Best Birthday Ever (an @donmilleris #storyline testimony)

I first heard about the Storyline Conference in January after following  Donald Miller’s blog in December. With his five books having had a profound effect on my faith and on my life, his conference intrigued me. In February and March, I started telling people about it and how much I wanted to go and adding it to all my friends’, families’ and my church’s prayer lists. Things started to fall into place as my sister agreed to watch my kids and I had a few vacation days left at work that had to be taken before July. By April, I just really felt like I was going but I still had no idea where the money was going to come from.

Then one time as I wrote a comment (to someone else’s comment) on Don’s blog about why I wanted to go and that I was trying to get my funds together. Long story short, total strangers ended up buying my plane ticket for me and I purchased my conference ticket with a little extra money I had left over from my tax return. All the arrangements just seem to fall into place effortlessly and the travel and accommodations were stress free.

The conference was on the same weekend as my birthday making it a double blessing as I hadn’t had a real vacation in soooo long. I was able to go a couple days ahead so I could explore the city of Portland, OR for the first time. I met and spent time with a wonderful lady named Lori Ventola and learned about the wonderful ministry that she started as a result of last year’s Storyline Conference. I visited the Imago Dei church, the Chinese Gardens, and the Portland Art Museum. Thanks to my Bank of America card, my entry to the Chinese Gardens and the Portland Art Museum were free!!! I ended the day by visiting the famous Powell’s bookstore.

The conference was of course amazing and concluded with a pre-screening of the Blue Like Jazz  movie. It was the best birthday I had ever had and felt like little winks from God (if you’re familiar with these) that He loves me and I am special. I hope you have a birthday like that some time!