October Retreat

Pat summed it up beautifully......We had spent time praying that God would speak to each woman in the group He had brought together this beautiful October weekend and did He ever do just that.......
He spoke to our hearts as we practiced the Listening Prayer and He encouraged us as we shared all that was on our hearts.

We ate delicious meals prepared by Paulette and Martha, we laughed and cried as we studied together, and we got out of our comfort zones as we learned the art of visual journling from Mary, our visiting artist...Mary has such a gift of teaching and sharing about visual journaling that she was a blessing to each of us.  We appreciate her being with us so much....We hiked up the mountain and enjoyed God's creation and then ate marsh mellows around a fire while we sang hymns and praises to God.  Sunday morning, we finished off our weekend with communion and Scriptures for each of us to take with us as encouragement.
                             
                                          Friday night after Dinner

Chefs Paulette and Martha

Mary and her Students

Mary Teaching Visual Journaling

Hike up the Mountain 

Time to go Home

What a privilege it was for Pat and me to be part of a God adventure with such a special group of women....................

Blessings to you,

Nancy 

October 27, 2010 2:50 PM

What a blessing we all experienced at the Potter's House last weekend. Nancy and my heart beat was that God would show up big time and minister to ALL of us. And He certainly did. What an awesome group of women He put together. Nancy's graciousness and gift of giving and hospitality blessed everyone. Can you believe He made it rain right before we got there so the stream's song was magnificent. He spoke words of healing and encouragement to each person. We shared His Word, His Creation - unique women, nature, laughter, tears, hope and love. We were blessed by Mary Freeman teaching us to express ourselves through "layers of art" because we have many layers. Listening to the God of the Universe speak His words to each of us caused us to bond as "Sisters in the Lord." What an awesome privilege it is to minister in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ with the true friend, Nancy Williamson, that He has given me - may all glory and praise go to Him who is worthy of being loved with all of our hearts, souls and mind. Pat

October Retreat and Visiting Artist

We can't believe that the October retreat is so near....and we are so excited.  Every retreat has proven to be different and we are sure the same will be true for this one coming October 22 -24..The weather is cool and the leaves are falling which makes for a beautiful time in the mountains to have an encounter with our heavenly Father.

God always shows us new areas He wants us to work on and exercises to incorporate into the agenda which makes for an adventurous weekend.  This retreat we will have a visiting artist, Mary Freeman, who will instruct us in Art Journaling.  Mary has such a heart for the Lord and we are anxious to hear what a difference journaling has made in her life as well as demonstrations of her techniques.

We would appreciate your prayers for the weekend...Our prayer is that every woman will arrive safely with an open heart to hear from the Lord and a willingness to take what she has heard and return home with new enthusiasm to run her individual race...

Hugs and blessings,
Pat and Nancy

Weekend Retreat

Today, Pat and I completed our second Footprints to the Potter's House Retreat and God was faithful to His word to show up where two or more are gathered and exceeded all of our expectations for the weekend.

We experienced the Listening Prayer and were rewarded by instructions from the Father. We delved into old and new heart issues and found a different form of communication through art journaling.  We hiked up the mountain and viewed God's glorious hand of creation.  We sat around the fire pit and some sang songs of praise.  We gathered around the table and ate wonderful food while being
encouraged with sweet fellowship of sisterhood.  And after being given a blessing, each one left the mountain to return home with a new heart, a new passion for Christ, and a new commitment to LISTEN...........

Each one of us received a blessing from the hand of the Father and we are humbled by the fact that He cares so much for each of His gals that He would spend a weekend giving each one of us exactly what we needed.....Thank you Father....

Hugs and blessings,

Nancy

We are Getting Ready

We are getting ready for our next retreat in June.......and we are very excited about the group of women God is putting together for this retreat....

It's been raining alot up here on the mountain so everything is lush and green and the flowers are getting ready to show their glory...some have already started.  The stream is roaring down the mountain in anticipation of  women who will sit on the rocks and ponder all that God has in store for them......even the butterflies are being readied to remind all of the transforming power of the hand of God..

Blessings,

Pat and Nancy

Lyrics are for our weekend written by one of the participants

These lyrics are for our weekend, set to the music of "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music written by one of the participants.

Sunshine on mountains

And warmth in our voices…
Love and our Lord were
The best of our choices.
Macadamia clusters and freedom for win
These are a few of our favorite things.

Laughing and crying in
Joy and in sorrow…
Brought forth the bliss
Of a blessed tomorrow,
Being with women so lovely to know
Our Lord’s path is the way to go!

When you’re sharing
When you’re open!
When you give, it’s true…
You simply become what the Lord has in store..
His love will come forth to you!

The Retreat

God was so gracious to us as we had the first Footsteps to the Potter's House Retreat. Hearing from the gals that participated has been an absolute blessing. God certainly directed the weekend, spoke to each of us and blew us away with the creative process He has placed within each of us. Nancy and I are humbled and amazed that He would choose to "redeem" the hurts and challenges of life and as we "mentor" and share with women, He changes these hurts into tools He can use to heal. We had the opportunity of experiencing joy as only a group of women can.
Some of the comments we received:
1.  Your emphasis on this retreat being a safe place and your acceptance of us - you showed each of us God's unconditional love.  Your encouragement to be REAL helped me so much
2.  The progression of the weekend was well thought out as you took us f rom Friday evening to the crescendo on Sunday of communion.
3.  The book you gave us, God Guides, has dramatically changed my quiet times with God.  New meaning has been given to "Be Still and Know that I am God"..I am becoming more and more a listener.  This has been utterly transforming.
4. The creative journaling has taken hold of me already.  How beautiful and revealing it was.
5.  Food was great
6.  The laughter, the hugs, and the safe feeling you gave us.
7.  God spoke to me so much while there; I just couldn't write fast enough
8.  The retreat was just awesome
9.  Fire pit time was fun as well as freeing
10.Leader's passion for what they are doing

In Christ's Love,
Pat

April Retreat

WOW, is all I can say about the retreat we held last weekend....and that wow has nothing to do with Pat and me but all about God and how He showed up and exceeded our expectations in everyway.

We had five wonderful women who were willing to take off their masks and be transparant and allow God to come in and speak and speak He did.......to each one individually and to us as a group.

We had beautiful weather except for Saturday morning and as it turns out the group really wanted more time together and they would not have had that because we had planned individual quite time outside.  So you see, God was in every detail....We shared, we laughed, we cried, we created, we ate and we all left with a heart full of peace on Sunday.

The Scripture says seek God with all your heart and He will be there...He kept His word because He really did show up in a mighty way for a group of women who wanted desparately to hear from Him....

                                            

                              After a Study Session

After a Long Hike up the Mountain

    Working on Art Journals in the Art Shed

Five Wonderful Women Seeking The Voice of the Lord

I will be posting more pictures of the workshop including the firepit time later..

Hugs and Blessings,

Pat and Nancy

A Note from Pat

It is with anticipation and excitement that I am looking forward to the Retreats at The Potter's House. It is such a"God Thing" that Nancy and I have this privilege of inviting women into the adventure that God has provided for us. From Him orchestrating our friendship as a sweet gift to working through 12 years of "life lessons" as sisters in the Lord, I am confident that God has called us and am also confident that God will lead each woman of His choosing to The Potter's House to learn to hear God's voice more clearly and explore His plans for her life. The verse God has given Nancy and Me for these Retreats is Acts 13:2 - the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Nancy and Pat for the work to which I have called them." Not Because of Who I Am, But Because of Who YOU/GOD Are. Pat




March 21, 2010 10:47 AM

Planning for the First Retreat of 2010

Pat and I are hard at work planning for the first retreat of 2010...The dates are April 16-18.
God has put together the five women He wants at the retreat and we are so excited to see what
He is going to accomplish......
We have things in pretty good shape if the weather will cooperate with us.....This has been the worse winter in the North Carolina mountains since 1994 so it looks like Spring is going to be late but we have faith
that God will provide what we need for the weekend.  He has been faithful every step of the way in planning for these retreats and we will continue to look to Him for all we need.
I will keep you up to date and please pray for us and the women attending....
Hugs and Blessings,
Nancy
p.s.  Pat "makes" me do the blog stuff but I will continue to encourage her to add her comments whenever she feels led....She is a very good writer.....and you will enjoy getting to know her