Our Women's Retreat

-
This past weekend, I was given the honor of taking a little bit of Gomer to the ladies at my church and a few handfuls of our friends. I cherished the opportunity to pray over these women. On Friday night we had great worship and a beautiful message from the Rev. Dr. Chris Richardson from Titus 3:2.
I have been praying this verse over myself and these ladies and Chris for an entire year. I have written it in my journal and thought about it every day. How can we show this full humility to everyone around us... in our home, our work place, our extended family? How can I love and respect in such a way that it builds people up in character and grace? The sermon was beautiful in every way. That worship, y'all. My bffs delivered! I have buckets of love for these people and I am deeply grateful for their hard work. Running a retreat is easy when you have an amazing team. 

My dear friend Gwynne helped me decorate. We met at the ladies retreat a few years ago and so every year we proclaim it our anniversary. She's amazing, y'all. Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, but I sometimes think it works out better that way. I was in full submission to the Holy Spirit. I heard so many beautiful stories of what the Lord did in the hearts of hurting people. That is all that is important. Jesus was felt in the hearts of the ladies.
We had an awesome time painting. Our brunch was gorgeous. That oatmeal cookie granola knocked my socks off. Nancy, our 80 year old matriarch of all things food and her helpers did amazing. I am so thankful for them.
We hung our hearts on this old window. We wrote things we were thankful for and things we were petitioning God for. On Saturday morning, my friend Anne spoke to us about her prayer journey and blessed the ladies by giving them hope. She reminded us that God is with us even in our deep despair and seeming failures. He uses it all to change us. 

We were challenged to reach out and form beautiful relationships. It it the Father heart that we love our brothers and sisters. Reach out to someone today.



Comments

Shelia Louise said…
We are so blessed to call you family. shelia
11:25 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

David Crowder's House Restoration

-
Image
A recent edition of Waco Today featured David Crowder's six year renovation project(we had to go check it out). I said a quiet prayer that God would let our house be completed before six years was up for us and then I dove in to the details. David and his wife bought the home of the man who invented Dr. Pepper. It is encouraging to see something that took so much effort and energy come to completion. May we soon see the same thing. You can read the story of the Crowder renovation here .
Read more

A Writer's Callous

-
Image
Alright, baby photo below. Quit emailing me! ;-) I remember having a writer's callous when I was five years old. In my adolescence I hated it. Now, I find it fascinating. Almost as long as I have been alive I have borne a mark that declares I am passionate about something in such a way that it bores into my skin. I have been blessed with wonderful Apple products to use and I still prefer writing things out. I heard Michelle Pfeiffer say David Kelley writes out all of his award winning shows on yellow legal pad. I like that. I prefer a journal and a real wood pencil (the kind that are stained, not the yellow ones.) There's something romantic about it to me. Writing is a choice medium in my relationship with God . I love to prayer journal. I pour out thanks for every minute that I get to spend doing it. In last weeks post I told you that God broke my Mac so I would spend some time alone with Him (then I can have it back in January). Shortly thereafter the enemy came in tel
Read more

Miscarriage | Infertility | Hope

-
Image
I encountered Jesus as a young child in a church pew in the balcony of an old country church. Through a lifetime of trial, I knew he was there. I did not always know or understand what he wanted of me, but I knew I was wanted. We could go through all of the pain and abuse of my life and unpack each tiny detail, but that is not what this is really about. I love what Frederick Buechner said, “Pain is not the biggest thing that has ever happened to you.” That is true. I have beheld far greater glory. As I clung to his word through all of this, I knew he was there.   My story about trying begins long before I began trying to have children. I tell you this because almost half of the population has been abused in some way. The attack on my uterus began when I was four-years-old. I spent most of my life believing that I was broken and I was crippled by shame. I carried that shame into every relationship I had. As I encountered people in the church, I never felt safe enough to ask for prayer o
Read more