I’m delinquent in posting the REAL reason why I went to Created for Care…my roommates were of course, the best part of the trip socially, but I did learn tons.
Here are Jennifer and I…
I was so thrilled to have this view from our room…
And during one of the main sessions, the showed photo after photo of adoptive families represented there and I could barely hold back the tears…
The first break out session I went to was about finding creative times with God. Back when I was young, single and then married without kids, I had no trouble setting aside a quiet time. It was usually some prayer time and a devotional reading. But since then, it has become a struggle to find any time alone with God. And when I say a struggle, I mean, a REAL struggle. It’s like I can read the Bible, do a Bible study or pray, but I can’t manage to get them all done. So when I saw this was a break out option, I jumped at the chance! And it was OH SO GOOD. I picked up some awesome tips on finding time when and where you can in the midst of life. But the best thing I heard was that this might just be a season where setting aside even 30 minutes isn’t going to happen at the same time every day. Or even several days. Or maybe EVER. But she gave us several ways that we can meditate on the word and prayer even during crazy life.
After the leader spoke, there were different stations to go to. One was to pray over the world…any particular area you felt called. I prayed over China and Russia. And then I prayed over all the orphan children. There was a cross in which you could read scripture and just pray. Then a tent of rest where you just sat and did nothing.
There was a station where you created what you thought love looked like. Here’s my creation.
We also had to paint a picture of how we thought God saw us. I brought my painting back to the room, but not sure if it made it home. They were all just very good exercises.
The second breakout I did had to do with keeping your marriage alive after adoption. I have a fabulous marriage and I am thankful every day that God gave me Steve. But our marriage could be so much better. I won’t go into detail, but again, got several good tips to help make things better.
The last session I picked was on spending time with God and man oh man did it rock my socks off. It was just a culmination of all the things I needed to hear. In the session, she played this song. I’d never heard it before, but if the words don’t speak to you, then I don’t know what would.
It was such a good weekend on all accounts and after so many months of waiting for the days to pass and for it to arrive, poof! It was here and gone so fast. I miss my roommates. I miss being in a room with 450 women who KNEW what it was like to live your life. I miss seeing nearly 450 different adoption t-shirts on those moms. I miss it all. But I look forward to putting what I learned into practice. And for that, it was ALL worth it.
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