Eating the Leftovers
Daughter Ania and I headed home from the Winsome Retreat Sunday afternoon.We somehow missed an important turn and ended up on scenic route full of switch backs. When I finally saw a sign that read five miles to Frostburg (eldest daughter’s home), I told Ania, “never mind, we’ll just follow this into town and get on the interstate there.” That’s what I do when I get lost, find another way, don’t you?
The retreat was wonderful. Great conversations. Great speakers. Hiking. Eating. Conversing. Worshipping. Then it was over and we were back in our cars and going back to where we came from. Or were we? We did make it home, our point of origin, but I feel as if we left some parts of ourselves behind. And it made me think, we don’t go home from a retreat the way we came. Each time we told our story to one another, we gave a piece of ourelves. We were overcoming by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. And we each have a story. A plot. Times of decision. Times of mourning. Times of rejoicing. Times of residing in the pit. Times of climbing on the peaks. And each time we share, we lighten our load and the loads of others. We say, “me too!” What powerful words.
Now that I’m home and back to the routine of prayer, schooling, cleaning up the kitchen, checking social media, I feel lighter. Refreshed. Yet, hesitant. Cautious. I love the prayer at the retreat asking the seed to go deep into the ground and not stay at the surface. Growth happens in the dark, deep recesses of the soil. It happens alone. So, I am searching. Searching my journal for those precious notes taken during each session. I read them again. I note them. Talk about them.
Four things I gleaned this week from the leftovers scrawled on my journal pages. You can find more info about the speakers at the Winsome Retreat speaker’s page here. Speakers are linked below. Click on their names to visit their sites.
1. Holley Gerth–
We live in a world that if we don’t have a dream, somebody else will give us one, their’s instead of our God-sized dream.
A goal is something you can do by your own strength. A dream is not.
You cannot take someone else’s version of the truth about you at truth, you must know God’s truth about you. (Study the Word.)
3. Deidra Riggs
God made only one you. Only you can be you. (I’m twirling right nowI)
4. Kim Hyland
Nobody can tell you who you are but Jesus.
Law without grace drives one to rebellion or squishes you.
These are just some tiny nuggets of notes. Do you have any leftovers this week?
Winsome Retreat special: Positive Adoption: A Memoir Kindle edition is $2.99 until Friday. Buy hard copy and get Kindle edition free! Click on photo to link to Amazon.
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