“My cup overflows.” That’s the best way to describe my weekend! I left Thursday for Midland, TX. It was a good thing that I did. By Friday afternoon, snow began to fall in Nashville. When it stopped snowing, we had seven inches! That’s unusual for the south, y’all!
The weather delayed flights from one end of the country to the other. To top it off, I had somewhat of a virus on Thursday. I had all the symptoms–a terrible headache, an upset stomach, and dizziness. Flying with a stomach virus is like mixing oil and water. So, I chased down a bottle of pepto-bismol with a sprite and prayed that I wouldn’t vomit on the person sitting next to me on the plane. Then, again, I couldn’t help but think, “Why throw-up on myself instead of the person sitting next to me. It’s not like I’m ever going to see them again.” Still, it didn’t seem proper and southern girls must abide by what’s proper and what’s not.
Anyway, another source of survival I used was prayer. I texted my friend and teammate, Renee Swope, and asked her to alert the team to pray for me. It’s a speaker’s worst nightmare to show up at an event sick!
I’m happy to report it worked. Both the prayer and the pepto-bismol that is.
My flight was due to arrive in Midland at 9:30pm. My actual time of arrival was 11:00pm. Although I was tired, my symptoms had vanished. Jean, the co-chair for the retreat, and her husband picked me up at the airport and took me their home where I stayed the night in their beautiful cottage.
The next morning, God blessed us with a gorgeous day for travel. Jean, Mitzi, D’Ann and I drove to Warren Ranch for the retreat three hours from Midland. The Ranch was beautifully nestled out in the middle of nowhere. But God found us there.
Boy, did He! Everything about the weekend was out of this world! The food was great, the women were amazing, the worship was inspiring, and hearts were touched. Three things I think stood out from the weekend was…
the prayer room: This idea was taken from our very own She Speaks conference. Mitzi, Connie, and Lori had attended last year and loved our prayer room. If you’ve never had a prayer room at your event, consider it. It’s powerful! You take the Names of God and spread them out on a table. Then, you take the names of those attended your event and place several names on each Name of God. Keep the room dimly lit, play soft worship music, and have throw pillows lying around the floor. Invite the women to spend time in the prayer room. You’ll be amazed at the results!
the prayer wreath: Strips of different colored ribbons were available to tie onto the wreath. As you tied your ribbon, you said a prayer. You could tie as many ribbon’s as you wanted to on the wreath. By the end of the weekend, it was beautiful. They plan to hang it in the their church.
and the panel: We laughed and we cried as the panel, made up of women from age 20 to grand-ma age, answered questions about raising children, being a wife, what we’d do different if we got a do over, and what we wanted to pass on to our children. The retreat team prepared some of the questions and others came from the attendees–who were asked to write their questions down ahead of time.
Yes, God met each and every one of us in a special way. I was blessed to have been a part. The women of First Presbyterian of Midland are warm, loving, funny, friendly sister’s in Christ whom I had the pleasure of getting to know.
Since I’ve been home, I have an overwhelming urge to wear a cowgirl hat and boots.
Other Places I’ll be and would love to see you there are:
Mississippi-Feb 19-20th
Cedar Rapids, IA
March 6th
Women Of Hope
Contact: Renee Smith rsmith@basketofhope
And…
Elburn, IL
March 12-13
Contact Lynn at ldugan@sbcglobal.net
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