Ok, since I don't know how to spell the word I'm thinking of in the title line, you'll just have to read it & sound it out! haha!
Have you ever walked in the door after being gone all day & gotten hit with a wave of stink? I mean, like the dishes were left in the sink or the laundry was stinky, or the trash needed to be taken out? Ya know what I mean?
That's what happened when I got home from the retreat today. I walked in & WHAM, right off the bat, the funk smell hit. I'm sure I looked like a bloodhound walking from room to room sniffing & trying to find the smell....or rather the SOURCE of the smell. (cuz after all I could already SMELL the smell!) Anyway, so I roamed from room to room sniffing.
I emptied the trash & took it outside & then came back in. Shooey! That didn't do it. It still stunk.
So I did the dishes & went to the mailbox & came back. :::cough, cough::: Nope, that wasn't it. I could still smell it.
I gathered up all the laundry & started a load. Hmm....nope, that still was not it. I could still smell it.
I went around the house w/ the bottle of Febreeze & hosed down all the couches, beds, carpets with it. Sniff, sniff....gag......nope, I still smell it.
Holy moley! What is left? I swear.....it's like something died & then invited over 6 guests to die with it. ewwwwwwwwww!
I swear......I leave for less than 24 hours & this is my welcome home. Ick! Well, at least the dishes & laundry & trash are done now. :::Shrugs:::
On an upside, the retreat finished up about 1:45. We had the facility available to us til 3:00, but everyone was just going to sit around & chat to kill time. Since I knew Larry was taking the kids to Elkhart for the afternoon & wouldn't be home til 5:00 or 6:00, I decided to go ahead & come home for some peaceful "me time". (well, I am alone, but I think the smell may drive me to go somewhere else for that peaceful part! Maybe if I lay down & take a nap I'll wake up & the smell will magically have disappeared.)
The retreat was great. We went to a pretty, quiet place here in town called Pine Cove. (See previous post for a link to where we were.) It was a great location. My cabin overlooked the lake & was made like a hotel room, so it was a really nice facility.
Last night, our famous Pat S. spoke about how we're treasures to God. I've heard her speak on this topic before, but I love hearing the message she gives. She told us that she spent years & years really hating who she was. She spent oodles of money on psychiatrists & pills trying to find a way to love herself. One day, God gave her a revelation while she was raking the yard about His love for her & it changed her life. She said He spoke to her so clearly about His love & what she meant to Him and then he gave her a "prescription". He asked her to say "I am special & loved by Jesus" 3 times every day. At first, she felt egotistical doing it because she was afraid someone would hear her, but since she was a stay at home mom, she found moments when she could hide in the bathroom & just whisper it at first. Later she would say it out loud. It took years to reach a place where she could look herself in the face (in a mirror) & say it. She then handed out mirrors & asked us to all take it & look at ourselves & repeat part of Psalm 139 (I am fearfully & wonderfully made!) and tell ourselves that we are special & loved by God. Of course, we all felt like dorks holding a mirror & talking to ourselves and hardly anyone could do it without giggling. Seriously though, how messed up are we ALL that we can't look ourself in the eye & say how special we are to God? She shared scripture that highlights the ways God made us so unique & special. She said that at one time, she was really beating herself up when God gave her a vision of Jesus on the cross, grotesquely bloody & gory. She said the image was so intense & brutal that she was literally turning her face because she didn't want to see what God was showing her. In that moment He asked her "what MORE can I do to show you how special you are?". :::chillbumps::: Anyway, her talk was really good!
Afterward, we had FUN TIME WITH TRICIA. For you local gals, this is Tricia from KVNE. She is such a sweetheart. I have the privelege of knowing her personally & I call her my "celebrity" friend. :) She had all kinds of funny games for us to play as a group & finished up with a singing bee. Apparently there is a game show on now like this, but of course I've never seen it b/c I don't watch much TV. The way it goes is that they start a song & you have to be able to finish it when they stop the music. (or at least finish the next several lines) We were in groups at first, but eventually they had to choose one representative from each group to sing for the group. Because they were playing mostly all current contemporary Christian music, I knew pretty much EVERY song & was LOVING this game b/c I was just sure my group might win (hello, pride?). When it came time to pick a rep for the group, they chose me to go up IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE GROUP & get a microphone stuck in my face. Yikes. I totally lost, but I did get to kiss the hostess (ha ha) as a consolation prize before leaving the "stage". Turns out, the song I lost on was one from the new Casting Crowns CD. Man! I want that CD anyway, but now I really want it!
This morning my buddy Angeline spoke about healing. Now I don't mean the slap you in the forehead & squeal kind of healing. She spoke about emotional/physical and spiritual healing. Without sharing too many details of her personal testimony (b/c she specifically asked us to not talk about it elsewhere), she told us several stories of her life where God has healed her in one way or another. It was a beautiful, sweet time of worshipping God for all He's done in our lives in one form of healing or another. Toward the end, she said something that really resonated in me. I'm not sure if this was her own statement or if she was quoting someone, but she said "Healing is not the absence of symptoms, but the presence of our Holy God". Wow...amen!
The theme of our retreat was "His Treasure". We had door prizes & goody bags & games all associated with a "royal" theme speaking to our being His princesses. We had a great time & were blessed. Thank you, Lord for my time away to rest & refresh.
Now.......off to find that stink! (or take a nap.....)
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