Shannon Ethridge's Blog

No, it’s Sydney!

Good Day, Mates! I can’t even begin to tell you of the amazing blessings and favor we’ve experienced on our “Land Down Under” trip so far, and the conference I came to speak at doesn’t even officially start until tomorrow! God’s presence is so overwhelming here in Sydney that I feel like this is as close to Heaven as anyone can get in a lifetime!

Our 29-hour journey was surprisingly smooth, and we arrived to an incredibly posh ocean-view hotel room filled with huge bouquets of fragrant flowers, gourmet chocolate, and some of Pastors Phil & Chris Pringle’s awesome books, DVDs, etc. Check out his AMAZING biblical artwork at www.philpringle.com.

Coming back here to Christian City Church (C3) has been like “coming home,” even though I’ve only been here one other time. But that one time was all it took to fall in love with the people and the spirit of ministry and excellence on this campus. My daughter, Erin, fell so in love with it last time that she’s been planning to move here and attend their School of Creative Arts next February.

I should be overwhelmingly sad that my baby girl will be moving half-way around the world in 120 days, but I’m too excited for her to be sad just yet. We had told God on the way here that we didn’t just want to pound the pavement and go from landlord to landlord until we found something tolerable, but that we wanted HIM to open a door wide and make it incredibly clear that this potential living arrangement was a divine appointment. It happened exactly that way!!! We were approached by the admissions director saying that there is a wonderful lady who works here at the church who’d be willing to rent Erin a room during her 11-month stay – and she is also an artist with a garage-studio who’s been through the exact visual arts program that Erin will be going through. We couldn’t ask for a better match!

We had an amazing evening last night at a mother/daughter banquet – eating Thai food and speaking TOGETHER for the first time! I’ve been trying to convince Erin for at least 5 years that she should prayerfully consider speaking with me because she’s so mature and wise. She finally consented, and she took the microphone and ran with it like a pro last night, encouraging the girls to guard their hearts and invest in healthy relationships with girlfriends, guy friends, God, and especially with their moms (or “mums” as they’re called here) during this pivotal season of their lives.

The EveryWoman Conference starts tomorrow night, so please pray for the 1,600+ ladies who’ll be traveling here from all over Australia – that the Lord would totally touch their lives, marriages, and families in incredibly deep, transforming ways!

Many thanks for listening to me gush and for lifting us up in prayer,
Shannon