Horse Camps for Girls

A note sent to Luann:  Coming away from The Springs in April, I found freedom to follow a vision that God has laid on my husband and my hearts this year. We want to use horses to share the Word of God and just minister to everyone through horses and ranching. That's a very simple way of putting all we feel He's leading us to.

I've always wanted to do something like this, but last year we came to the conclusion that maybe we needed to get rid of our horses. We wanted to be in His service and felt that the horses were keeping us from connecting with people and sharing Him with those around us.

This spring I felt a strong desire to have horse campus for girls. I prayed about it myself and asked 7 other ladies to pray with me for 40 days. God gave my husband a vision to expand this into marriages and ministering to men -- his passion. I was never expecting this, but that's how God works! So this summer we will be leading horse campus to teach girls who they are in Christ and how He sees them. The first camp is for girls going into 5th grade through 8th grade. The second will be for high school girls and up.

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Thoughts from someone who came to The Springs

There have been so many God moments in the last few months, it's amazing! One of them was my time at The Springs.

A friend of mine encouraged me to attend The Springs. She told me to come expecting nothing and just see what God did. Well, I kind of did that. Prior to going, I really felt like God was preparing my heart to have some wounds of mine healed that I've been struggling with. God has grown me immeasurably over the last few years, in finding that I have value, worth, meaning, acceptance, and a purpose in Him. While He has healed me and taught me about myself in many ways, there was a new "layer" of me to work on.

I was struggling with comparing myself to others in one of my areas of weakness and feeling very inferior. It was also causing much resentment and bitterness to spring up in me as a result. I really didn't want this to take hold in me. While at The Springs, He confirmed to me that I was His Beloved whom He'd chosen and had a plan for. That yes, He'd made me with these weaknesses, but He loved me even with them. He showed me that I was His perfect and wonderful creation. (Yes, I still do need to work on my flaws, but they do note need to define my value, worth, acceptance, or me.) He told me that I was just as He'd made me. This released me to be me, and oddly emough, it released me from the bitterness and resentment that was forming. When I went home and felt that I was being judged by that weakness, I could say, Lord, you told me I was your beloved and you care about me, and You have made me according to your plan.

The Springs was nothing like I'd ever experienced before, and better than anything that I had experienced.

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Grateful Beyond Words

The Springs retreat is simply a tool, a powerful tool that the Lord uses to draw us into His heart of love.

The Springs is a time to come away and spend time with Him, in a safe place with trusted women, with everything focused on the Lord. The Springs creates an environment for God's transforming love. There have been times that I've gone to the Springs, and simply needed physical rest, and a refocusing on the Lord through worship and His word. He knows us so intimately, knows our needs better than we do, and He alone is able to truly meet those needs.

And although the Springs is an actual event, the principles it has taught me go far beyond the time spent there. I now know that I must be intentional in setting aside times to completely focus on the Lord, to come before Him just as I am, to love Him and experience His love for me. Aside from daily devotional times, Bible studies, and prayer, there is something unique in making a time to completely and simply be in His presence.

As I write this, I'm taking a day to simply rest and be refreshed by the Lord. The past weeks have been a whirlwind of busyness, and I knew He was calling me to a day of rest. Once again, He has met me in a way that I don't think is possible without coming apart for a time alone.

I am grateful beyond words for the ministry of the Springs. Thank You, Lord.

(sent to Luann by a retreat past retreat participant)

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From a woman who attended the Springs North in April

How grateful I am for my time at the Springs.

To be honest, I went this time without any great expectations. I was at one of my lowest points, and could see no way out of some circumstances. No one knew what I was going through; I was actively serving in ministry, very busy and involved. But the Lord knew my deepest needs and what I experienced was a truly life-changing encounter with Him. A series of events that I never could have orchestrated. He had called me to come away with Him, and my simple Yes of obedience opened the door to transformation. During those 3 days, He would answer a heart's cry that had almost grown hopeless.

With all the distractions of life removed for a moment, and embraced by His loving presence, I was finally able to stop and honestly look at my life, in all of its mess and need. Step by step He broke through my calloused heart, brought incredible healing, gently led me to a place of acknowledging my sins, in all their ugliness, and receiving the cleansing that only He could do. He started me on a path of discovering true and complete freedom, a freedom that has only come from experiencing His incredible, infinite, intimate love for me.

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