My Weekend Away

I took my first trip away from the kids since Steven and I had gotten married...five years was enough time to face the fear of leaving and not being "right there" if something happened.  Silly, but one of my irrational fears that I'm trying to face and conquer.  Soooo, after a lot of prompting from my hubby and good friend, Cathy Carl, I registered for and then went to the Stonebriar Women's Retreat in Waxahachie, TX at Lakeview Conference Center.  It was SOOOOO good!  I am SOOOOO glad I went.  Everyone at home was FINE!!!  I don't know WHAT I was so scared of/for....

We went on a Friday afternoon, and a good friend, Heather Broadwater, kept Colby Friday night until Saturday afternoon when my mom flew in.

Colby playing at Heather's

Steven and the girls had date night and a very fun trip to Target where they got "whatever they wanted"...what a fun dad! :)

The retreat was about prayer, and the speaker was Fern Nichols, the creator of Moms In Touch.  I roomed with Cathy and another friend from church Brooke.  It was a relaxing, restful, peace-filled, forgiveness-from-God, letting-go weekend.  I truly am glad I went.

Me, Brooke, & Cathy

I think my biggest take away, besides realizing how much my prayer life could be better and how much I could impact my children's lives just by how I pray for them, was finally "giving" Jacob back to God--sounds silly maybe, but over the past few months and especially recently, I realized I have been holding onto him and not allowing myself to live freely and abundantly this life God has blessed me with...so, I gave God what was already His and what He'd already taken back....Jake.

I am so thankful.

I love my life.

God is GOOD.  Soon after I returned, I was reminded that life is hard.......but, God is good!  And, oh how thankful I am that He knows me, loves me, forgives me, and guides me!

Psalm 139

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.
⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
¹²     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

¹⁹ O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
    Get out of my life, you murderers!
²⁰ They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.
²¹ O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
²² Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
    for your enemies are my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you, 

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.