Retreat, reality, and really pressing in

12:01 PM

I have started this blog probably 100 times in my head but this is the first time I've sat down to really type it out. These key strokes don't seem to be doing my thoughts justice. I can't really blog about what the Lord did for me at the SAF women's retreat last weekend. I will share it with anyone who asks of course but the internet is not allowed to know the sweet markings left on my heart after I walked away from Miller Ranch last Sunday. I just wanted to blog about the retreat as a whole. GUYS. It. Was. Gorg. Miller Ranch in general is very pretty but the Women's Ministry team made it even more beautiful with the prints beautifully framed, the sweet decorated paper straws, and the pumpkin center pieces outside on the tables. It was all in the details, y'all. And to top it off with the sweetest cherry you could tell from the minute you stepped inside that these ladies didn't play around when it came to praying over this retreat. All of the details placed for beauty and all of the prayers said for restoration.


Beauty For Ashes. What a name. This retreat was bound to be everything we all dreamed and then some. Everyone was greeting each other with tears and hugs. I mean it really was an anointed atmosphere. You could feel His presence from the moment you arrived. My heart was beating fast as I scribbled my name across a sheet of paper waiting on the front table. It could have pounded right out of my chest and onto the floor had people not hugged me, closing it off before it could even try. Women. We really know how to get stuff done. We know the perfect placements on mantle pieces and the perfect words to preach right to your heart. I'm sure that's not on accident. God made us nurturing for more than just our children and husbands but for the women around us as well. It's how we know to wash he dishes for the new mom instead of just bring her family a meal. It's how we know to insist on a coffee date instead of a day at the mall. It's how we know to base the theme of a retreat off of the words "beauty " and "ashes." 



I'm always sad to go back to reality when these types of weekends are over but that's where the Lord really tests you, isn't it? Where you get to find out if you're really moving forward with Him like you said you would or where you get to really rely on His strength through the hard times instead of just saying you will. Reality. Bleh. Leaving that atmosphere, those women...it was all hard but alas here I am a week later still thinking about the things God whispered to my heart and the things He's asking me to learn. Press in deep, friends. Press in even deeper than you do at the conferences and the retreats and the trainings and camps. Because that's when it counts the most I guess. No, I don't guess. I know this to be true. I've done this a thousand times and I'll do it a thousand more but coming home has got to be where I really begin to walk all of it out. So, I'll press in because a retreat like that isn't meant as an end, it's meant as a beginning. 

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