Refreshing

The weekend was more than I could have imagined. No major spiritual issues to work through, but an overwhelming sense of God's presence and an absolute, uninhibited outpouring of His love for me. I've never felt such a personal touch by Him to remind me how precious, special, and loved I am by Him. God orchestrated so many specific little things that it was absolutely obvious beyond a shadow of a doubt.

First of all, the retreat was put together by a group of ladies from Cedar Mill Bible Church in Oregon. All the women from the Bible churches in the New Orleans metro area and their friends were invited. The weekend's theme surrounded "the Journey" of our lives ... where are we right now?, what do we pack?, what do we need along the way?, and what's our final destination? It was neat to be in a place of quiet anticipation from the start, knowing that God has placed me in this season of life, in this city, in this church, in this neighborhood right now for His purposes. As we talked about heaven today, I recognized that I don't focus enough on the eternal and was recommended several books to read (as a guide book of my final destination).

A woman back in Oregon was praying for each of us as individuals from the time they received our names. A card was in my registration info from the lady who prayed for me saying that her prayer for me was that you will sense that God is with you, knowing that He takes great delight in you. I pray that you will experience the quiet, refreshing rest that comes from His deep love for you. And that you will hear Him rejoicing over you in His beauty and majesty. This is exactly what I was anticipating as I arrived.

The electricity was out as we pulled into camp. A tornado had touched down near the camp earlier in the day causing outages until the wee hours of the following morning. However, we handled it without a hitch--the Louisiana women knowing all too well how life is full of unexpected craziness and the Oregon women determined to allow God to use whatever circumstances surrounded our time. After our "flashlight" dinner of Papa Johns, I was called to come forward and my sweet mother-in-law presented me with a HUGE chocolate sheet cake decorated with candy pumpkins (a remembrance of times past - thx, Mom!) and Reese's pieces (a more recent love of mine), while my dear sis-in-law handed me a pillar of balloons. God reminded me of how much these two women mean to me and have loved me as their true daughter and sister. If I have to be miles away from my own sisters and mother, then I couldn't have asked for more than to have these two stand in the void.

We were placed in small groups for discussion after the sessions. No one from my church was in my group, and that was exactly what I needed as a yp wife, along with the fact that there were just five of us and 2 were from Oregon. One of the others was a empty nester who has children close in age (like mine) and I knew her acquaintance from previous youth events, which enabled me to hear and receive her excellent words of encouragment and exhortation. Confidentiality was essential for me to be able to open up and receive from God through these older ladies, and God orchestrated exactly that ... for me. In the process of recently launching a community group and making extra efforts to make new N.O. residents get connected, I found myself empty and worn out from the newness of this role. Waterfalls of encouraging words and sound wisdom filled my cup to overflowing in this group and other conversations throughout the weekend.

As I lay on a pier by the lake and took in the sounds and smells of my surroundings, I basked in God's overwhelming love for me, His joy in my life, and His peace in uncertain circumstances. I was again amazed at the gift of the weekend...to leave my "role" as mom and wife and feel completely confident that my husband would handle the weekend with ease and comfort...and he did. God is good to me!