Thanks for checking in on Documented Faith. We are entering into week 8 of 2019 and want to remind you a little of the WHAT and WHY behind Documented Faith.
Documented Faith began as a way to..wait for it...document my faith. I wrote, doodled and made notes in a Moleskine Journal of what I had heard or learned from a church sermon, something I had read and highlighted in a Bible study and a little of this, that and the other from everyday life.
The purpose of documenting my faith evolved in products to help you document your (which is still available through www.adornit.com )but as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I am no longer creating new product.
There is no right or wrong way to document or illustrate your faith, the point is to get into Gods word. That is why I send out a verse each week. How you use that verse is up to you. Some read it, some read and print it out, some print it out and use it in their planners and some use it creatively. my job is to just send you the verse.
Now, by some chance that the power is out, the program is down or the Internet doesn't want to play nice and you do not get a verse from me doesn't mean that you can't open your Bible and seek out a verse. Don't let technology keep you from reading Gods word.
Hello Week 7 of Documented Faith 2019. I am not clear on where the original post with Week 6 went and there is not enough time to dig into the black hole of the Internet so let's just call it even and re-post.
Documented Faith 2019 Week Six 2/3-2/9
February – Sacrifice
To give up something for something greater
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1
To download the printable for Documented Faith 2019 Week 6, click here: Download DF2019 week 6
This weeks Early Morning Coffee Talk on You Tube from The Whatever Craft House:
Documented Faith Week Seven 2/10-2/16
February – Sacrifice
To give up something for something greater
“In order to do anything and be someone of great substance you need to learn how to sacrifice. One of the greatest causes of failure in life is the inability to make sacrifices.”
To download the printable for Documented Faith 2019 Week 7, click here: Download DF2019 week 7
Here is what I always say when people ask how the retreat went and to those who ask about it that have never been..."It is just so good."
While I have a hand in the planning and preparations, a family who cheers me on and easily adjusts life to my travel schedule, Meg that takes care of the menu and has created a beautiful, colorful and loved filled "landing" and friends who believe in and support my dream, we are just the hands and feet. All of the details fall right into perfect place because Jesus shows up every.single.time.
I have experienced and witnessed it over and over and over and again, it is just so good. NOTE: yes, I know this is a bendable Jesus and is just a toy. When I say Jesus shows up every time, HE does.
Saying "yes" to coming to a women's faith and art retreat is big in several ways. You have to put your every day life on pause, take time off of work, often leave your family behind, make a financial commitment and all of that leaves the door wide open for the devil to show up and attempt to derail your thoughts, plans and hopes of going. THAT happens every single time, too. I am always very honest about this to all that register and try my best to walk along with everyone through the issues. Thing is, when you align yourself and not fall into the traps of fear or doubt, again..."it is soo good."
Early morning coffee and chit chat in the kitchen, late night creative chatter and antics, fabric store field trips, antique shopping, and frequent Sonic stops with super special orders are part of our memories.
I am excited to announce the Summer and Fall Dates for 2019 at The Whatever Craft House and all of the details are listed below.
“Creativity is a God-given ability to take something ordinary and make it into something special. It is an openness to doing old things new ways…The creative spirit is part of our heritage as children of the One who created all things. Nurturing our creativity is part of our responsibility as stewards of God’s good gifts.” Emilie Barnes, The Spirit of Loveliness
There is something amazing that happens when Art & Faith Collide and when you are in an amazing house full of women, food, coffee, snacks, paints and time to be quiet, restore, rest, stay up late, wake up early, wear your jammies all day long...
It's just really good.
That is the best way to explain it because honestly, there are not words to go along with what happens...and ya know what else? Jesus shows up every.single.time.
What's Included??
Meals
Each day you will get to enjoy amazing and fresh meals prepared just for you. Yep, three meals a day so be ready to eat. Leave your diets at home and bring your stretchy pants. In between there will be a ridiculous array of salty and sweet snacks and apples, coffee, water and tea with bags of sonic ice of course.
Lodging
The Craft House is located in Newton, Kansas. It is a amazing 100 year old restored home that is used for retreats and sleeps 17. Upstairs there are four beautifully decorated bedrooms. Each room has between 2 – 6 twin beds. It will be hard to pick just one because they are each crazy cute. Be prepared for late night giggles and some early rising roommates. There are three full bathrooms that will be shared.
Creative Time & Supplies
Everything you will need for the creative sessions will be provided. IF you have a Journaling Bible and/or an art journal that you would like to work in, please bring that. Tip: You may want to keep a little extra space in your suitcase for the projects you create.
Airport Transportation & Pick Ups
You will be picked up on Thursday afternoon at 4:30pm and dropped off on Sunday morning to Wichita Eisenhower Airport. Please arrange to arrive by 4:30 pm the day of the retreat and schedule your departure for after 12:00 pm on the last day of the retreat. If you are planning to drive to the retreat, we ask that you plan to arrive no earlier than 5:00pm on the day the retreat begins.
Field Trip
During the retreat, there is a fun ½ field trip planned to head out to two local Antique shops & The Barn. Again, extra space in your suitcase and a little extra cash is recommended for this day!
Daily Routine
At the beginning of each day and at the end of each night we will have a devotional and discussion time. There will be a creative sessions on Friday & Saturday with lots of supplies to play with each evening. There will be plenty of time for naps, walks and you will even be able to schedule an in-house massage if you would like. Note: Retreat registration does not include massage fee.
Here is a brief look at one of the days:
Breakfast
Morning Devotions
Quiet Time
Creative Time
Lunch
Creative Time
Dinner
Evening Devotions & Dessert
Creative Time/Open
Registration Deposit & Payments To complete your reservation, a non refundable of $300.00 must be made and will apply to your total registration cost. NOTE: Returning guests will receive $100.00 of of their camp fee.
AFTER deposit has been made, if you need to make special payment arrangements or would like to pay in full, please contact me at homegrown1@att.net.
After registration, you will receive an email within 24 hours TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS USED DURING CHECKOUT.
After 24 hours, if you have not received any email correspondence from me, please contact me at homegrown1@att.net
2019 Dates & Deposit Details
Guest Teacher: Jenn McGlon of Noodle & Lou, Stephanie Ackerman
Guest Speaker: Emily Thomas of The Struggle Well Project
Thursday Afternoon, July 11 - Sunday Morning, July 14, 2019
Location: The Whatever Craft House in Newton, Kansas. Price: $1300.00* All Inclusive *excluding airfare and travel expenses
Deposit $300.00
Click "Buy Now" to reserve your spot and make $300.00 deposit for the July 2019 Retreat
Invoice #1 - $500.00 will be emailed to you & is due April 1, 2019
Invoice #2 - $500.00 will be emailed to you and is due June 1, 201
Fall Camp Oct. 24-27, 2019
Guest Teacher: Jeanne Oliver
Click "Buy Now" to reserve your spot and make $300.00 deposit for the October 2019 Retreat
Thursday Afternoon, October 24th - Sunday October 27th, 2019
Location: The Whatever Craft House in Newton, Kansas. Price: $1300.00* All Inclusive *excluding airfare and travel expenses
Deposit $300.00 Non-Refundable
Invoice #1 - $500.00 will be emailed to you & is due July 1, 2019
Invoice #2 - $500.00 will be emailed to you and is due September 1, 2019
Now, as we close out January and head into a new month, we will not be disregarding the January word, SURRENDER. Oh no, SURRENDER is something that we will continue to do on this side of Heaven, on a daily, hourly and sometimes moment by moment.
Documented Faith 2019 Week 5 - 1/27-2/2
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:10
At the beginning of 2018, Lisasuggested the book "The Wellness Revelation" by Alisa Keeton and I read it. I read it and highlighted more parts than in any other book I had ever read. Then I joined an online study group hosted by Emily Thomas and reread it again, using a different color of highlighter. Again, so many highlights and even some moments of "revelation" (no pun intended) where I actually spilled my coffee all over a few pages.
Three weeks into the online group, I felt a pull towards something more but told myself:
"relax"
"do the work"
"don't turn this into something more...yet"
Five weeks into the study and after several pulls and tugs and more and more highlighting, I hesitantly told Emily my thoughts outloud about doing more with and for Revelation Wellness without even knowing what it meant. She gushed and said YES! Yes...yes..yes and that's when I pulled back.
As soon as I received a thumbs up on my positive thoughts, I instantly and sadly filled my own head with my own negative thoughts.
I started thinking:
"who do you think you are"
"you are not athletic"
"you are not a fitness person"
"you are already doing to much"
"you don't have time for this"
"you don't qualify for this"
and here is the dumb thing....I DID NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT I WAS DISQUALIFYING MYSELF FROM but instantly discounted myself from doing whatever it was I was thinking of doing.
I am confident that I am not alone in my thoughts but as always, I throw myself under the bus until you are ready to throw yourself under. Once that happens, we can help each other up, brush ourselves of, give each other a high five, give the enemy the bird and move on. (Hey, that is the only reason there is a middle finger emoji.)
Once my 9 week online book study was done I was ready.
Ready for what?
I didn't know but deep down KNEW that there was a desire to do more and to share this experience with everyone. What I had learned, been reminded of and believed about myself was transformative and I wanted to share it with the world! For me it was a "Go tell it on the mountain" moment and I took the next steps toward looking into what it means to be a Revelation Wellness Instructor. I filled out some paperwork, scheduled a phone call and was all in...again, without really knowing what I was all in for.
During my call with Jamie, she probably thought I was a lunatic because I was so giddy and felt in such alignment with EVERYTHING that I probably startled her. It was the "Don't know where you are going but knowing you are going in the right direction" feeling.
3/4 of the way through the interview she stopped me and said this:
"While you have been talking, I have been stalking you on social media. Why didn't you tell me about the number of followers you have and how did you get them?" I responded just like I have always told you, "I rely on God for my width of reach and I work on the depth of my roots, and if you are asking, NO, I did not buy them"
(yes, you can buy followers)
ugh.
The conversation ended and I prayed about what to do next.
4 days after signing my paperwork to be trained as a Revelation WellnessInstructor, I lost my Instagram account. I lost my followers and forget what I believed, that God would take care of my width of reach. I began to think that I had lost my reach and my ability to share with you about the amazing things I had learned, been reminded of and the renewed confidence and transformation in my heart, mind body and soul.
The enemy didn't want me to share that (middle finger emoji, right? and p.s please do not misunderstand me, I never flip up my middle finger, and if I do, it is in emojis ) I don't want to go into all the instagram drama but if you want to read a little about it, you read about it go here. spoiler alert: I did NOT get my account back.
Fast forward through 9 weeks of online group study, lots of homework and Bible study and last Sunday, I flew to Arizona, got on a bus headed to Williams, AZ. not really knowing what I was headed into but fully expectant that it was going to be good because I knew:
Jesus would be there.
NO FILTER here..(for the girl who doesn't love purple and pink...it meant everything to me.)
It was and is so good. SO GOOD. Just like I say about retreats. It is hard to put into words, but they will come..but guess what? While I was gone to Arizona and without computer access, I got an email from Constant Contact that I had to call them because my account had been compromised, someone had hacked into my account, dumped ALL OF MY CONTACTS OUT and had taken over the account.
I can't make these things up.
LUCKILY, they were on it, saw the attack, froze the account and I had to contact via phone to work towards a resolution. Instead of panicking (okay, I did a tiny bit when I got home) I KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING.
The enemy did not want me to get off that bus, get back on a plane to fly home and then tell you all of this. Pfffttt.. obviously he doesn't know who he is messing with anymore. NOT TODAY SATAN...or tomorrow.
Okay, let's move on.
Here are a few random pictures from my week away and I then I will follow that with what is in my heart and mind for 2019 because IT HAS ALL CHANGED.
This is me sitting at the airport waiting to head to Arizona, I was TOTALLY wiggly inside because I was nervous and equally excited. (I am wiggly as I type this because I had NO IDEA how life changing this was going to be)
This is me and Michelle at the airport in Phoenix. I was overstimulated, overwhelmed by ALL THE PEOPLE buzzing around (there were 200 of us) and I wanted to melt into the wall or really, just wave the surrender flag and go home (seriously)
Remember, I host retreats, I do not go to them so I was way outside my zone. I would have rather been passing out information packs and welcoming the people rather than be "one of the people"
At this point, I needed to be on one of the 5 buses or I was going to tap out. Luckily, we were all in the same mind frame so we calmed each other down.
Once on the bus, we had a 3 hour drive so after photo bombing a few sitting in front of me, I got myself settled in and went to sleep. We had to make a bathroom stop along the way and I am the only one that stayed on the bus because I know me....I just needed to get there and not have the opportunity to maybe miss getting back on the bus. ( I know, I am a weirdo...in a good way)
I am not going to share everything because you know, what happens on the mountain, stays on the mountain but we arrived, met 9 strangers that were going to be my bunkmates and friends for life, grabbed a bunk, got myself settled for about 5 minutes and we were on the go NON STOP for the next 6 days.
Not kidding.
but first, coffee...duh.
Every morning at 5:30 because first workout started shortly there after. This is Kimber. We will be friends for the rest of our lives.
We are part of Platoon 21 and we were in group/cabin 21 so naturally, we are Troop 21. I often yelled out "BLACKJACK!"
We will all be friends for the rest of our lives
okay, so of course, there is much more to all of this which I will continue to share but here is the really exciting part! I am currently leading my first group online and am announcing that registration is open for The Wellness Revelation Online Study - Group Two. This is an online 9 week book & Bible Study via Zoom that begins Monday, March 18 and goes through Monday, April 29th.
Before I give you that info, I want to share this part which is what I came home with in my mind and heart. It is so important that you read this part first, please.
I believe that the right path for living has been marked out by God. I have a choice on what steps to take and sometimes, forget to take God’s path and I go out on my own way. Today, I invite you to face this decision together, going God’s way or following our own way.
I believe that the only way to find true peace and rest for my soul is to walk on God’s path and I would be honored to walk that path along side you.
So here we are, mostly likely “again” standing at the crossroads. Most of us have been here before, but this time, together we are going to actually make a decision that it is finally time.
Time to make a decision.
We will never make a change in our life until we change what we do every day.
This is not a resolution and this is not a goal.
This is surrender.
It takes more than a desire or a dream to get healthy, it takes a decision.
Nothing will change until you choose to change.
The way you think determines the way you feel.
The way you feel determines the way you act.
So, if you want to change how you act, you must begin with changing the way you think.
No longer are we going to be looking back at mistakes and regrets nor are we going to look to tomorrow.
Right now, it is about surrendering all in order to make the most of what we have.
Instead of turning over a “new leaf” we are going to turn over a new life and the ONLY way to do that is to make the decision and live by it.
We are going to put to death our old way of life and surrender ourselves and give up control to God.
It is not going to be easy, it is not going to make sense to many around us and it is absolutely opposite of what the worlds screams for us to do.
As long as we feel stretched and uncomfortable, ready to fight through the hard parts and remember that we cannot do this on our own strength, we are ready.
Here are THREE things we need to start with do in order to achieve success:
Jesus
Discipline
Determination
Here is what we are not going to be able to do to achieve success:
We are not going to be able to do it on our own. Our will power is not going to be enough.
I do not know what your “___fill in the blank___________” is, but I am willing to bet that you have something you are sick and tired of.
We all do, in fact we may have a few things BUT we are not going to attempt to change everything. We are going to work slow and steady on one thing at a time.
You can have 1001 “reasons” (a.k.a excuses) why you aren’t ready to make a big decision or change but really, there is only one thing standing in your way and that is you.
You and your mind/thoughts.
Here is something you might already know, just forgot to remember: You do not have to believe everything you think.
You may think you are not capable, but you are. You just need to stop telling yourself you aren’t.
You may think that you are not worthy but again, you are, and you need to stop telling yourself that as well.
You may think that you don’t have enough will power and actually, you are correct.
That one thought is true because we were not created to do life on our own. The problem lies in the thought that we think we can and then when we do not succeed, we automatically tear ourselves down, look at it as failure and usually give up or quit. (The antidote to this is found in 2 Corinthians 12:9)
“Desperation and disgust are powerful motivators for change, but they do not lead to lasting results and increasing joy.”
GULP, again.
You might need to stand in front of a mirror, point your own finger at yourself or dare I suggest talk out loud to yourself…whatever you need to do, do it because once you release yourself from your own chains, once you knock down the wall that you have built around yourself and as soon as you get out of your own way, God has got great plans for you to start working on and the sense of freedom you will feel from being free from you is amazing.
You have NOTHING to lose and everything to gain by doing three things:
Show up
Do The work
Be Real
That’s it.
Ready?
Let’s seek spiritual obedience so that we can have physical discipline. It is a win win!
Details on The Wellness Revelation Online Book & Bible Study:
NOTE: I have set a max. group limit of 15 persons per session
9 Week Online Study & discussion online via Zoom (we will all see each other in real time!)
Monday evenings from 5:00-6:30 PST beginning Monday, March 18, 2018 - April 29, 2018
Weekly Homework/Bible Study for following week discussion
One on one discussion with me via Zoom within the 9 weeks
Weekly video from Alisa Keeton on that weeks chapter
Assigned prayer partners
Support, ideas, and tips from Revelation Wellness.
Cost for 9 week study all above: $98.00* per person
*book not included (But I just noticed it is on sale via Amazon here!)
