This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a foster & adoptive momma's retreat at Beulah Beach in Vermilion, Ohio. To describe this weekend as amazing would be an understatement. In order to fully grasp the magnitude of the weekend, you had to be there.
Some of my favorite times during the weekend were when around 100 of us momma's were in a room together singing praise & worship songs to Jesus with freedom to fully surrender ourselves, our agendas & not care if someone raised their hands, danced, sat in awe of their Creator or whatever else they chose to do. It was like we were before the throne of God in that very room. Probably one of the closest feelings to what Heaven will be like that I've ever experienced. Another one of my favorite things was walking by the water & breathing in God's beautiful Creation. The wind blowing a cool breeze, the sun shining down on us & the sound of the waves hitting against the rocks by the shore. Relaxing to say the least.
We were challenged throughout the weekend through different speakers. Our main speaker, Beth Guckenberger, shared something that really stood out to me & made a huge impact in my life. She said, "Expectations are premeditated assumptions." It's always a privilege to go away for a retreat & be challenged to be the woman, wife & momma God has called me to be, but sometimes it can be hard adjusting back into reality. Us momma's were on cloud 9 this weekend, but our families back home were having a normal weekend like any other. They didn't sit under the worship we did or hear the teachings we heard. We needed to be careful not to return home & expect things from our families that were unrealistic. Now I will say my hubby is amazing at giving me the freedom to go away, relax & do what I need to do to be the woman, wife & momma God has called me to be. He never makes me feel guilty while I am away & he runs our house like a well oiled ship in my absence. Our daughter, Sarah, could also run the house from top to bottom in my absence & does an outstanding job at it. She's going to be a wonderful wife & mother someday, Lord willing. But even with my crew being in full support of me going away they did not experience the same weekend I did & I needed to be careful not to come home & vomit(share what I learned) all over them all at once. I learned it in stages & I've learned it is best if I share it in stages to my people.
So going home I changed my mindset in the way I would normally think about things heading home from my time away. Instead of dwelling on if the house would be clean, if they started a new project or if they would understand how incredibly awesome my weekend was, I dwelt on going home & loving my people. Loving them right where they were & serving them with a grateful heart for the privilege of being their wife & momma. I told myself there's always the next day to clean things up, but for today love my people. I will say this was probably the easiest transition to getting back to reality from a trip away & it had so much to do with not having unrealistic expectations, but focusing on what's most important. People, not stuff.
