“A Drink of Hope."

The rest of the week with the Salem team was awesome. It started out great with Katie’s wise words the Sunday that the team arrived, and then went onto being even better. 

Barb and Jen lead our team through some worship, prayer and listening times. We took all day Tuesday to be open to what God might be trying to say to us. I had a lot of fun reading Proverbs and praying over verses that stood out to me. It was like I was actually hanging out with Jesus, which was very refreshing and intimate. 

Throughout the week I was able to go with the team to the Bazar, to members homes for meals and we had the team over to our house for lunch as well. I loved showing them around the place I call home. I helped a little with retreat stuff and was looking forward to a weekend away from the City. When the retreat came, Jen asked me to sing with her and this got me really excited. I love singing and I hadn’t done very  much of it since being in Kstan, and I was going to do it all weekend with her. 

The retreat was held out at the Fountain of Love. A center that is ran by Samaritans Purse. The team that runs the center is very close with our team, so it was a blast being out there for the weekend.During free time we were able to play catch with the football and spend time outside which I don’t get to do in the city, but this kind of play keeps me sane. There were about 30-40 women that came out for the retreat. The weekend was called “A Drink of Hope.”

One of the many things that came up repeatedly from Jen and Barb throughout the week was to not always push aside the things that are on our minds when trying to sit and be still with God. So many times we sit down to spend our “quiet time” with Him, but our minds are swarmed with to do lists or something that is on the forefront of our minds and we can’t seem to push it aside. They encouraged us to address those things before God. Most likely that could be something He wants us to work through that day, and if we keep pushing it aside to focus on him, we aren’t being real with what’s actually going on. It was amazing how much easier my time with God went if I just first wrote out all the things I needed to do that day, and gave it to Him. 

That Saturday morning during the retreat I started my morning with writing down everything going on in my mind and giving it up to God. There was a lot. Then God spoke to me. Exodus 14:!4 “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” I felt so much peace after that time with God and was excited to wait on Him to fight for me, and to see how things would turn out. But also excited for that day that lay ahead, and how He would use worship, and the messages to speak to me. 

That night, Jen spoke on a lot of really good things, but she shared that same verse in Exodus. It was so good to hear again, and confirmed to me that God really wanted me to be still and wait while He fought for me.

There was a lot of other great things Jen and Bard brought for us that weekend, that maybe I will share again, but the main thing that got me fired up was knowing that 

I am God’s beloved, and He will fight all my battles for me. I just need to be still.