Delight Retreat Spring 2015

It has taken me two weeks to even begin to process all that God blessed us with at the Delight West Coast 2015 retreat. One of my sweet friends wrote a letter to me prior to the retreat that said something like “I have been praying for you and I believe this will be the retreat where you finally feel that the oversized t-shirt you’ve been wearing will finally feel like it fits.” And that analogy couldn’t have been any more perfect!

The first retreat in April of 2012 was absolutely beautiful. I believed it was going to be the first and only retreat. . .God obviously had much bigger plans! In 2013, we had another retreat in Leavenworth, WA with 23 girls from all over the country who flew into our tiny airport. This was the life-defining retreat for me. I knew then that God was asking me to whole-heartedly dedicate my life to Delight. This was the retreat where God powerfully moved and the theme was about overcoming fear. This was the retreat where blinders were lifted off my eyes and I saw inside the hearts of teen girls. In 2014, we had two retreats. One on the west coast and one on the east coast. Both were incredible & God worked in such powerful ways from coast to coast. Even though this retreat two weeks ago was similar in so many ways to previous retreats, this year was different for me personally. . .

The reason? Well. . .there were 10 leaders this year. Leaders who were there because God called them. Leaders who were there to serve & love the girls no matter the cost. Leaders who were there because if they didn’t come, they would have been disobedient to what God was asking them to do. Leaders who were willing to plunge toilets, stay up late at night praying and listening, women who were willing to do whatever needed to be done. . .whether that was taking out the trash or writing beautiful signs for the bathroom mirrors!

Do you want to know the best part? Every single leader is so unique with such different God-given gifts and talents. And that makes it such a beautiful and true representation of the body of Christ. I personally know my strengths and weaknesses in regards to spiritual gifts. I know that I love to just sit and listen to the girls hearts. . .there is nothing I love more than one-on-one time. But if you ask me to speak in front of a group, I want to crawl in a hole and cry. So to see God provide women who are so gifted in speaking, in intercessory prayer, in cooking in the kitchen— in areas I feel so inadequate–made my heart overflow with joy! I just sat in awe one day as we were doing an open “Q&A” with the girls. I was surrounded on either side of me with the leaders. . . we are all at different stages and in different seasons of our lives. We come from WA, CA, NE, TN, VA, MO; we range in age between 18-42; some are single, one engaged, some are married; some have children, some do not. . . the point is that we are so different in every way possible, but we all desire to bring glory to Jesus and have an undeniable, deep God-given passion for these precious girls.

This year I am walking away knowing that I have an incredible team who passionately loves these girls and wants to continue to disciple them for years to come. These are women that I am so thankful God has placed in my life. These are women I trust. These are women who are dreaming alongside me and are just as excited about the future of Delight as I am! Because of these women, you will want to stay tuned to the exciting things to come over the next few months & years to come! I’ve never been more excited about the future of Delight and what God has planned. Next week, I can’t wait to share with you in more detail about the retreat and our theme of being “rooted and grounded in love”.

Until next week,

Momma Wall

Thank you, Janelle Putrich, Kelly Lemon and Jessica Lauren for the images!