The Belong Tour Recap

This last weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Belong Tour in Lincoln, Nebraska with one of the great friends. It was so much fun and today I thought I'd share my experience with you!

The Belong Tour's purpose is to create a space that will bring together women, so we all can embrace our stories with courage and honor. It's a wide open space where women can share, heal, connect, learn, laugh. It's an opportunity for us to to dive into who we really are at our core, and how we can best become who we were created to be.

I will add, this is NOT "Women of Faith 2.0." Each of the women's stories are filled with ways in which God's presence in their lives has helped them become the best version of themselves. Books of the Bible are mentioned, as well as verses, but the actual verse is not cited. This really seemed to bother some people on the Facebook group specific to the Lincoln event, so I want to share that now, so there is no confusion. It didn't bother me, as it didn't change the truth of God's word for me. Plus, if you're considering coming and the idea of Bible verses seems overwhelming to you, the way stories were shared was very understandable without being overwhelming.

What I really liked the was "realness" of each speaker, so whether the concept of God is something that is ambiguous to you, or you consider yourself a Christian walking in faith daily, this tour is for you. 

Both Friday night and Saturday morning started with songs. A local band played, which I thought was pretty cool and they played a combination of mainstream and Christian music, so it was a really nice mix and a great way to get us in mood for the day too!

Also, our seats were amazing! We were literally ten feet from the stage!

After music, Angela Davis, an amazing athletic trainer and motivational speaker got our blood flowing with some great warmup and intense motivational coaching. I've never experienced anything else like it, and it is just one of the many ways the ladies showed over the course of the weekend how God can use people (like Angela) and how we can experience the love of God through her words too.

My favorite quote: "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you." I love this!

Sharon Irving also sang faith-based music for us too. She was on Ameria's Got Talent last year and has an AMAZING voice!

Patsy Clairmont spoke on both days as well. She is such a hoot and such a great storyteller!

One of my favorite things she shared was that if we know something is true in our lives or about our family or friends, we need to believe it and make adjustments and to quite whining about it. There is a lot of truth in that! I know I can keeping thinking that I can change others, but all I can do it really adjust to who they are!

Johnnyswim also played and sang for us too. They are crazy talented, and happen to be a secular band, however they are Christians.

Shauna Niequist also spoke both days. She talked a lot about journey she is on to reclaim her "best self," the person God created her to be. She talked about how she had spent too much time trying to be the person other's wanted her to be, and she was over it. She also has a new book, Present Over Perfect, which I'm really excited to read!

Nichole Nordeman both sang and talked. I've been a fan of her music for years! One of the things she shared was how, she felt such fear in sharing her failures with others, because she didn't want to let others down...or so she thought, when really she didn't want their perception of her to change. I thought this was so powerful, raw, and honest! I have to admit, I find some truth in this for myself too!

Lastly, Jen Hanmaker spoke. I adore her! She's one of the people I think you are just drawn too and she just lights the room with her personality. She had so many good things to say! She talked about how she became a writer, she talked about how she ran a half marathon with two girlfriends and how it was one of the hardest things she'd done. Then she used the race as a metaphor for life. "We all have a race to run, each with our own lane." It's up to us to look for the clues as to our talents, then to use them.

Overall it was a really great experience! There are still 10 cities left, so you can still go! I have two tickets to giveway, enter below!

And, if you don't win tickets, I have a $20 off coupon code for you to use. Just enter GRACE when you check out for it to apply to your ticket order!

September 9-10	Ontario, CA	CBB Arena
September 16-17	Philadelphia, PA	Wells Fargo Center
September 23-24	Denver (Loveland), CO	Budweiser Events Center
September 30 – October 1	Dallas, TX	American Airlines Center
October 7-8	San Jose, CA	SAP Center
October 14-15	Tampa, FL	USF Sun Dome
October 21-22	St. Paul, MN	Xcel Energy Center
November 4-5	Charlotte, NC	Bojangles Coliseum
November 11-12	Hartford, CT	XL Center
November 18-19	Atlanta (Duluth), GA	Infinite Energy Arena

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