God is Able…

"God is Able" is truly all I can say about the 2013 Making WAVES, Women Achieving Victory Esteem & Spirituality,  Retreat at Chateau Lanier in Gainesville, GA, April 26th-28th. When I say this I mean it with every fiber of my being. I saw the hand of God truly move and I surely cannot take credit for what we experienced that weekend. 

You know how you always hear that you experience the greatest attacks before the biggest victories, well I found this to be the absolute truth. From the onset of setting the date, I was attacked on every hand trying to bring this vision to fruition. You see, this Retreat was originally planned for May 26th - 29th, 2012. We had eight women to initially register, a deposit to secure the facility was made, but by April 28th, 2012 we only had five that wanted to attend. All of this was revealed on my birthday weekend. I had gone to Charlotte, NC to minister at a Sanctuary goes Mobile event and that weekend, all hell broke loose in The Sanctuary. I say this to shame the devil because he thought he had me and the work God was doing. You see some of the members that had attended faithfully made a choice to no longer attend. So when I returned from Charlotte, NC, I was forced to cancel.  I tried to recover, but it was just not possible with loosing so many of the participants at one time. Thankfully, the owner of Chateau Lanier agreed to credit the deposit to a future date, but I wasn't sure if I was going to or wanted to reschedule.  But, I am a person that believes in fulfilling obligations and commitments. It took  several months to work through the pain and the feelings. I am not going to lie, I was all in my feelings. I was crushed, hurt, let down and disappointed. Words could not truly describe the depth of the pain. And this event was just another reminder that so many people were continually walking out of my life without so much as a word. I prayed and cried to God, had in-depth conversations with my husband and had many sessions with my spiritual life coach trying to work through the feelings. They encouraged me to continue to do the good work that God had started in me and to know that if God brought me to it, he would see me through it. 

By October 2012, I heard the Holy Spirit speak the date that I was supposed to reschedule, and the date was my birthday weekend, April 26th - 28th, 2013. After all the hell I went through the previous year, I was not feeling it. But I am in a place in my life that I am committed to being obedient to the leading of God. So I got out of my feelings and set the date. I still had five original participants to start with, but I eventually lost another and now I was down to four. For me to meet the budget of the home, I had to have a certain number and I was well below that number. So, I prayed as I do every Retreat. I covered and saturated the event with prayer. I saught God, asked Him for strength to do the work, I prayed for those who were committed and to those who would be committed. I prayed for women who would be receptive to what God was going to do that weekend. I prayed for every minor detail, down to the food and gifts. There was nothing that I did not ask God for direction. Well, as the New Year approached I had a few women express interest, but no deposits. The deadline for the first deposit was January 1, 2013, and I prayed harder. And on January 1, 2013, I was astonished at the women He brought into The Sanctuary to ride the WAVES and as the final payment deadline approached, the interest for the Retreat begin to increase and women were diligently trying to get the water. God had instructed me to gift and bless a few participants with the retreat or to discount the cost to make this experience more available to those who could not afford it. I am a firm believer in, just as much as you receive you are to give and that's what we did. Although, on paper it did not look wise, but I was dealing with a divine plan and I had to be obedient. 

And not only did He bring the women who were ready and prepared to get in the water, He lead me to session moderators that were ready to stir the waters. Everything was going so much better than the previous year and I realized that I was not doing it alone, God was with me every step of the way. 

But as that weekend approached. The enemy turned up the heat. He attacked my home straight in the pocket and attacked my person. I knew it was an all out attack to discourage me once again. But it did not work. I had a good work to complete and I had to trust that God is Able. He tried to attack the food and he thought he had us there..but nope… God is Able. 

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On Friday, April 26, 2013, 18 women, ages ranging from 19-65, converged on Chateau Lanier in Gainesville, GA. The presence and glory of God was undeniable from the onset. As each participant arrived you could feel the energy begin to increase. Some knew each other, but most did not. But you wouldn't have known it. The greetings and smiles that they gave each other was genuine and as we waited for each participant to arrive you could feel the anticipation and expectation. We opened the evening with the presentation of the WAVES pashminas.  I personally presented each guest with words of love and my hopes for them and the tears and release flowed from me. To see what God did was amazing. And we then went into our opening session.  Sheryl Merrit, author of "Dates with Jesus" set the stage with "Dates with Destiny" and the waters were stirred, and we were ready to get in. We then experienced, "It Really is about Hair", moderated by Giselle Dailey of Dailey & Company Hair Studio. She dealt with our esteem and how our hair really does effect our confidence and how we move about in the world. She gave us tips and knowledge that encouraged us. We ate dinner, and retired to our rooms to prepare for the next day. Saturday morning we were awakened with "All I want to do is Zum-Zum". LaTrina "LA" Sheffield, certified Zumba instructor got our blood going with an hour of high energy Zumba.  This was one of the most memorable moments of the Retreat and then Tandra Turner of Marbelous Makeup and Fashion, gave us tips on how to enhance our natural beauty and we walked away feeling Marbelous. But after this we were ready "To Go Deep to Be Renewed", by Antoinette Chapman of Spa Sanctuary of Atlanta, Buckhead/Sanctuary at Your Door. We had 50 minutes of WAVES that not only massaged our natural woman but our spiritual woman, and Antoinette's surprise at the end of the massage had us walking away burdened free and ready to walk into the next level of His glory. It was time for our Victory Plan. This was the purpose of the Retreat. We spent time and resources to be victorious and that's what God had me deliver, "The Plan of Victory". We learned that it's important to write the plan, but not only write it but have faith, speak with confidence and do the work necessary to bring victory. Once we received the plan, the atmosphere shifted and it was time to "To Step in Already, Just Be". Coach Eddie Samuel of Goshen Group, Inc, lead everyone to the water and we all stepped in. The WAVES that we experienced changed lives forever. The release and healing that took place in that room was immediately apparent. You could see loads lifted. We burned and set fire to those things and watched them wash away. It was surely an experience many of us will never forget. 

I told those that would ask about the Retreat that a metamorphosis was going to take place. God had given me visions of those women going down into the stirred water heavy with burdens and problems and they would come up literally new creatures, radiant and vibrant. He showed me that a miraculous transformation would take place. God did just that. That Sunday, I witnessed first hand new creatures emerging from the cocoons. Butterflies were floating throughout that luxurious home. The radiance and glory of God permeated through their vessels. You could see the sisterhood and relationships that were developed. The conversations, pictures and hugs were in abundance and they were asking, "When is the next Retreat". 

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I live in authenticity and transparency and to be real honest, I went into this Retreat stating that this would be my last one. It drained every ounce of my being trying to bring this fruition as I fought with everything within me not to give up. That weekend changed that statement. That Friday, I was emotionally, physically, financially, and spiritually spent.  By Sunday, I too was a new creature. God had restored me and brought 17 women to give me gifts, love, support and hold my arms up physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually.  I saw the true power of God work through 17 amazing women. He showed His strength and power  and blessed me more abundantly then I could have ever imagined, and He did a work through me, in my weakest time, that changed the lives of His most precious creatures, forever. God is Able.

I encourage you reading this to stay tuned for details for our 2014 Fall Retreat. We have a Retreat Team that is on fire and it is composed of women that are committed to sharing with the world what God did in their lives that weekend in The Sanctuary. So stay tuned. If you thought 2013 we made WAVES…..2014 we are about to change your HISTORY!

To view pictures from that generation changing weekend, visit here "Making WAVES Retreat".