Mamas who Jesus loves

Just as John is "the disciple who Jesus loved," so are all of us mamas. And I do mean ALL of us mamas.

Mamas who Jesus loves.

I am Nicole, a mama who Jesus loves.

You are a mama who Jesus loves.

We are all people who Jesus loves.

And I love that.

We all have such difficult, yet tremendously rewarding jobs in raising our precious treasures. And Jesus has blessed all of us to do it and loves all of us as we do it. He loves all of us just as we are, and that is such a beautiful thing. Because He loved us first, we love Him and our blessed children. We know how to love because of His unconditional love for us.

This retreat was so wonderful. I learned a lot about practical advice for parenting in grace, like Jesus does for us. I learned about nurturing my marriage (DH loved that one). I heard miraculous accounts of God stories that brought the entire room of 450 mamas to tears. I shared battle stories ... um I mean sweet thoughts ... about being a mama with other mamas who truly get it. I worshipped and praised our Heavenly Father with many women of very strong faiths. I was in His Word so much this weekend and prayed, prayed, prayed ... so refreshing, restorative and reflective - 3 things I think all mamas could use from time to time.

It's a first for me, but I took more pictures of inanimate objects than I did of people this weekend. It was kind of fun and a nice change of pace. I was surrounded by so much beauty and I wanted to capture all of it! The only thing I really feel I missed was the grounds of this lodge, what a gorgeous location set on Lake Lanier. So peaceful and relaxing. I took a nice walk around with another mama on Saturday afternoon and got to soak it in a bit. And speaking of that mama, here are a few shots of people that I did manage to bring home ...

I love these last two images - we were encouraged to write our prayers on sticky notes during our "Date with God" - when you added your own prayer, you were then supposed to pray for 2 other mamas who had left prayers. I think leaving all of our worries, concerns, praises and prayers at Jesus' cross was super-therapeutic. Not only was it awesome to have our prayers written out in words, we knew that other women would be praying for us also. And seeing all of these prayers clinging to the cross was such a stunning sight ... so symbolic and representative of all Jesus can do.

So can ya tell I enjoyed the retreat? Yes, I totally did. I am a better person because of it ... definitely grew in my faith and as a mama. And it was just nice to get away and fellowship with so many Christian mamas. I am already penciling-in this retreat on my calendar for next year and a few mamas are going to start working on *maybe* getting a Philly C4C retreat off the ground. What a sweet thing that would be to have one up north.

PS - Don't forget to check out my other Created 4 Care retreat post HERE - more beautiful shots of the work that so many are doing through God.