Last weekend I led my first women’s retreat. It ended up being six of us. Although it was a small group, the size was perfect. A friend of mine came to do Immanuel Approach prayer with the ladies. 

I made dinner the first night and bought each lady a journal and a coffee cup. I wanted each woman to have a daily reminder of what God says about them. The journal was so they could take notes if they so desired. We did Lisa Bevere’s study called “Unrivaled.” It teaches women who God says they are. Pouring true identity into women is my mission in life. 

The First Blessing In Disguise

The study consisted of a series of videos on a DVD. I packed up our DVD player and set it up, only to realize I forgot the remote at home. The only session we could watch was the first one, as the native DVD player buttons have no way of skipping or even pausing. Thankfully, God had my back. One of the ladies found a website that had all the videos available for streaming. It even had a study guide for the questions. 

Before the trip I asked another friend to loan me a speaker for worship. He is a gifted videographer and has a plethora of speakers and such for anything we could ever need. As it turned out, this speaker I borrowed was the key to the entire weekend. I love how God works those things out for me ahead of time!

I was able to play the videos using that speaker on my phone. Really, as long as we could hear it, we were good. We were even able to go outside for a couple of the sessions. I thought, “How perfect it is being outside,” especially since we lead an outdoor church. 

The Previous Blessing In Disguise

Saturday night we decided to go into Wimberley to eat dinner. But, to properly understand the blessing, I need to take you back in time a month. The previous month was Brett’s 40th birthday, and we had also rented a house near the small town of Wimberley. During the birthday trip, I had brought enough food so we didn’t have to leave the cabin all weekend if we didn’t want to. Saturday evening Brett wanted to go into town and eat dinner. We picked a restaurant that had seating outside by the river. The waitress serving us was a college aged girl. We ended up being her only table and struck up a conversation. Forty-five minutes later we had learned all about her life and current struggles. She needed to move out of her apartment she shares with her boyfriend because it wasn’t safe. 

She left our table right when our food arrived. Brett and I wanted to pray with her, but we also wanted to eat our food hot, so we decided to pray for her and ask later what else we could pray about for her. She came back, we paid our bill and told her that we prayed for her and asked what else we could pray about for her. The waitress was touched. We prayed for her, and she started crying. She said that no one had ever done that for her before. Then she asked if she could have a hug. We of course said, “Yes!” 

The Next Blessing In Disguise

Just like the month before, we weren’t supposed to go out to dinner. Each woman was paired with another and were responsible for one meal over the weekend. “It just so happened” that the two ladies who were supposed to provide dinner weren’t able to do it. One lady got sick and couldn’t make it and the other one asked if she could just order pizza. I heard the Lord tell me to go back to that same restaurant for dinner with the ladies. I made this suggestion, and everyone agreed. 

When we got there, we were assigned a different waitress. I asked if the waitress we had previously prayed for a month before was working. The answer was yes, and our waitress went off to go get her. After a few minutes she walked up with big eyes, looking at each of us sitting there. When she made her way to me, her eyes lit up, she smiled big and was excited to see me. I asked if she remembered me, and she replied, “Yes!” I asked her about the apartment, and she said they were able to move and in a great place now. She mentioned last month that she wanted a washer and dryer in her apartment and even said she got those things in her new place. As it turns out, God answered every prayer and every concern she had the prior month.

I asked her if there was anything else she wanted prayer for. She told us a few recent events for which she needed prayer. Another request she made was that she wanted clear signs from God. I was able to share more about Jesus with her and point out that God sent us as a sign. A few of the other ladies also had a word from the Lord for her. She mentioned she needed to find a good church. As it so happens, I know of a fantastic church in San Marcos, called Sozo Church. In fact, Brett and I sometimes drive the hour south just to go there. I am praying she and her boyfriend go there and get connected. It really is an amazing body of believers! 

A Funny Blessing In Disguise

We got in late, but some of the women wanted to go in the hot tub. I was just way too tired to go in, but I sat outside with them. Two ladies came out first and took the cover off. One of the lady’s phones started playing a video of a big frog croaking. Because of the loud amphibian’s noises, she thought a frog was right there in the pool cover and jumped back. The noise of the frog followed her around, and she was freaking out about it, calling it a “vicious-sounding frog.” Then it dawned on her: the sound was coming from her phone which was with her wherever she stepped. No large toads were following her around. We all cracked up and had a good laugh!

The Imparted Blessing In Disguise

We all had a nice chat. Then everyone went inside, except for three of us who stayed out to talk. As we were chatting, my friend, who came to minister to us in prayer, told me she had been imparted the gift of healing through prayer. I said I wanted the same gift of healing, and she prayed to impart that to me as well. While she was praying, the wind started blowing, which let me know the Holy Spirit was moving. I have experienced many times in prayer where the wind starts blowing, only to see God do something amazing. 

A Revelation Of A Blessing In Disguise

After prayer, she told me about a tattoo her husband got a few years ago. He didn’t know it at the time, but his tattoo can be translated as the color “red” in morse code. When she said that, I instantly knew it had a spiritual meaning and said so. Then I remembered the conversation Brett and I had about a month ago about the 7 mountains of influence. Often when Brett sees a vision, he sees a blue orb over his head. A few weeks ago he told me he saw a red orb over my head. According to this description of the 7 mountains of influence, each mountain has a different color associated with it. Family is orange, religion is blue, government is violet, media is red, education is indigo, economy/business is green, and arts/entertainment/sports is yellow. 

Since Brett has a blue orb, we take it to mean his primary influence is related to religion. Likewise, since I have red orb, my primary influence is related to media. I told her about what Brett saw and what we believe it means. When I told her that red was media, her eyes got big and she said, “That fits him more than I can say.” She looked dumbfounded by this revelation. 

The conversation then shifted to her telling me how she often has spiritual dreams, but she hadn’t had one in a long time. I prayed and asked the Lord to give her a dream that night. The next morning she told me that God had given her a dream. I thanked God for answering my prayers. God is so, so good!

All in all it was a really good weekend. I am thankful God trusted me to lead these women, and I look forward to seeing the fruit in each of our lives that comes from this weekend.