Delight Retreat | part four

When I came out at 5am to take Karen to the train station on Sunday morning, Kristin, despite being exhausted in every way, shape & form, insisted on coming with us... and another one of the girls joined us as well. Despite the promise that "joy comes with the morning", we were already feeling spiritually drained at the beginning of the day as we headed to the station. The train was running late and so we sat in the car discussing the heaviness covering the house and interceding to the Father on behalf of the girls who were so desperately struggling with their fears & burdens.  Every kind of hurt, fear & brokenness was in someway represented at this retreat and most of it needed attention while we were all together. Scripture says, "where two or three are gathered together, there I am with them" and as we gathered together for those few days as His children, He was there, working & redeeming the broken. Proclaiming the grace & hope that is found only in Him. 
After Karen caught her train, we headed back to the house where everyone was asleep. Kristin & Jessica headed to rest while I joined a few other girls in preparing breakfast. I always loved the worship music that played over the surround sound in the morning... literally enveloping the house in praise & worship to the Father.  
Jordan started off our day by sharing her testimony and then giving us a strong charge & call to action. That first, if we weren't walking in the truth of Christ, that's where we needed to be, pronto. And secondly that as children of God, we are children of the LIGHT and need to proclaim that! (1 Thess. 5:5) Trusting that He is in control & carries our burdens. 

There was an open panel for the leaders following that and then everyone got ready to head into Leavenworth to shop & get lunch. This time was such a blessing because we all needed a little time out of the house to focus on something else! An owner of several boutiques in Leavenworth generously gave us each a package containing a gift certificate to her store & a copy of the book "Jesus Calling". That became my favorite book from the retreat & it's been so encouraging! We all broke into several groups, exploring little shops. Several of us grabbed lunch at the Blackbird Bistro which was simple & delicious and then met up with others for ice cream & coffee. 
We had free time for a while when we got back and then we were gathered together for Christmas in April thanks to some incredible vendors! It was SO special to see the tears of joy on girls faces as they received the camera bag, mentorship or gift  that was exactly what they needed for their business! A HUGE shoutout to all of the vendors & photographers who were so generous! It was truly such a blessing!
Sometime after dinner, Kristin brought us all back together to recap the weekend. As we sat in a circle and went around sharing where God had broken us, what He had shown us, what we had learned & the joys we had experienced, I thought back to that morning... how we had sat in the wee hours, praying for redemption & healing. Praying specifically that it would begin happening in several girls before they left the retreat. And I sat there thinking how over the course of the weekend, healing had begun to happen for so many of the girls... and then just that day, had happened for each of the girls we had specifically prayed for except for one. And then it came that one's turn to share in the circle. Before she could begin, the wall came tumbling down & she broke into tears saying, "I just need prayers!". I sent up a silent prayer of thanks saying, "you did it Lord! YOU broke down the walls for each of the girls this weekend!" as we gathered around her, lifting her to Him. We spent a good while praying for her & asking for Him to work over the whole group.  We ended up spending 4 hours sharing about the weekend & testifying to the great things He accomplished... wrapping up with another girl sharing her incredible testimony. We were all so drained that we were struggling to stay awake but it was such a JOY to see the Redeemer at work amongst us! 
 None of us felt like we could go to bed so Em set out ice cream to give us a late night sugar boost:) Kristin asked us to take two rocks from a bucket and on one write our greatest fear and on the other write who we are in Christ. Then we all walked down to the water, in the black & rainy night, guided by cell phone lights, singing "It Is Well With My Soul", to throw the rocks inscribed with our fears into the river. Such a beautiful picture of the peace that comes with surrendering our lives to Jesus! (Watch this video to see it in action)

We came back into the house and Kristin said she had one last surprise for us. Over 20 photographers had come forward & we had each been blessed with a one year mentorship! This was so huge! I remember when I first got involved with the photography industry several years ago and worked alone with no community & no guidance or encouragement. Having even just one person who would have followed my journey for a year would have been such a blessing then and it was so exciting to see it come to life for not just myself but 21 other girls as well!

Then we all got to bless our incredible leaders with little tokens of our love & appreciation. This was better than when we had received gifts earlier!! So thankful for all of their hard work, love & encouragement!

I love how Kristina summed up our weekend: "It wasn’t always easy, we were challenged, we cried, we confessed fears, and we mourned with each other. But, thanks be to the Lord, we also saw each other grow, we were encouraged by each other, we prayed together and we rejoiced together in freedom!"

The biggest thing I learned was to expect GREAT things from Jesus. To believe that He is able to do abundantly MORE than we could ever ask or think. That He is in the business of redeeming & restoring!

(read Part One, Part Two, Part Three)