Wednesday, August 10, 2011

FUEL beach retreat

I'm not gonna lie....we are still recuperating from all of our travels. On the 17th of July we loaded up 6 vehicles with teenagers, leaders & lots of food, luggage and plans and headed to the beach for a week long retreat. I cannot even begin to tell you how incredible the week was! God showed up and changed many of these kids lives. Our week revolved around FIGHTING THE TIDE. Each day we spent 3 hours in worship and prayer and had a different topic to discuss with the kids! Fighting the current of the world with our hearts, minds, mouths and our eyes & ears. On Wednesday when talking about our mouths, the Spirit really came and touched the hearts of our kids. It was incredible. The kids response was amazing. The reconciliation, the chains were being broken within the heart and mind, the life giving words that they were speaking to one another and that the leaders were able to share with the kids....it left us speechless. The kids were just as speechless. You could feel the Spirit of God in that place and you could see the change that occurred in our kids. 

Personally, the week was one that was so very different for me. I have been a pastor's wife for 8 years now. I know how camp goes, the expectations for me, how to fill in the gaps..the list goes on. BUT this was the first year that I balanced being a momma and a pastor's wife and it was a bit TOUGH! Hope you can handle a little transparency.  I struggled with how to maintain all that I have done in previous years, knowing that through serving those students, I was serving Christ. I had such a hard time not being able to do all that I knew I had done years before. BUT, the Lord revealed to me that I was doing EXACTLY what I was supposed to do. By serving my son and loving him, I was and continue to serve Christ by prioritizing time and energy for him, and sometimes that means things in my life change. It was so nice to make it through the week. It was hard, but God showed up and it was an amazing week with incredible students.

Group at the PUTT PUTT
We started the week out watching the miracle of the sun and being reminded of God's mercies that are new each and every day!

our sweet family
our little sailor