettigrew. Minister Pettigrew left the attendess with some key points to ponder. They included: No matter what you're going through - don't count yourself as a victim but a victor and in the middle of your setback plan for your comeback.

Ms. Darlene Sheardon took the attendess on a closer examination of Job's friends and shared some of the positive qualities of a friend including: kind, loving, supportive, respectful, honest, dependable and encouraging just to name a few. Finally some very important tips for those with friends suffering with domestic violence. There were do's and don'ts that if followed could be the difference between safety and harm, life and death.

Artist Ms. Phyllis Taylor helped attendees to discover a new way of accepting self through art. Ms. Taylor led the attendees through an exercise in which she encourgaed them to put crayon to paper as they looked at their lives using their non-dominant hand. Ms. Taylor explained that by using the non-dominant hand attendees would overcome the usual obstacle of self-dobt and negative thinking as they explored their creative side. The experience for many was very eye opening.

Dr. Pettigrew brought it all together by using her own life experiences as examples of how the endcan be so much better than the beginning. Yet as she empahsized through out it's important to recognize and understand the lessons otherwise the better end will take a little longer than neccessary to appear. Letting go and reaching up to God are key elements she explained. Dr. Pettigrew explained that it is through our life experiences that we are equipped to do the mission and purpose of God. That life is full of peaks and valleys but that it's the valleys that give us trouble from which we derive much strength. We were encouraged to appreciate our valley experiences; learn, grow and live because of them; don't be ashamed of them and most importantly share our valley experiences with others.

Throughout the conference songstress Ms. Shalonda Moore ministered through inspired song. Since joining the conference team Ms. Moore has allowed God to work through her to help heal a broken spirit. Her beautiful voice rings with emotion and uplifting encouragement. Singing without music the pure love and joy of each note is felt throughout the room.

As always the conference was brough to a close with the Affirmation Circle. The next conference is December 20, 2008 and will be a special one in which Fresh Start for Women in conjunction with the Single Mom/Parent Foundation will give, toys, food and clothing to families in need.