My Date w/ God: Created for Care Retreat

Soooo.....this 'date' with God totally rocked my world. Have you ever had one of those times when you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is real because of something very personal he did JUST FOR YOU? That's exactly what happened to me at Created for Care.

To be totally transparent, prior to the retreat, I have been just dry....dehydrated in my relationship with God. Feeling as if I just wasn't connected...as if we were just miles apart. Not that He went anywhere, it was me. The crazy thing is that I work full-time at a church so some may ask how do you get so far away from God if you WORK in a church. I'll say very easy, my friend. Sometimes you can get so busy with 'church work' and the care of other people that if you're not careful your own 1-1 with God can become distant.

Going to the retreat, I knew I need refreshing and renewal but when Andrea (the founder of Created for Care) kept encouraging us all to make sure we signed up for our 1-hour date with God, I was a bit hesitant. One hour with God....on a date....but I mean we're really not connecting right now. I mean....I pray, sing worship songs, raise my hands in praise but that deep relationship thing....we're not there right now and I thought God was just so disappointed by my lack of excitement to spend time with Him. Anywho, I went ahead and signed up for the very last day possible.

So the day and hour came. I was actually a bit late going in....about 15 minutes but you know what He still waited there for me. When I arrived at the room where the Date with God was being held, the room was scattered with women who were praying, crying, worshipping God. The lights were dim and worship music filled the air. Still apprehensive, I asked one of the volunteers, "What do I do? How does this work?" She sweetly explained the various stations around the room and basically gently prodded me to jump in wherever I wanted. So I put my bags down and went to the first station....and may I tell you that the tears began to flow and never stopped from that point. I cried so much that the tears burned my cheeks as they fell but in that burning, it felt so good. My savior met me just where I was but I didn't realize there was one more thing that He wanted 'to fix' before I left that place.

I visited 4 stations during my date with God and the time flew....wow! I concluded my time by getting in the prayer line where two amazing and beautiful women of God patiently talked and prayed with each woman in line.....and here's how it went down...(sorry for the audio speed...iMovie is acting a bit looney!)