My Weekend at Retreat!


I was able to attend our District Women's Ministry Retreat this weekend and boy did I need it! It was such a wonderful time of refreshment and renewal. I had a room to myself, thanks to my precious husband, and that was nice. The food was great, the fellowship wonderful, but the Presence of the Lord surpassed it all. I gained so much new insight about who God is and who I am and am determined to walk as close to Him as I possibly can.

I want to be more like Jesus in all that I say and do and not let the circumstances of this life determine my course.

While at the retreat, I was able to visit with Mr. Anderson from New Orleans. He and his family are evaucees who are staying at the same facility we had our retreat, Shocco Springs. We hit it off the first moment I started talking to him in the dining hall. I didn't want to talk too much about the circumstances of his life but let him do the talking. I did bring up the subject of good of South Louisiana Food and that brought a smile to his face. He said that you just couldn't find good seafood in this part of Alabama and I had to agree with him. He had found some crawfish but he said that they had been boiled in dishwater!

One thing that he mentioned was the fact that things were so quiet at the campground. He said one morning he awoke around 2:00 and went outside to sit on the porch. He said it was so quiet that when an acorn fell out of the tree and hit the ground, it nearly scared him to death. He said that he can't get over the fact that he doesn't hear sirens all day and night.
Anderson said that he thought Alabama was the prettiest place he'd ever been too but that he wants to go home. I can relate to that sometimes. No matter what faults or problems that may be there, there is never anyplace like home.
Remember Anderson and his family in your prayers. He is planning to go back to New Orleans this coming weekend to check on the condition of his house. He seemed like a good, Christian man, and I will never be the same after having come in contact with him and the other evacuees.
I trust and pray that God will use me in a special way to touch someone's life. I don't know how or when it may be, but I want to be ready for His Call!
Beth

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