The place was called the CrossEyed Catfish Café, and girl, those hush puppies and that catfish were as good as my granddaddy’s! And that is the highest compliment! The down-home food set us up perfectly for the family reunion we were about to have with these Mississippi sisters we hadn’t yet met.

It was a down-home celebration for sure! We loved being together—singing, learning, laughing and worshiping.

Michael O’Brien led us in worship and he rocked it! Everyone loved his “redeemed bar medley.” If you’ve never heard it, you just have to come to a Fresh Grounded Faith event, because you’ll love it!

Liz Curtis Higgs encouraged us with the story of the woman caught in adultery. Wow! What a deep, profound experience it was for us to put ourselves in that woman’s first-century sandals. But Liz also brought us joy and laughter as she shared the message of hope for this woman, and for us too!

I taught about what it means to trust God in exile. We learned from Jeremiah 29 to participate with our exile, pursue God in exile, and be patient with our exile. It was a much-needed reminder from God’s word, and I was encouraged just teaching it!

Those sweet volunteers from all of our co-host churches were top notch, which is no surprise because Laura Barker was the amazing Local Conference Coordinator for FGF Grenada! Many thanks to Laura and to all who were involved!

Plus, Laura’s husband, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, was there the whole time—helping, ministering and supporting everything that went on during the conference. His presence there was such an encouragement! And there were several other pastors who showed up too. What great people of God in Mississippi.

Although, I did learn that if you’re a local, you lose one syllable in that word—it’s Missippi!

This event happened because of the many arms linked together, and as we joined together in unity, we got to witness God’s overflow of blessing. We celebrated 3 new sisters in Christ, 33 women who chose to renew their commitments to Christ, and 23 children rescued from poverty through Compassion International! Praise the Lord!

After much rejoicing, we loaded back up and left with full hearts. And on the way home, we stopped in Mammoth Springs, Arkansas where we had—you guessed it—more catfish!

This time it was at a different restaurant, but they could have used some lessons from my granddaddy. So, I think I am quite done with fried food for a bit. It’ll be salad on the menu for me and Dr. Phil!

But sisters, the best part of the whole weekend had nothing to do with catfish and road trips! It had everything to do with tasting and seeing that the Lord is good! He was among us, and because He was, we were strengthened and filled with joy. Thank You, Jesus!

Blessings,

Jennifer and the FGF Team!

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