This past weekend was the annual Maranatha Baptist Church Women's Retreat. I had a blast!!!!
My children were sick and Mike had one of them at Urgent Care so I left a little later than I had wanted to. My ride, Stephanie Perin, got to my house just before 2pm. We were on our way in the drizzling rain to Sugarcreek, OH. We were staying at the Carlisle Inn. It is a GORGEOUS place. I only took a few pics this year mostly of the hang-out area in the hotel since last year I had NONE of that area and it was a little tough to explain it to Mike.
Steph and I (and her 5-week-old, Sophia) had dinner at the Dutch Kitchen beside the hotel. I ate WAYYYYYY too much and felt yucky for the rest of the night. Tried not to let it get me down.
Session ONE
- Started at 7:30. I led a few songs. The first song- Walkin in the Light of God- NOBODY knew. Thankfully it's an easy song and the movements helped everyone catch on quickly.
- Our first speaker spoke about God being our #1 relationship.
- We broke into two groups depending on what we had selected when we registered. My group was Clean Out Your Purse. I was given a special prize- a LARGE mirror. (I had mentioned that I always carry a mirror to check for boogers because I am paranoid.) The point of this group was to clean up our life- prioritize. Sometimes we have to say goodbye to relationships that are downers or are hurting us- even if they are fellow Christians. (That doesn't mean we stop praying for them or loving them.) Our FAMILY is our #2 relationship and sometimes we have to stop our #3 relationships in order to fix/work on our #2 relationship.
After session one ended I changed my clothes and got on my tennies and headed for the treadmill. My Netflix wasn't working very well so I ended up watching a Korean Drama on my ipod while I ran. It felt GREAT! I wanted to swim also but by the time I got done on the treadmill the pool (and exercise room) were closed for the night.
Got myself cleaned up and went out to the common area. Spent FOUR HOURS chatting with more than half of the MBC ladies. Our group started small but everyone kept joining us. We had to make the circle bigger and bigger. I L♥VED it. We went around the circle and shared how we met our husbands and our engagement stories. I could listen forever to these types of stories. I learned something new about everyone. Even those I knew the best I learned something. It was cool.
I went to my room and turned off the light by 4:50am. My alarm went off at 8am. UGH!! but also YAY!!! :)
After a small continental breakfast it was time to start session 2...
Session TWO
- Started at 10am. We sang 2 songs. (I had planned a special song with a few other ladies but it didn't work out.)
- The speaker shared her testimony and spoke from her heart. I prayed for her from the beginning as I knew she was nervous about speaking in front of others and about sharing personal things. Her topic was actually ministering to unsaved children but her talk meant much more than that to me. Praise God for the work He has done in her life. What an encouragement she was/is to me. She is living testimony of the Power the Lord has to change our hearts and work in seemingly impossible situations.
- We broke off into two groups again. I had a tough time choosing which group I'd go in- Toddlers with Tantrums OR Teens with Technology. I feel like I'm in the middle of these two groups. I chose the Toddlers group even though my toddler doesn't throw fits. (I need a group for 6-8 year olds with tantrums HA!!) The speaker gave great ideas on biblical training of our children. Wished I had this info BEFORE I had my children. What do you do if your children are older than 2 and are having issues?? Consistency is the word.
LUNCH TIME at the Dutch Kitchen again. I had Ham & Bean Soup and a grilled cheese. YUMMY!!!!!!
Session THREE
- Started at 2pm. I led 3 songs. One that we sang was "Father, I Adore You" in a round. It was beautiful and I know the Lord was pleased hearing our voices singing our praises to Him.
- The topic for speaker 3 was the Family of God. Who IS the family of God?? The persecuted throughout the world, missionaries, our church family, all believers everywhere. I need to be careful to not have all of my focus be on my Maranatha family but open up myself to be used for ALL of the family of God.
We cleaned up and started for home around 5pm. I hitched a ride with Shilo & Amy K. We went to an amish store in search of Lebanon Bologna but they were out. Can you believe that??? They were OUT???? :( We stopped at McDonalds to go to the bathroom & get ourselves a beverage. I NEEDED a diet coke. I had to take some motion sickness pills. I get extremely sick on those long car rides up and down and side to side on the country roads. Feeling sick thinking about it.
We missed our turn and ended up in Berlin (I was okay with it) so we stopped at Pickadilly. One of my fave Berlin stores. I got each of the kids a small gift and I got myself FOUR nail polishes. :)
Got back on the road. Stopped in Newark at Texas Roadhouse where Shilo's sister works. I had never been there before. We were back on the road and I was home around 10pm.
It was a great trip. I never would have thought two years ago- ONE year ago- that I would have the friendships I have now. That He would use these friends to teach me, challenge me, encourage me, bless me. My relationships with those I knew best have become stronger. I got to know some ladies better. I met a few ladies for the first time. (I am happy to say that I knew EVERY lady there by name- and there were 41 ladies.There was only ONE stranger that came along (somebody's sister) and I met her immediately.)
Now for the GOOD stuff... Here is what the Lord said to me/asked me to do while I was at the retreat:
- Create a "form?" for each of my children, sit down WITH Mike, discuss what areas of their life are sinful and need changed, find scripture that goes along with the issue, come up with our plan, write it on the form, PRAY, and then get to it being consistent.
- MEMORIZE more of His word. (Heather gave us blank index cards. Tonight I added them to the cards I used to carry around and I added 2 new verses- James 1:19-20, Psalm 46:1.)
- Have REGULAR prayer time with Mike. (You'd think this would be EASY but it's not.)
- Add more missionaries to my prayer list.
- Ask the Lord to help me know what Mike's God-given purpose is and help him fulfill it.
I know there is more to this list but my brain can think no more. I pray that I will not forget what He taught me this weekend and that I will be faithful to do what He has laid upon my heart.
