Lord Jesus - thank you for all your protection and yet humbling this weekend! It was awesome. I keep thinking the next retreat can never be as good as the last and then i go to another one and it just gets better. I love church ladies and I love small churches and I love ministry! Wow, thank you for my blessings!
On Friday morning i woke up to my 2 oldest girls throwing up pretty violently! It was awful. Emmajoy never gets stomach stuff and it really, really got her! Sarahjane had the same old kind of throw-up that she has been doing a lot lately and i am not sure if i need to have it looked at! But anyway, nevertheless, we were hurling!! I was in a pickle as well. My girls were suppose to go over to my neighbors to play while i left for the retreat and Clay got home from the plane. There was a time lapse in which we needed some help. But it was my neighbors daughter's birthday the next day. So even if the girls stopped being sick before lunch i just could not send them over the Lydia's house because what if her daughter got "it" and her party was cancelled - she would kill me and i think rightly so! So the Lord provided me with another sitter at just the last minute.
As Clay was arriving home - i mean walking in the door - and our sitter Brittany was leaving - I mean stepping out of the house - Emmajoy hurled her guts all over the new carpet and herself, i might add. Welcome home daddy and good-bye sitter! Boy Satan was lovin' this!! To top it all off, i got all the way to my retreat center and realized as i was unpacking the car i had forgotten my clothes. Oh no - this was bad. What was really bad was as i began to speak through my first session i felt what every women recognizes as - Oh no, not now!!! It was my time for my "time of the month", but this was not a good time. I was unprepared in every sense of the word!!! Yuck!!! So i had to confess that i was clothesless and on my period and fighting a huge amount of guilt because my husband was at home and i had not seen him in 5 days and he had my sick girls!
Now this is great - a lady raised her hand and said that she had just gone to a friend's house before she came to the retreat to pick up all her friend's clothes that needed to go to a consignment store. She said her friend was about my size, just about 5 inches shorter. So i wore someone else's clothes that was not even at the retreat and they were all about 5 inches too short! I was a sight to see!! I hope they send me pictures. It was great! See HE always provides!!
This church - Flint-Groves Baptist in Gastonia, NC - was incredible and i just had a blast. The ladies were so kind and receptive to the Lord. Many Radical decisions made and hearts set free by His word! It was unbelievable! They too felt led to lay hands on me and pray over me. There is nothing like that!!
I forgot to tell you on Friday morning about Thursday! One of the nicest and most treasured compliments that one can give me is that I am very real. Well on Thursday morning a girl and her friend came forward to talk. They were just about to walk away when one friend grabbed my arm and said, "I just love how real you are. I feel like we could just go to lunch and talk for hours." OK - that was real sweet and hope that people can always say that. Then she was just about to walk away and she felt the need to explain her comment or something........... She went on further to say, "I mean, look, your shirt is all wrinkled and your nails look terrible." The comment was something like that. But it was definitely a backhanded compliment. Her friend had a terrible look of shock on her face and began to walk away without her friend. It was hilarious!!! I appreciated what she was trying to say, but i did go get my nails done!!
Lord Jesus - i love ministry. It is hard and lonely at times being all by myself, but You never leave me and will never forsake me! I am excited to see what is next. I am excited to get our book proposal to publishers and just see what could be next!!! You are so exciting. Life is a fun filled adventure with lots of surprises! You are my Joy Lord!!! I love you!
2 comments:
I just wanted to say that Leigh Gray is wonderful, I went to the retreat and it was a Godly retreat. Leigh was funny, charming, made you feel welcome and loved by GOD! Sitting there just looking at Leigh, you can see Jesus beaming from ear to ear!
Thanks to Leigh!!!
With Love,
Kristina Schiff
Leigh, Thanks so much for coming and teaching us at our retreat last weekend. It amazes me how God always puts the right person in front of me to give me wisdom and courage. Your messages were very timely for me and helped me to get past some decisions I had been back and forth with. I do believe that God has a calling for all of us and it's up to us to do what we are supposed to with it to bring Him all the honor and glory. I know it was extremely hard for you to leave sick children and be away from your husband. I, for one, really appreciate your following through and coming to give us "our" truths from God. Each person there was touched in one way or another. God was truely present and my life was changed because of your faithfulness to the Father. Let's just say I have more confidence now in what I'm doing. I love you, sister in Christ, and have your name on a post it on my computer screen. That means I will remember you daily. I am excited about what God is going to do through you as your ministry grows. I love Beth Moore too but I love the way you were down to earth, approachable and easily understood. God has given you a great ability to make people feel like we are all apart of one big family...The family of God. That's the eternal one! So, if I don't see you again here, I'll see you there!
Love and Blessings,
Sonda Buchanan
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