Joy in the Journey Retreat {the Vision}

It wasn’t until I got home from the Created for Care Retreat in Atlanta, Georgia this past March that I began to get REALLY excited about the reality of connecting and encouraging other adoptive women through a retreat in our area.

You see, I had the opportunity to spend time with {read: cry with, laugh with, worship with, and be loved by} three amazing women that I had “met” throughout our adoption journey.  It was a weekend filled with so much healing from a long adoption process that had left me more wounded than what I had previously realized, and I left that retreat feeling so rejuvenated and hopeful.  The Created for Care retreat for me was exactly what my heart needed and I believe that is why God orchestrated the opportunity for me to attend.

While at the retreat, I went to a session called “Hosting Your Own Mini-Retreat” where two women spoke about the Created for Care Mini-Retreat that they were planning and I was totally inspired.  I LOVED the idea of bringing a retreat to our area and striving to start small and make it affordable for adoptive mamas.

As I sat at that session, God clearly brought to mind my two friends, Tiffany {my childhood friend since 7^th grade} and Shannon {who Tiffany had introduced me to just the previous year}.  I could almost envision Him standing in front of me, whispering that this was the reason I was at the conference…to be inspired to bring this home and minister to other adoptive women.  I sent a text to my friends and told them to be prepared; God was about to call us to put together and host an adoptive mini-retreat.  I quickly received replies that said that sounded great and that they wanted to know more!  {Have I mentioned that I LOVE these two?!}

Soon after returning home, the time arrived for the three of us to go out to dinner and I launched into the word that I’d received at the retreat.  I had no doubt that these two ladies would support this idea, but I truly underestimated the level of enthusiasm they would have!  We sat at Panera and poured idea after idea for the retreat for three and a half hours.  By the end of the evening, we had a huge list of specifics that we felt the Holy Spirit was leading us to explore in regards to the retreat including (but not limited to) location, breakout session ideas, ideas for speakers, worship ideas, and potential dates.  After a prayer begging God to be with us every step of the way in this endeavor, we each left with lists of to-dos and planned our next meeting for two weeks out.

Within those first two weeks, we received confirmation after confirmation that this retreat was truly the work of the Lord.  It was obvious that He was in the details, from our first choice of dates being the only available dates at the retreat center, to the fact that we were going to be able to stay in budget and keep the retreat affordable, to the level of enthusiasm that we received from other adoptive mamas when we shared what God was doing.  Another thing that happened within that first two weeks is that God gave us our retreat name, an adaptation of an E-book that features stories of 12 women finding “Joy in the Journey” during a difficult time.

Since that first meeting just a few short months ago, God has continued to confirm that He is faithful and that He is behind this ministry.  He loves adoption and He tells us in James 1:27 that caring for orphans is considered “pure and faultless”.  Our hope for the upcoming retreat is that we can be used by Him to minister to you; to point you to the Joy of our Father and to encourage you, even when the journey is hard.

Won't you consider joining us?