Guess What I Did This Weekend????

Well I left the house Friday morning and headed to a place not too far from home....but at this place there was no kids, no men, no cooking, no cleaning, no dishes, no laundry......NO I DIDN'T GO TO HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it sounds like a slice of Heaven, right???

I was invited (and asked to bring a friend) to hostess a women's retreat at Camp Lutherhaven. It is located in the out in the middle of no where and is just a beautiful place for a retreat. 130 women came together with a common top priority for the weekend...TO GLORIFY GOD and highlight was he has done, is doing, and what we hope is will do in each one of our lives. What an honor is was to have the chance to go for FREE because we were willing to help out with some of the retreat details. I feel refreshed, renewed,

inspired, encouraged, and just so glad I went!!

Lynn Ford, from WBCL, was asked to be the keynote speaker of the weekend.....what a neat lady. She was wonderful and transparent about some sin in her past that she has worked through and had to deal with. She gave three wonderful sessions of thought provoking information. Session #1 Who's Knocking At My Door? She gave this great mental picture illustration of God knocking at the door of our heart asking politely to come in...and patiently waiting for us to open the door and invite him in. She said "He will keep knocking quietly, nicely, patiently till the day we die...just waiting for us to open the door."

Lynn also noted that God desires not only to come in but to sit and stay as long as we want Him to. He desires it for two basic reasons.

#1 For HIS Glory!!! #2 For OUR GOOD!!

I love how she stressed this fact, "God isn't limited by ANYTHING except our willingness to give ourselves to Him.

Also she said, "Sinful, broken people can be turned into masterpieces through Jesus. APART from Him that can't happen." I never thought of myself as a masterpiece..Do you think of yourself as a masterpiece???? GOD DOES!!

Lynn's prayer for us was for each of us to say whole heartily "Lord I am willing to be willing." Meaning each one of us was willing to do, change, refine our walk with the Lord and deal with issues in life that can sometimes be messy...being willing to give ourselves completely to God and his purpose for our life.

SESSION #2 KNOWING GOD!!

First,God wants a personal relationship with each one of us. Secondly, He doesn't want us just have the head knowledge of who He is and what He has done. He wants us to really KNOW Him. He wants us to have the attitude of "Give me JESUS". He desires for each one of us to understand and experience the ONE true God. Next, He wants us to be in His word and in His presence. Last, God wants us to "TRUST" our life to Him.

I love how she went on to say that ongoing revival in your heart happens when we are in God's word...how true!! When we experience daily revival we don't wallow in sin.

SESSION #3 Sunday morning devotional

She spoke of Luke 7:11-17 Where this widow is leaving her town in the front of her only son's (only child) funeral procession walking toward the tomb where her son would be put. Lynn explained that the funeral procession would look like this.

Widow (the mother), the the women of the town, then the dead body (widow's son), then the men would follow. It was typical that when someone died that the whole town went to the funeral even if they didn't know the dead person. Lynn thought this town had about 200 or so people. Then, coming towards then is this Man (Jesus) followed by His disciples, then a large crowd. (We aren't told how many but it could have been as many as 1,000- 2,000 people.) So I am sure lots of noise and such and Jesus walks straight to the woman and tells her (really he commands) to stop crying. Then He brought the young boys back to life. Then Jesus presented him back to him mother.

All this illustration to get across to us that Jesus will resurrect in us what we need to make it through any circumstance . Just like the widow Jesus sees us and comes straight to us and comes to our aid...ALWAYS!!!

Here is my sweet friend Joy that went with me to the retreat...What a fantastic time of fellowship for us, anyway from all the distractions of life. Here she is being "crafty" and stamping some pretty cards.....we got to make several and bring them home with us :)

Here I am stamping some cards as well....GREAT fun doing something I love to do.

I would encourage any of you who have the chance to go to something like this to go....Such a very precious time to be surrounded by women who genuinely care for each other and LOVE the Lord....We just had so much fun worshiping the ONE true GOD . Whether through song, quiet time, small group bible study time, or a speaker, we had an indescribable divine appointment with the Lord all weekend......and it doesn't get much better than that, this side of HEAVEN!