Glo Skol
Luann Budd
THANK YOU for the invitation to be part of the NEWIM-Fuller cohort. It was a time to be stretched, grow, hurt, rejoice and EVERYTHING in-between! Thank you for the invitation and the encouragement along the way. I’m embarrassed and kind of surprised at how NOT easy this was for me, in pretty much every way!!
I struggled with the 2-day Zoom Retreats. Not because they weren’t laid out in the best possible way! You and your leaders were (are) amazing! I think probably part of it was because it was just hard to feel the freedom to ‘retreat’ while at home…. Which is why we all wanna retreat elsewhere, right! LOL
I struggled with many of the monthly assignments…feeling sooo inadequate and wondering, “what am I doing here?!?” And the beautiful women who were also taking part – WOW – talk about soooo outta my league! These are SOME of the struggles / battles fought over the 10 months.
BUT!!!!!
The growth……
My small group. LOVE!!!! The privilege of experiencing the honesty and integrity of ALL these women. That is something I don’t take lightly. It’s a gift that doesn’t happen every day….
Some of the life stories they shared and were walking through in real time were heartbreaking and humbling! It’s not like everyone got to put life on hold for 10 months!! If anything, ‘life’ was trying desperately to make us quit, step away, give up! But the courage to keep moving forward was profound and spoke volumes to me!
And even though I may have whined through more of the assignments than I care to admit – when I got to the other side of it – OH MY GOSH – the beauty I got to see in how Jesus used that assignment, that rhythm to let me see Him in new and beautiful ways. And to see myself through His lens!!!
The hardest discipline for me was the Visio Divina….. Like – NO! This is dumb. This is weird. I’m not gonna do it! (I know…SOO mature!) I shared my attitude with my small group and they were praying for me, especially during the last retreat – (we were all in Pacific Grove together). So when it was time for us to dive into that segment, my initial response was – ‘I think I’m gonna make a Starbucks run…!’ BUT – I didn’t get away quickly enough – and the minute I laid eyes on The Prodigal – I fell apart. (I’m tearing up now, thinking about it.) The Spirit was so beautifully powerful. The message so clear. The embrace so real.
As I look through that ‘rear view mirror’ I’m seeing so many opportunities that opened up for me to share what I was learning, how I was challenged, the people I was able to bring into my journey. Last Sunday I got to lead a class on – wait for it – Silent Retreat!
I’m sure we can all admit that at one time or another, we’ve wondered, “there has to be more…”. The annual retreats at The Springs have certainly shown me that YES – there is MORE!! But this past year has opened up volumes of possibilities of “the more” that He has in store for ALL of us – YEP - even me!
I’m excited to say – “To Be Continued…!”