Orlando Union Rescue Mission ~ Jacksonville women also joined us!
February 16-20, 2011
Our theme was SPARKLE & SHINE! Luke 1:78-79 MSG
This was my 7th trip/8th retreat with SPARK MINISTRY. When I get back from a trip, and friends ask me how it went, it's always hard to find the right words. You just can't explain what happened. God shows up and miracles happen but I just can't do justice to the entire weekend by putting it into words. So for the first time, I took notes during our last "share time" with the 52 Spark servants who went to minister to the women at the rescue mission and ended up ministered to themselves. (Like me! On every trip!) We always have a time to share what God did, comments that were made, praises and moments behind the scenes that reveal how God worked in individual lives....so to answer your question: How'd it go? Here are a few of the answers:
- "She said this was the first time she ever felt loved."
- "It's good to know we are all the same, all going through struggles."
- Girls finally opened up. Walls were broken down.
- "I never got to be a princess when I was a little girl."
- Started the weekend emotionally empty, "now so excited!!!"
- "I've never had this much FUN sober!" (overheard in the bathroom)
- One girl dealing with anger said she felt numb, and couldn't cry. Then on the last day, she put her hand on her friend during worship and said she "felt her pain" and wept.
- Yolanda led a young girl who realized she didn't know God to a relationship with Christ.
- "I'm so full I don't even think I need my counselor this week!" Counselors say after a SPARK weekend, healing is accelerated.
- God spoke to one woman: "You're not by yourself. I'm there."
- "I discovered peace."
- Testimonies were amazing and transparent. "We never would have guessed." [...that we have women on the Spark team that God has brought through so much.]
- They want to share their testimonies/stories now.
- Even women on the Spark team shared how they now feel "loved and encouraged". It's just as much for us as it is for them.
- Mrs. Moody, the director of the OUR mission now retired after 33 years of serving, said "Thank you for blessing the women you see here, but also for generational blessings to come." Lives have been affected for eternity.
I will try to post some of my notes from our bible study sessions and pictures in the next few days. Check out www.sparkministry.org for more about the blessing of attending the next SPARK trip to St. Louis in April or Seattle in September.
