Retreat Part 1

I'm back and had a wonderful time!  I enjoyed every single second of this retreat!  I wasn't sure what to expect out of this time, but I don't think it turned out how I pictured it.  I had thought so much about the speaker and was excited to hear what she was going to share with us, that I kind of forgot that I was going to be hanging out with a bunch of great ladies.  Well, that was quickly rectified.  I met 2 of my roommates, Jana and Debi, at church so that we could ride together and I think it took about 30 seconds before we were all laughing. 

I know Jana fairly well (and LOVE her!!!), but I have never really gotten to know Debi, although we've been at church together for years.  You know how you look at someone and "make up" who they are?  Well, I had done that with Debi.  I always thought, what a sweet, gentle, lovely woman.   Here's a picture of her so that you can see for yourself that my thoughts were along the right lines.

Okay.....so I was soooooo wrong!  Debi is hilarious and a spitfire (for lack of a better word).   Not that she isn't sweet and lovely.  :)  I can't tell you how much I loved hanging out with her, and now I just want more time with her!

When we arrived, Debi and I dropped Jana off at the beautiful chapel where we would be meeting, so that she could prepare for worship that she would be leading.  Look at this beautiful chapel we got to meet in. 

 

Debi and I headed to our cottage that we would be sharing with 5 other ladies.  We walked in and the first person we saw was Andrea, who heads up our Women's Ministry at church.  Just a side note, I love her too!  She is so funny, and real, and laughs a lot.  I always love people that laugh a lot.  Anyway, the first thing she said to us, after hi, was that she left her clothes at home!  So once again....laughing!  Luckily, her close neighbor would be coming later and was willing to swing by her house to pick up her bag.  :)

 

I loved many things about this time away, but I really think my favorite part was time with my roomies.

 

 

We laughed (a lot), cried, prayed together and stayed up WAY too late talking!  It was awesome!!!

 

Friday night Andrea and I walked back to our cottage together.

 

 

Side note:  We couldn't see for a good 60 seconds after this selfie with the flash right in our eyes.  :)

 

When we got back to the cottage we knocked a few times but no one heard... so we thought.  Since I kept misplacing my key earlier that day, another roomie Tara showed me how to attach the key to the nametag around my neck.  Brilliant, right?  Anyway, since no one answered I figured I better open the door, but why would I take the key off from around my neck?  I didn't only grow spiritually, but I also learned some practical applications this weekend.  In the future I will take the key off of my neck before inserting it in the door.  So here's the rest of the story...apparently one of our roommates heard us and just needed a moment to get to the door.  Since our door sticks, she needed to yank it pretty hard to get it open, thus yanking me in the door by way of my key necklace.  There was a lot of laughing due to this, but I just want to share this story to save anyone else from unnecessary whiplash. ;)  I wish I was Andrea and could have been a spectator.  I'm thinking I looked pretty funny flying through through the doorway by my neck.  :)

 

Although the retreat was fairly short we had a wonderful time.  Worship was amazing!  Jana, and another friend Tara, were wonderful.

 

 Our speaker was Cheryl Broderson.  She is Pastor Chuck Smith's youngest child.  Chuck Smith is the founder of Calvary Chapel, our church.  I think Cheryl said that there are over 1,500 Calvary Chapel's today.  She was immediately captivating and told so many funny stories.  She also would be sharing from our main text and throw in extra verses here and there from other parts of the Bible.  You could tell she knew the Word.  Her focus this weekend was on refreshing and being still in the Lord.  I can't wait to digest her words as I have time to re-read my notes, but did want to share something that really struck me.

 

Before our Saturday morning session she prayed that each woman there would receive a specific word from the Lord.  I wrote that down, because that had been my prayer leading up to the retreat.  This was one of my favorite sessions.  She camped out in Hebrews 4 and I took many notes.  She was talking about Jesus being our High Priest and she threw in one of those side verses.  Cheryl mentioned that in Isaiah 40 it says He will gently lead those with young and carry them.  My heart grabbed hold of that, so I knew I needed to find that verse.  As she continued sharing I turned to Isaiah 40 to find the verse for myself.

 

Isaiah 40:11

He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.

 

I am so grateful to know that my Shepherd has me.  He will not only lead me, but He will carry me.

 

This makes me think of the Footprints poem.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with it, but if not, I hope that you will look it up and read it, in it's entirety.

 

Here is the part that struck me.  This is the ending...

 

 

I am so glad to know that God is always with me, willing to carry me when it all seems to be too much.

 

I'm grateful to Cheryl for sharing the Word with us this weekend.  I'm thankful that the Lord always has a specific word for each of us, and I pray that I will continue to be drawn to Him and His Word.