I am thoroughly excited to have been asked to speak at the regular meeting in March of our MOPS group at Peters Creek Baptist Church.  The subject will be on spiritual leadership in our homes.  This will be my first time sharing with this group of young moms and I look forward to being used of God and sharing with these amazing women. 

Although this is a picture from last year's event, I am so excited about this year's FCBC Ladies' Retreat in Lynchburg, Virginia the weekend of March 9th!  The retreat's theme is on forgiveness and the material we are using is based on Charles F. Stanley's book, Experiencing Forgiveness and Nancy Leigh DeMoss's book, Choosing Forgiveness.  Stephanie McBride is my co-partner with the speaking duties and I'm extremely excited to be working alongside of this up and coming dynamic speaker!  Lynn Saunders will also be a part of our team of leaders for the weekend!

If you live in the vicinity of the Lynchburg area, please call Flat Creek Baptist Church and inquire about this retreat.  Saturday's sessions are open to any lady desiring to attend.  Robby Carey would be an excellent contact point.  Join us for a day full of learning and sharing as we delve into the finer points of forgiving others as well as forgiving ourselves for previous sins and mistakes. 

I was given the opportunity to speak for our church's TLC group on December 19th.  It was a great time of sharing a devotional for the Christmas season and fellowshipping with all the lovely men and women of this amazing group.   My devotional suggested that we look at the Nativity with a different perspective; what does the Nativity tell us about "who" the Christ child would be as shown through the shepherds and the Wise Men?  I sincerely appreciate the time I was given to share and look forward to participating again in the year 2012! 

On Friday night, November 18th, I was privileged to meet with the newly formed group, Moms Next in the social hall of our church, Peters Creek Baptist.  These moms recently "graduated" from MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and decided to move forward and continue meeting to encouragement one another in this awesome task of motherhood.  I was asked to speak on the concept of teaching gratitude to our children.  It was a great time of sharing and I encourage other mothers of school aged children to become involved in this very important ministry.  My thanks to Michele Hayes and Diana Wilcox for the invitation and I look forward to meeting and sharing with your group in the future!

Fall Retreat for the Beacons' Sunday School Class at Peters Creek Baptist Church!
Twenty-six of us gathered at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia for our annual fall retreat.  Last year I spoke at the retreat and was fortunate to be asked to speak again this year.  Gary came alongside me and taught one of the sessions surrounding our theme, named by our leader, Lee Gregory, "Inside/Out".  This stemmed from a phrase I had heard, "We who know it on the inside must proclaim it on the outside"! What an impression one small phrase can make!

As always, we had a lot of laughs, studied hard, was challenged and now we're ready to head into another year as Christian brothers and sisters being used as God intented in the body of Christ.  Hopefully, we are all refreshed and ready to go....at least we know we've been physically fed and with God's blessing, we have been spiritually fed also.  What an amazing opportunity we were given!  Thank you, Jesus!

As we begin focusing on the fall season, there are several upcoming events to report happening with The Sounding Board Teaching Ministries!  My husband, Gary and I will be leading a couples' retreat the weekend of October 22nd at Alderson-Broaddus this year!  This is a retreat I led last year and I'm excited to have Gary helping me this year.  I am also honored to be with this fabulous group of individuals again and look forward to God's blessings.  The title of the retreat is "Inside-Out"!

In November I will be speaking at the monthly meeting of Mops First.  It's a graduated group of MOPS  moms and I look forward to participating in their gathering as we focus on being thankful and how to incorporate that element into our children's daily lives.

December's events include a time with the TLC group from our church.  They are the seniors (of which I am now a full-fledged member) and Gary and I so love sharing with this group.

In March of 2012, I will be back at the women's retreat in Lynchburg, Virginia for Flat Creek Baptist Church.  This group will be focusing on forgiveness of others and ourselves. 

I am blessed to have these upcoming opportunities and pray God will use me to speak the words that He so graciously gives.  I pray to be worthy of this responsibility.

From the Fall of 2010 until the Spring of 2011, I found myself fully immersed in retreats and writing opportunities!  I have documented several of those events along with pictures of the groups I was honored to have led.  However, two of the pictures I am lacking was a lovely speaking engagement Gary and I enjoyed in Virginia in mid-April with a group that calls themselves the J.O.Y. (Just Older Youth) group from Calvary Baptist Church.  They are an exceptional group of adults that we will remember for a very long time!  I was then involved with my home church in Pittsburgh, Peters Creek Baptist Church, for a one-day women's seminar that featured talks on the fruit of the Spirit.  Again, it was a joyous time of sharing and learning together.  

As we continued through the Spring, Gary has joined me again in prayer with the direction of this ministry.  I would appreciate your prayers as well.  This ministry totally belongs to my Savior, Jesus Christ; my Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit that guides me daily.  For more details of upcoming avenues of service, please continue reading.  I have some nudges that are directing my "other materials" being offered through the ministry! 

I arrived from Venice, Florida into the Roanoke airport in Virginia on Friday morning, March 4th.  Robby Carey, the Pastor's wife, and her daughter Stephanie McBride, met me and when I saw those big smiles and received those warm hugs I knew the weekend was starting off with a bang.  Robby drove me to the Hoover Center in Eagle Eyrie so that I could settle in while she ran the last of the errands.

I was given a tour of this gorgeous center and when Robby departed to finish her last minute details, I used the time to take pictures (which are posted on Facebook), stuff folders for the seminars and pray!  It was a time to be quiet before the Lord and ask His blessings on the upcoming lessons.  The ladies began to arrive between 4 and 5:00 p.m.  The fun immediately began with meeting each lady and realizing I knew a lot of them through older aunts, uncles, in-laws, parents, etc., that I knew as a child growing up in the area.  Isn't it amazing how God revealed new friends from "old" acquaintenances?  Of course, we began eating immediately as dinner was prepared.  I believe dinner on Friday night was tacos and taco salads.  I hope that all the details concerning meals are correct.  What I've always remembered about Baptist gatherings surfaced...no lack of food!

We then gathered in the meeting room for a fun time of getting to know one another.  The icebreaker event was to take an index card and write a detail that no one previously knew about yourself.  Of course, this group is so close that as soon as a comment was read, they immediately knew who it was!!  We had a blast laughing about the comments and I grew closer to them as those remarks were shared. (In fact, ladies, I still have in my possession those cards and those details!)  We followed the icebreaker with an introduction that I gave of myself and then we played a game of answering questions via "clickers" and some tech equipment that did everything but talk back to us!  Of course, the remainder of the evening was filled with chatting and eating.  In addition, we were asked to fill out a request for the type of omelet we would like to have for breakfast on Saturday morning.  Soon after, Robby and I decided we needed our sleep and we headed to bed around midnight.  I think I heard a rumor that the young women among us stayed up until 3:00 a.m.  Oh, I do remember those days and that energy level! 

Saturday morning when I woke up the coffee was brewing and the omelet bar was ready to roll complete with hot biscuits.  After the morning meal, we headed to the meeting room for the three-part seminar that spanned the next 2 1/2 hours with a break in-between.  The theme for the weekend was "Bearing the Stretch Marks of Life" and the four areas of concentration dealt with the stretch marks of broken hope and spirit, broken relationships, physical ailments and death.  We covered three of the four areas in the morning sessions and we finished with the final "stretch mark" in the evening concluding with a video of Team Hoyt.  The Lord was certainly present among us throughout each phrase of the sessions. Emphasis of how to endure the struggles of life with God's help was maximized instead of allowing the struggle to get the glory.  The struggles were termed "stretch marks" since most women have encountered a physical stretch mark. Once a stretch mark has pulled our skin it leaves evidences of its previous existence behind.  Our physical bodies, our skin, is never the same again, but hopefully the mark reminds us of past events and our depth of learning propels us to share those adventures with others.  We take on new purpose and spiritual growth bearing the evidence of victory over the stretches.  To God be the Glory!

In between the Saturday morning and Saturday evening session, there was quite a bit of snacking going on, but I believe most of it was burnt off as the ladies took a Zumba class!  I must report that Saturday evening before the final session we again had a wonderful meal of baked potatoes with every topping imaginable!  There were four crockpots of offerings; chili (for the bakers, if desired); beef vegetable soup, taco soup and broccoli cheddar soup.  Of course, there were plenty of salty items floating around as well as sweet delights.  Every item was covered that a woman could possibly desire to ingest!  

After the Saturday night session, my friend, Cathy, came for the session and took me to my parents' home so that I might visit with them before heading back to Florida on Monday morning.  My folks accompanied me to the Sunday morning service where I had been asked to speak on behalf of The Sounding Board Teaching Ministries as part of the WMU emphasis.  I was given the opportunity to share with the congregation how God is using the ministry through my website and to share a testimony of how I came to know the Lord.  I concluded with the story of Abraham and Isaac when Abraham was instructed to offer his much awaited son as an offering on the altar of sacrifice.   This account visually gives us a picture of what our Heavenly Father did for us when Jesus Christ willingly allowed Himself to be bound on the altar of sacrifice for our sins.  The perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Since the video of Team Hoyt was so powerful on Saturday evening of Dick Hoyt as he carries his son, inflicted with cerebral palsy, throughout a triathalon, the emphasis was given of how we, in our human frailties, cannot possibly cross the finish line of life victoriously without the assistance of the Lord Jesus.  Pastor Ernest Carey then concluded the service with an invitation. 

It was an amazing weekend and I'm honored and blessed to have been a part of the retreat and the service on Sunday.  God is good, God is faithful and God has a plan.  It's difficult without a road map, but if we had the GPS, the journey wouldn't be half as interesting or faith building!  My sincerest thanks to Ernest and Robby Carey, the ladies of Flat Creek Baptist and all my new friends.  May God take what we've learned and anoint us with the courage to come out of the cave, make our stronghold the Lord Jesus and "GO"!  God bless!

NOTE:  I was told before leaving Virginia that Flat Creek Baptist Church replays on their website the Sunday morning services.  I was also told before the service on Sunday that it goes over a live "feed" to Facebook.  Since I shy away from mirrors, reviewing this service on the website will be difficult, but I thought I would pass it on.  Hopefully, you will hear what God has to say through me and not "me".....