Last month Nicole, Laura, Kari and myself had the opportunity to participate in a online retreat with women from all around the world. To be exact, there were women from 92 countries that took part in the the retreat hosted by Velvet Ashes. Velvet Ashes is an online community for women serving overseas.
In the last year and a half, I have really missed participating in conferences/retreats. When I was teaching, I loved participating in professional development and hearing from other people in the field to gain new ideas. So when this retreat presented itself, it seemed perfect, especially because it fell during a time when we weren’t hosting any groups. The retreat consisted of video sessions, scripture reading, music, mediation, and journaling. I found the video sessions to be really beneficial, there were a variety of women who shared their struggles and triumphs while serving overseas.
This was my view during the retreat
As I was preparing myself for this day long retreat, I was trying to figure out how this would work with Braegan. Thankfully she napped and we had electricity throughout the whole day so I didn’t run into any delays. I just want to highlight a few things that really stood out to me from the sessions and my reading.
-At the start of the retreat, we were asked to journal some fears/worries we had on our mind. I listed mine out, and as I look at them now they haven’t really been on my mind since that day which is really encouraging. In my April blog, I talked about my struggle with anxiety, in the last month I have really felt that weight lifted off of me, and I have been sleeping and living a lot more freely! So thanks for your prayers.
-One of the women talked about releasing expectations. She compared life to a tug of war rope, if we cling to0 tightly to the rope, we will get burned as different things from our life pull on both ends. However, it is better to allow the rope to move loosely through our hands in surrender.
-Another one of the speakers shared about how we aren’t supposed to feel at home, we should always be longing for God’s home and depending on Jesus daily.
-Psalm 39:4-7 was a good reminder for me to know that God is faithful, true and consistent.
-Community is important: Regardless of how “put together” we look, everyone is struggling with something. The enemy wins when we isolate ourselves from others. The current community that I am in includes people who are divinely appointed for me to walk through this season of life. Yesterday, I was asked by a group member what my greatest experience of living in the DR has been. My response- being a mom. I can’t think of a better place for Braegan to be raised right now, I know she isn’t surround by her extended family, but there are a lot of people that love her dearly. I love to watch Dominicans and Americans embrace her as their own, and I love watching Braegan embrace the culture in which she lives. It makes my heart happy!
-To conclude, fullness of joy is done in God’s presence. I shouldn’t cling so tightly to what I believe will bring me joy, God knows what is best and sees the whole picture. I took away a lot more than this, but I’m going to wrap up my retreat summary there. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me:)
Shifting gears a bit to what’s been going on in the Bucher family…
Jeff kicked off this week with a construction crew, they have been building some temporary bathrooms for the volunteers that will be working on building the new clinic. They have also continued preparing the space for the perimeter wall…lots of hole digging.
I have been finalizing details with the 6 VBS teams that we have coming this summer. We will be working with 3 new DR churches that we haven’t worked with in the past. This is exciting to see how God is growing the ministry. Please be in prayer for the teams as the prepare to serve and for the communities that will be impacted from their ministry!
Braegan is busy as usual! She narrates every aspect of our day and is quite entertaining. This past Sunday I was reading her a book before I put her down for a nap, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird fly through the house. I was a bit confused, because none of the windows or doors were open. We believe the bird entered the house while we were coming in earlier in the day. Anyway, while I’m swatting away with the broom to get the bird to fly out the front door, Braegan is nicely saying “come here, come here birdie”. Of course she figured we would adopt him as our new pet, because why not!? Thankfully Nicole and Monchy have Lazzy, and they allow her to spend time with him quite often!
Braegan enjoys having Lazzy rest on her shoulder
She has no fear!