Last weekend was our Ladies on Location annual Fall Retreat. We've been doing this for many, many years and I gotta say, here lately they just keep getting better and better. This was, as far as I know, the largest one yet with 29 ladies attending! Almost a year ago {last November} our church merged with another church in Collinsville. Total God thing. We updated our name and began having a 9 am & an 11 am service since we had 2 locations. Then earlier this year the Collinsville school system approached us about buying our main location which happens to be by the football field. Again, total God thing. It's been a long process and looks like we'll finally be closing this next week!
So I said all that to say...thus the reason for 29 ladies and thus the reason we had such a tremendous time!
We spent the weekend at Grand Lake in Grove and took Saturday to drive to Carthage, Mo to the Precious Moments museum. The rest of them time was spent in fellowship, ministry and of course eating!
If you've never been to the museum you need to go at least once. This was my 2nd time which it had been a long time, probably about 10 years or more since I had been. The story of the artist, Sam Butcher, is very inspiring and the museum is in the country and so very peaceful.
It is free admission so it's worth it!
The theme for our trip was 'relationship'. Not only with God but with each other. Friday evening was spent getting to know each other and I truly felt like if there was a 'line' still dividing 2 churches that it is completely gone now. As I'm writing this I'm realizing that out of the 6 ladies in my condo 5 of them were from the church we merged with and I loved rooming with every single one of them and truly feel like we've been attending church together for a long time! Saturday morning a pillar in our church spoke about the importance of feeding our relationships not just spiritually but physically which is just as important. And she sang a beautiful song! Then Saturday night we did a nail polish swap as another fun way to get to know each other. It was also unload night. 2 of our pastors ministered on perception and having God's view of things and not our own which led into a great, much needed time of personal ministry. To say God moved might be understated. He was very present and ladies were able to lay down junk they'd been carrying for far too long and become new.
As I went to bed that night I kept thinking about the nail polish swap. God used such a simple thing for our benefit! I had used the fruits of the spirit plus some other good spiritual words to make up how we did the swap. I had 15 words, 2 of each. My sister was suppose to attend but at the last minute had to stay home, I really felt like she was with us in spirit and through the nail polish swap God gave me a word to bring home to her! So we would have had 30. ☺ I had each lady draw a word and the 2 ladies who got the same word then swapped nail polish. And I'm not kidding...they were all God connections! The first word was love and my pastor and her daughter were paired up! My word was joy and I was paired with Joyce...she got her namesake! I mean how did that happen other than God?! So Sunday morning after an awesome time of worship we paired back up and prayed for each other, finalizing the solidifying of relationships.
We're completely family now!
I'm very thankful for all of what God did! I shouldn't be surprised at His goodness....I did prepare my heart for what ever He wanted accomplished. And accomplish He did.
Praying the Lord is good to you today!
Happy Weekend!
The theme for our trip was 'relationship'. Not only with God but with each other. Friday evening was spent getting to know each other and I truly felt like if there was a 'line' still dividing 2 churches that it is completely gone now. As I'm writing this I'm realizing that out of the 6 ladies in my condo 5 of them were from the church we merged with and I loved rooming with every single one of them and truly feel like we've been attending church together for a long time! Saturday morning a pillar in our church spoke about the importance of feeding our relationships not just spiritually but physically which is just as important. And she sang a beautiful song! Then Saturday night we did a nail polish swap as another fun way to get to know each other. It was also unload night. 2 of our pastors ministered on perception and having God's view of things and not our own which led into a great, much needed time of personal ministry. To say God moved might be understated. He was very present and ladies were able to lay down junk they'd been carrying for far too long and become new.
As I went to bed that night I kept thinking about the nail polish swap. God used such a simple thing for our benefit! I had used the fruits of the spirit plus some other good spiritual words to make up how we did the swap. I had 15 words, 2 of each. My sister was suppose to attend but at the last minute had to stay home, I really felt like she was with us in spirit and through the nail polish swap God gave me a word to bring home to her! So we would have had 30. ☺ I had each lady draw a word and the 2 ladies who got the same word then swapped nail polish. And I'm not kidding...they were all God connections! The first word was love and my pastor and her daughter were paired up! My word was joy and I was paired with Joyce...she got her namesake! I mean how did that happen other than God?! So Sunday morning after an awesome time of worship we paired back up and prayed for each other, finalizing the solidifying of relationships.
We're completely family now!
I'm very thankful for all of what God did! I shouldn't be surprised at His goodness....I did prepare my heart for what ever He wanted accomplished. And accomplish He did.
Praying the Lord is good to you today!
Happy Weekend!
3 comments:
I have been to the chapel years ago and it was beautiful. I have alot of precious moments including all of the original porcelain dolls but would really like to sell them. Do you have any recommendations on where the best place would be other than ebay? Are there any forums or sites of collectors? THanks so much.
@Beth...thanks for stopping by! The chapel is still beautiful!
I'm sorry I don't have any good recommendations! I did a google search and found this...http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/groups/preciousmoments/forum. Also I noticed there is a group on Ebay that might be helpful... http://groups.ebay.com/forum/Precious-Moments-Collectors/Welcome/100024763? Hope that helps!!
Sounds like a great weekend and I loved your pictures of the chaThree Mango Seedspel. :)
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