Oasis

In just over a week we will be heading to our bi-annual ladies’ retreat.  I’ll spare you the details (you can find them on the retreat portion of the website), but I want to share a little bit about what the retreat has meant to me over the last six months of preparation.

There are hundreds of details surrounding a retreat.  You have to put a leadership team together.  Then each member of the leadership team needs to put their own team together.  There are meetings to schedule, which involves having all of your ducks in a row (not an easy feat).  There are songs to choose, activities to plan, catering to arrange.  There is registration to run, contracts to be negotiated, and welcome packets to create.  We have sound systems to set up, candy bars to arrange, games to plan, and guests to be greeted.  We have prayers to be prayed on behalf of every woman coming, a speaker to take care of, and memories to be captured.  Whew!

The details can take over!  And let me assure you, were it not for the amazing leadership team helping out, the details would be forgotten more often than not (Thank you!).  My prayer since last August, when we first started putting ideas and teams together, has been that God would be glorified.  That this retreat would be a ministry and not an event.  But, to be honest, I have found myself getting caught up in the details and the worries that go along with planning an event this size.  Countless times throughout Scripture we are told to pray in all things.  While I haven’t found an hour to set aside each day to lift this event up in prayer, I have been able to (for the most part) incorporate prayer into a part of who I am with this event.  Can I stop and take a time out?  Not often!  Can I make prayer a part of who I am?  Absolutely!  And when I am able to do this, then it truly can be an Oasis for me 🙂