Ok so I don’t do the whole throwback Thursday thing but I felt it a good idea to give a little summary of something that happened recently at the church I serve. Last Saturday was a pretty special day around Living Word Galena. It was a day like no other!

It all started with a vision and a dream. No, it wasn’t my dream but I owned it as if it was because it was one of those great dreams that you wanted to experience in real life. The dream started as a fairly simple retreat. It started with the idea of getting girls together of various ages to be mentored in their faith. The focus was singular – help girls find mentors and teach them how to be mentors to someone else.

Well, one thing led to another and the dream started to get legs. Things started moving. And when they started it was kind of like a snowball rolling down a hill. It picked up speed and began to grow the more this dream started to become real. Day after day the plans started to fall into place. Week after week another piece of the puzzle was positioned perfectly where it belonged.

The planning really started to take shape when we took the opportunity to share the vision with a good friend, Heidi Goehmann. She bought into it immediately! Her passion and excitement for these young girls made the day a huge success! The theme of the day was a combination of three very simple words With And For. On their own these words mean nothing really. But when you put them together in the right context and tell the story completely, these words come alive! And man did they ever come alive on Saturday.

The whole idea behind With And For is that we are to walk with and for one another as we walk with and for Christ. Heidi unpacked a great deal of knowledge but more importantly she infused her passion and love for Jesus into the entire day. The message we wanted each of these girls to hear was simple. The love you need in life can’t be found in a guy. It can’t be found in any friendship. It can’t be found in the image you see in a mirror. No diet will make you real. No change in looks will complete you. The one that will fill you and make you whole is the God who gave everything for you. The God who loves you.
But the day didn’t end there! The night culminated with a lively concert by music artist Hollyn. What a powerful message of Jesus’ love she brought. Her whole focus was to point us to the cross of Christ. Countless hours went into this day. We invested several dollars to make this happen. But one thing I’ll tell you with 100% certainty – I’d do it again in the blink of an eye! This day was truly a day like no other and I was honored to be able to be a part of it.