Going Back to Indiana

Guess what???? It's set! I'm so excited, we're going back to Indiana in September with Wayne & Terri to visit the "Oasis". Right now, looks like the dates are 8th through 11th or somewhere around there.

Gosh, I hate when I don't write for months. I don't even know where to begin, life changes so much from day to day. But, I think of everybody...my friends from this "blog" world all the time.

Anyway, I just wanted especially JoJo and Lepido know that we'll be coming to your area, so maybe we can work something out to see each other again.


This was something that one of the women at the retreat our church held. She's hasn't been a Christian very long, but, her faith has encouraged me so much.

The "naked and unashamed" she refers to is something that dawned on me as I was teaching...how, although we are suffering all the "flaws from the fall" as I called them, on the inside, we are being restored to our original condition as we were meant to be and the first man and woman were. I thought of their being unaware of their nakedness, so they didn't know to be ashamed, and how we are now free to be "naked and unashamed" of those circumstances, thoughts, etc., that we were used to keep hidden. So anyway, as it became a freeing thought to me, it kind of caught on. :)


Second Touch Women’s Retreat (4/2006)
“Extreme Make-over”

I was a stranger walking in. I was still in shock from a recent disappointment and in desperate need of some repair, some hope. I had somehow heard of the retreat through a friend of a friend of the group and signed up at the last minute. Being a fairly new believer, I had not been to a retreat before and didn’t know what to expect. First two faces I met were Kate and Holly…. Bright and shining warmth… Then, walking into the house, I was greeted by Melanie, who looked somehow so very familiar. Then one by one…Dotty, Marci, Sharon, Lacy, Joyce, Kathleen, and the rest whose names I cannot remember…everyone looked familiar to me. Never had I experienced such a feeling in a new group of people. As I look back now, the energy I felt must have been the undeniable connection through our sisterhood in Christ. Each of us had put our lives on hold that weekend to be at the retreat, for the sole purpose of getting closer to God. As a result, the sisterhood could be felt much stronger without our masks we tend to put on for the world. It seemed more apparent to me, because I was a stranger to the group, never having met these women before. Yet I felt like I knew them, and I felt instantly accepted. I was a part of the group….I belonged… I was holding (clenching) the only ticket required….the longing for God. As Melanie led the retreat with such openness and put herself out there (“naked and unashamed”); and as we shared the scriptures, our stories, tears, and laughter…I somehow felt renewed, alive, and excited again about the road ahead. It is just so amazing to me how perfectly God paves the way for me….how intimately he knows my heart. How, as soon as I seem to have hit a dead-end, he lights up another brighter path for me to walk on. How he always, always, has me in his embrace…. Now, if I can just stop kicking and thrashing around and learn to rest in his arms… If I can be still and just breathe…
The last song on Melanie’s CD is “Breathe.” It says so much…so simply…

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)