My Weakness = His Strength for SURE!!

I returned home last night from Women of the Harvest's 2008 furlough retreat, where I served as worship leader and volunteered in other capacities as well. What can I say about this week? The Lord did so, SO much... I don't know where to start.

To those of you who prayed for me and/or contributed financially toward the cost of my trip, thank you, thank you, thank you!! What a blessing! By giving and by praying, you have touched nations. 48 of them to be exact! :) There were 70 missionary ladies there who serve in a total of 48 different countries. It was such a privilege for me to get to hear some of their stories and experiences. These ladies are amazing. Their hearts for the Lord, their dedication to serving Him however He leads, and their hunger to encounter Jesus in worship were so humbling to me. What an honor to be able to lead them in worship...... Speaking of which....

.... Many of you know that I left for CA with a bad case of bronchitis, which made me pretty hoarse. Yikes! I went to CA praying that God would give me my voice back fully so that I could sing clearly to lead worship. Over the course of the week, I became keenly aware that God intended to move and encounter these ladies as they worshiped regardless of whether my voice was "normal" or not! :) I was hoarse the entire week! I was able to sing just enough so that they could hear me and follow me, but I did NOT sound like myself. Ha! In spite of, or maybe BECAUSE of, my weakness, God came and moved POWERFULLY. His presence was there in a felt way. It was so sweet. Many of the ladies shared with me ways that God had touched their hearts personally during the worship times, and I was SO thankful, and very humbled. Truly, He is good ALL the time.... and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. In MY weakness. He made this verse so personal to me during the entire week. I was tired, a bit sick (bronchitis, etc.), and just generally feeling weak.... But HE is strong and so He came and had His way. I am SO blown away by His faithfulness.

I co-led a small group during the retreat with Marilyn from Bakersfield, CA, another volunteer staff team member. Our small group sessions were such precious times to connect and share our stories and our lives with one another. We had 6 (I think) ladies in our small group, and each one was such a joy to get to know. If any of you read this, thank you so much for sharing your hearts with us. I am honored to know you.

I had the opportunity of having one-on-one conversations with several of the missionary ladies who were there.... and in doing so, learned first hand once again how God uses our life experiences, and our journeys with Him through them, to speak to other people as they are in the midst of their own journeys. I met ladies this week who have lost babies to miscarriage (even very recently), ladies who have been in ministry and gone through a divorce, ladies who are in the midst of difficult marriages, etc. In each of these conversations, as I shared parts of my own journey, I was blown away by how it allowed them to feel free to be honest about their own circumstances and their own healing process. These conversations were highlights for me. They gave me a new perspective on God's faithfulness in the midst of pain...and His faithfulness to heal and restore hearts and lives. He is using the difficult and painful things that I have walked through to allow me to come alongside other women as they are in the midst of painful circumstances. This is such a precious gift to me, and such an intimate experience for me with the Lord. I'm so thankful....

WOTH (Women of the Harvest) provides "pampering" opportunities for the missionary ladies on these retreats that they (mostly) wouldn't otherwise have the resources to receive, i.e.: pedicures, haircuts, and massages.... as well as professional counselors for those who have experienced significant events that they need to process. ALSO..... with the help of local churches, WOTH provides a clothing boutique of NEW CLOTHES for the ladies to "shop" through and pick out outfits for FREE!! It was SO MUCH FUN to see the ladies dressed up in their new clothes and strutting their stuff in our "fashion show" on Saturday evening! The pampering opportunities, the new clothes, the quality of the gifts that they were each given over the course of the weekend, the quality of the hotel that we stayed in.... All of these are given out of a desire to give the ladies tangible expressions of the EXTRAVAGANCE of God's love for them.

One more thing.... The volunteer staff team that I served with for the entire week: What an amazing group of ladies!! There were 23 of us, I think. Each one served and served and served.... God poured extra life into us so that we could pour it into the missionary ladies. :) It was such a fun experience, serving alongside of this group of staff ladies from every generation and every walk of life. We ranged in age from 21 to 70's. Wow!! The depth that God has put in each of these ladies, the unique ways in which He has gifted them to serve others, and their desire for the missionaries to feel loved and wanted...basically, their hearts blew me away. Ladies, I am so honored to know each of you and so thankful that we got to be on the same team for a week. What a blessing you each were to me.

This is a looooong post!! I'll close now with some pictures - - See below. Thanks again to everyone who prayed and gave financially. I can't tell you how much this opportunity has changed me. I don't even think I'm fully aware yet of what a significant experience this has been for me. It was huge. Thank you all so, so much.

(CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR A BIGGER VIEW. IT MAKES THEM CLEARER.)

Above: Our three awesome massage therapists!! Miriam, the one in the middle, was in my room almost every evening beating on my back in order to loosen the "stuff" in my lungs! What a servant's heart she has.... Thank you so much lady!!

Julia and Courtney and I in front of a "private" dock. HA! :) (I obeyed the rules! Lol!)

One of the evenings before the missionaries got there, a bunch of us ate at Joes Crab Shack. It was quite an experience! Fun times...

This is all of us at our table at Joe's...

The first evening of the retreat, we played a game where everyone ended up piled on top of each other! It was fun to watch the missionaries LAUGH together! :)

This was my small group. Elma, Jennifer, Marliyn, Me, Jan, Marcy, Marcy (again!), and Marty. Awesome ladies!! Hugs to you all!!!! XOXOXO!

Goofin' off in the pedicure room!! I learned to give pedicures! Can you believe it? ME! Touching people's feet! :) Ha! I got over my foot phobia REALLY fast.

Fashion extravaganza! So much fun!!!

I was sitting under a palm tree so I just aimed the camera up and this was what happened. :) I thought it looked cool against the night sky....

Getting on the fairy to go across to see the beach.... So beautiful!
Sunday night was our last evening there. Several of the staff took a taxi out to the beach. Sooooo gorgeous. It was such a fun evening! Below are pics from Sunday evening.

California Sunset..... Sigh....
This one is of us at the burger place out at the end of the pier! Such a cool experience!
L-R: Me, Mandy (retreat coordinator), Merry, Cindy, Miriam, Lorrie (WOTH's exec. director), Bobbie, and Christina, one of the missionaries who was still with us.

Finally.... a couple of quick videos. The first one is from the sing-along that we had on Saturday night. We were outside, so it's pretty dark, but the ladies sound amazing! For many of them, this retreat was their first time worshiping corporately in English in many years. Wow!

This one is just me and my roommate, Debbie. We're both kinda weird.... okay, really weird... Just goofy. I LOVE that I got to room with her. This video was taken around 11pm on Sunday night, my last night there.... And I was TIRED AND LOOPY! So be warned.... Serious goofiness here.