What a Weekend!

Well, last weekend was Winter Retreat and it was amazing. Winter Retreat is always awesome, but there was just something different this time around. At Afterglow last night, Janie Davis said it best. When asked what was so great about Winter Retreat she said, "It's Winter Retreat. What else can I say."

I have to admit that I wasn't sure about it this year. I was a little concerned about our speaker, but I was way off base. His name is R.V. Brown. When asked what it stood for he replied, "Risen to Victory." That should've been our first clue that we were in for an amazing ride!

Our Worship group was "The Ticket Ministry" and they did more than just lead the worship. They were small group leaders and played with our youth. They loved our kids and that made all the difference. It made them so much more than just a group that led worship.

One major difference this year is that there was no rain. In the six years I've been going, it's always rained and has usually been cold. Even before that noone can remember a dry Winter Retreat. Our youth have become so used to this that they were, at first, disappointed that they weren't going to be able to play mud football. With the beautiful weather, they soon got over that disappointment.

Saturday night is always such a big night. Starting with the music in the service, you could tell something was going on. On his very first night, RV told us that he had prayed over each chair and had circled the building seven times to bind Satan from the Tabernacle. I can truly say that on Saturday night the Holy Spirit could be felt surrounding us. The feeling was amazing, I had goose bumps.

After our worship we had the Talent/unTalent Hour. Jeremy, Lila and Josh have formed a band called "RisingSon." They played for the first time in front of a crowd. I was so proud of Jeremy.

After the Talent/UnTalent Hour, we have share time. It is always a touching time, but this time was so much more. All or the sudden, I looked over and Rus was waiting to go up on stage. Once he got up, he shared what was on his heart and I was awed, amazed and so unbelievably proud. It was so much more, but I'll journal it because it's not mine to share. To have the guts to get up and share your heart like he did, was impressive. My boy got a standing ovation from his peers. There were others that shared but only his that touched us all in such away that we had to stand. To say that I cried would be an understatement, I cry at everything, so this got me good. All us mommas were wiping our eyes, most of the dads and quite a few of the youth. How could you not, it was just that powerful.

Sunday night we had Afterglow, a time to share about the weekend. Rus had mentioned to me that afternoon that he wasn't sure whether he wanted to speak or not. I asked him if David had approched him about it and he told me no but RV said you shouldn't be afraid to stand up for Christ and share your testimony. I gave David a heads up and called Mom and told her Rus might speak. She told me to let her know and she'd come if so. I wasn't able to call her.

David had all the youth and most of the sponsors sit in the choir loft. I say most because Neesie and I sat up front. Neesie had already asked me if Rusty was going to speak and if so we should go get tissue. I wasn't sure so we got it just in case. They tried to get us up there we begged off, we knew we'd be bawling cause that's what we do. I also wanted to take pictures. They ran out of room anyway so we made the right choice.

Needless to say, Rusty did get up to speak. Needless to say, I bawled. Unbelievably, he got another standing ovation, the only one again. I say this not to brag, but to try to get across just how moving the entire thing was.

After it was over, I was stopped so many times by people wanting to tell me how they were touched by his testimony and how proud they were. One of the college students even stopped me and told me he never cried unless he was mad and Rusty brought him to his knees and he almost broke down.

I was so glad that my mom made it. I asked her how and she told me that she was watching tv when at 6:24 (church was at 6:30) a still, small voice told her to get to church and she did. Boy was she glad. Dad'll be sorry.

None of us left this weekend without being moved by the Holy Spirit. It is my prayer that the mountaintop experience will last.

There's so much more. I'll share Jeremy's fire tomorrow and the verses.

Blessings,

Missy