Ladies Retreat 2018

There is no single event I look forward to more in the fall

than the annual Ladies Retreat held at Southland Christian Camp

in Ringgold, Lousiaina!

It is always a time of spiritual and physical refreshment,

a time to catch-up with long-time friends and to make new friends,

and a time to just unplug from our hectic, daily routines and stresses

and to get recharged for the super busy season just ahead!!

My family has noticed a pattern of "catastrophes" happening

while I'm gone on this weekend the last several years,

but there was a break in that pattern this year for which we were all thankful!

I was still struggling to navigate through some brand new vision issues

that were really distracting to me,

but the Lord knew what we all needed that weekend

and in His gracious kindness provided joy, rest, and gladness to

refresh our weary hearts and minds!!

One of my favorite Bible sessions was on Knowing the love of Christ.
Our speaker pointed out that you can use John 3:16 to understand

just how immeasurable God's love is for each one of us:

What is the breadth of His love?
"For God so loved the world...."

What is the length of His love?
"...that He gave His only begotten Son,"

What is the depth of His love?
"that whosoever believes in Him should not perish..."

What is the height of His love?
"...but have everlasting life."

When God accepts me --> Grace

When I accept God --> Faith

When I accept me --> Peace

When I accept you --> Love  

So this guy above would show up during meal times to play the part of "Russell" 

from the movie Up.
It was the perfect character for our Wilderness/Nature Theme happening this year.
He was so much fun and worked so hard 

to earn his Helping (the Elderly or whoever needed help) Badge 

as a Wilderness Explorer.

Because of some confusion in registering this year, we had a group of 4 ladies

from our church attend this very same retreat the previous weekend.

They just adored "Russell" and all his antics so much

that one of those ladies went home and created her own "badge"

for Russell on her embroidery machine.

She gave it to me before our group left for the following weekend,

and asked me to please be sure to present this to Russell.
It was the perfect ending for the perfect weekend!!