5 Day Refresh

The past few days have been busy, overwhelming, wonderful, fun, thought provoking, precious, challenging...I could go on, but I won't. {You're welcome}

We will start with this past weekend. 

Over the weekend I had two big events happening; I was leading my 3rd annual girls retreat at Michigan Christian Youth Camp and I had the honor of singing as a part of "Legacy Autumn" {a group of former Autumn - vocal ensemble - members} at Rochester College's Partnership Dinner. 

This year's Girls Retreat theme was "Unwrapped." We talked about Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, we had speakers come in and share their stories of how they discovered their gifts and talents and how they have been able to use them to glorify God over the years. We had a talent show {of course}, we had some wonderful conversations, made journals, went horseback riding, ate s'mores around a campfire while some girls chatted and others sang camp songs... the weekend was perfect, little flaws and all. 

Our speakers this year were myself, Teri Butcher, Katy Busam, Lori Manry, and Rebekah Pinchback. Each one shared their beautiful and personal stories of gifts and talents, weaving together grace, trust, hospitality, love, saying "yes" to God, and many other pieces of what it means to learn and use the talents God has entrusted each of us with. All the girls had small group time after the sessions, and all the counselors mentioned how their groups were focused and had meaningful conversations throughout the weekend. One of my favorite moments from the weekend was when I was able to take a step back and listen to the girls singing praises to God. Kalita McClure lead our worship times and hearing the girls sing prayers and praises to God was such a beautiful thing. 

Of course a weekend girls retreat doesn't come without its silly moments. Our Talent Show consisted of one group doing an improv skit, another doing their own spin on the movie "Inside Out," a few girls sang, some did silly camp skits, the counselors {and myself} lip synced to Frozen's "Let it Go" {a highlight of the evening I'm sure...}. It was the perfect way to end our Saturday evening. 

 

 

God was very present throughout the weekend and it, I think, was just as life giving for me and the counselors as it was for the girls that attended {maybe even more so}. 

The other part of my weekend was the Partnership Dinner. Mid-afternoon on Saturday I left the girls retreat to head down to the Partnership Dinner to set up, warm up, and then perform a few songs for the dinner with "Legacy Autumn". 

"Legacy Autumn" was made up of people who were in Autumn spanning back from the 80's to 2015 - one of these people was my Dad. It was so awesome to get to sing with so many talented people, and my Dad being one of them was the cherry on top. {Here are some photos from our performance}

The final important piece that happened over the past several days really started almost a year ago. 

If you know me you know I am not a huge book reader. I enjoy reading books, but I generally only read them if I have to or if it's been highly suggested to me. Well, about a year ago a group of my friends {who are almost all avid book worms} decided to start a book club, and I jumped in. Given I haven't been super diligent about reading the books, and I can't always make it to our monthly meeting, but it's been a lot of fun and I'm reading books I may never have picked up otherwise. 

This past month's book was "Bread and Wine" by Shauna Niequist and it has fed my heart, soul, and as of last night, my stomach. It was a smaller group of us that met last night, but we ate together devouring fresh spaghetti and meatballs, salad, homemade blueberry crisp, lemon oreos, and wine. We shared our likes and dislikes on this book, and as we continued to catch up and share we made plans for the books we will be reading for the next several months - planning, friends, and food...my heart was happy. 

These past few days have truly been a breath of fresh air for me. Lately I've been feeling so bogged down, but these moments of things and people I love - friends, learning, singing, leading, etc... have been just what I needed. God is so good and knows what we need when we need it. I really need to be more trusting that he will take care of me. My control freak-need to know-have to plan self really gets in the way sometimes...but it's a learning process and right now I'm thankful for the past five days and the renewal and refreshment they have given me.