Monday, April 14, 2008

An Awakening

This weekend was awesome. I travelled to Echo Lake with two very good friends, Tara and Teena, for a Woman's Retreat with my Church. The drive was beautiful, and long as we got VERY lost and ended up circling the lake for 3/4 of an hour. But we had fun talking and laughing. When we arrived I was blown away by the amount of details that went into the planning of the weekend. We stayed in dorm like rooms and each door was a paper flower pot with our name and the name of our roomie in it. On our desk in our room was a basket of treats and a hand towel. We each received a gift basket filled with little gifts: facial cream, shampoo, note pad, coupons, lip gloss, pens, ect. The place was decorated in a spring like feel, and felt so bright.

I didn't really want to attend the weekend as I didn't want to get closer to these girls then I already was. We are leaving in two and a half weeks and I didn't want those goodbyes to be harder than they will be, but I have to say I am so glad I did. I had so much fun getting to know these ladies, laughing with them, crying with them, worshiping with them, and ultimately falling in love with them. I felt like a little girl again at a sleepover. Both nights we stayed up very late playing board games and talking. I feel such a bond to them now. The one thing I value the most from the whole weekend was the sessions. In those hours of learning about the body of Christ and where I fit in, I feel affirmed more and have a small sense of purpose. For those who know me, know that I struggle alot with what my purpose is and what I am suppose to be doing. I toss ideas around like becoming an event planner, wedding planner, interior decorator, teacher, ect ect ect.... The list is too long. While all these things still remain a possibility, I feel more of a focus now. As a Christian, you are taught that God is the focus of our lives that everything we do is to glorify Him. While knowing this, I never completely understood how to practically implicate it in my life. A revelation occurred this weekend happened that helped me understand how to do this more successfully and practically. I can't explain it in words, just hope that my actions speak louder.

As with all retreats on any topic, it is hard to come back to reality and get back into the groove of things without losing sight of what you learned. So I pray this week I will not lose sight of what I have learned. I want to give Dana a tremendous thank you for not only making me go, but also taking care of our little kidlets and the house so I could. I love you Dana, more and more, everyday.

5 comments:

Amanda Brown said...

I love Echo Lake! I have so many memories of church retreats at the centre there.

Kaili said...

Glad you had a good time.

wandi said...

I was so happy to be at the same ladies retreat and was glad that I got to spend more time with you before you leave. It was an amazing weekend learning and connecting with other ladies. You are a wonderful friend Susie and our ladies at Rosewood will miss you and we are so blessed to have gotten to know you. You can always come back you know. Love ya.

Trisha said...

That sounds like a great trip to reconnect with yourself and God. Good for Dana for taking care of both the kiddies while you were gone.

Anonymous said...

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Impressora e Multifuncional, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://impressora-multifuncional.blogspot.com. A hug.