Delight Retreat | part three

Most of us woke up exhausted on Saturday morning. A few of the girls who hadn't been feeling well pysically coming into the retreat really crashed Friday night and as we got going the next morning, you could feel all of the spiritual & mental hurt hanging over the group. 

Despite the chilly morning air, Alora, Amanda & I took advantage of the sweet light & did a mini shoot on the beach before breakfast. It was worth it though! Emily once again had a delicious & nourishing spread laid out for us to eat and we were able to take a little time getting ready for the day.

Keary led the morning devotion and focused it clearly on FEAR and the fears that we let control our lives. As she closed, she challenged us to list out our fears in our journals & then counter that with who Christ says we are in Him. Then she invited all of us to write down our greatest fear on a board & just spend some time praying. This turned out to be the deepening point of the retreat that knit all of us closer together than we could have imagined. We all spent a good part of the morning sharing burdens with eachother, pouring out our hearts to our heavenly Father & interceding on behalf of others. 

There's something about putting a NAME to your fears/struggles & then VOICING them that makes them all the more real & present... in a way that demands you to deal with it immediately. You could just tell, from that point on until Sunday evening, that the spiritual warfare was raging. 

"The greatest lie of the enemy is making you question the goodness of God" -Chachie McDonald

"Sometimes the enemy just wants to paralize you so that you don't reach the destiny God has for you." - Karen Stott

We had two couples & a group of girls coming to model for our stylized shoots that afternoon so after lunch we all headed out, cameras in hand, to explore a different side of photography-- engagments & editorial shoots. We also took time to do more shoots with eachother which was bunches of fun:)

After dinner, Travis & Sue (one of the couples who modeled for us) shared their gripping life story with us-- such a testimony of how even through the most difficult times, God doesn't give us more than we can handle...and He often sends a specific person to walk along side of us and share our burdens!

We spent a long time in our small groups that night and by the time we had all wrapped up, it was quite late. Em served desert and most of us were pretty wired so a group of girls decided to go get in the hot tub and a group of us decided to have an "editing party". We had been sitting there for sometime- sharing images, laughing, talking & covering lots of topics -when one of the girls who had been in the hot tub suddenly came and stood in the doorway. "Are you okay?", we asked. "No", she replied, "I just feel like Satan is taunting me & saying 'hey, you haven't thought about me for a while!'"

Immediately, almost without realizing how we got there, we were all surrounding her, taking turns praying over her. Praying that she would feel the wholeness & peace of Jesus & that He would drive these fears from her. 

After that we all had so much on our minds & hearts that we grouped together and kept talking through & processing the day. At one point that day, Kristin had run around the rooms, randomly throwing these envelopes on peoples beds. The envelopes were put together by a dear woman all the way across the country in Virginia who was fasting & praying for us that weekend. They had encouraging labels & contained note cards with scripture truths & short blurbs about who we are in Christ.

 One of mine was titled, "Embrace & Enjoy!" and the accompanying notecard read, "One Body - Different Gifts | We are all connected to the body of Christ, but we have all been given special gifts crafted just for who we are created to be. Embrace and enjoy your gifts. They are just for you! Blessings! Mrs. Deb" (Haley shares a bit about her story with the notes HERE)

As we were all sitting there, many of the girls shared how even though those notes were spread around randomly, God knew who's hands they would land in and the notes they received spoke directly to something they were dealing with. It was so encouraging to hear these stories of how clearly God was working in the house because at the same time, spiritual heaviness was ever present and we knew there was much yet to be dealt with. Sometime around 2:30 in the morning, I headed to bed... but only because I had told Kristin I would take on of the leaders to the train station at 5am and I craved some shut-eye (technicaly I had already pulled an all nighter since it was already 5:30 my time!). When I woke up two hours later, Kristin and a few of the girls were still up talking & praying...

to be continued...

(read Part One, Part Two)