Can I ask a favor of you?

Hi ladies! I hope you’re enjoying a wonderful start to your New Year!

It’s been a bit busy around here, as I’ve started a new challenge you may have seen already… I decided I would start drawing every day this year! And yes, it’s quite the undertaking but I love that I’ve allowed myself this time to learn and grow, (I never learned the basics of perspective in drawing) and I’m hoping I stick with it all year.

How about you? Do you have anything you’ve started this year? I’d love to hear what practices you’ve added to your 2024.

Today I want to take a moment to ask you a favor…

I’m going to be very transparent with you here, and share a little “behind the scenes” of this retreat ministry I know God has called me to.

But to start, I want to share 3 ways we’ve seen the evidence of His hand in these retreats:

1. God has graciously provided ALL that has been needed for me (and my daughters) to host these retreats the past 13 years, and He is the sustainer of it to this day!

2. I, in my weakness, have not always known the “how to’s” of this women’s ministry. Things like: “How do I reach women in this way, how do I encourage them in the right way, how do I let women know these retreats even exists?” But God… He brings them (YOU) to the retreats each time, and He equips us, every single time!

3. These retreats have been a beautiful opportunity for the women who come (and those who follow along from home) to see how faithful God is! It’s truly incredible to watch how He provides and takes care of every detail, even in the middle of really hard things!

And over the years, with the help of friends, my husband and our daughters, I’ve had wonderful, godly counsel and discipleship along the way. So thank you to everyone who has helped in that way! As most of you know, I do this because it’s what I feel the Lord is calling me to do. It’s not a business to me and my hubby knows it’s not a money maker, yet he’s always encouraged me in this non-the-less…

But now I’m at a crossroads, and I’m not sure what’s next.

My daughters are all grown and have wonderful and busy lives. They still want to help where they can, but that’s a lot less these days. I try to do these retreats at the lowest price possible (and if you’ve searched other retreats, you’ll notice they’re 1-3k more on average) Lastly, we’re empty nesters now… which means I don’t have the “helpers” I had when the girls were home and had more time in their lives, but it also means I can devote more time to this… so what should that look like??

So that’s where you come in, and I’d love some help from you!

If you feel lead to, here are 3 ways I’d love for you to join me:

1. In Prayer. If you would pray for this ministry and God’s guidance for future retreats, and what His will is for them… that would mean so much to me!

2. Tell a friend. If you’ve been to a retreat (or just heard good things about them) I would LOVE for you to tell a friend. I don’t market these retreats (yet) and so it’s only by word of mouth that people even know about these retreats!

3. Marketing help. Like I said above, I don’t market these retreats because I don’t know where to start… and I hate selling things. Truly, I’m a terrible sales person… and have always been that way! I don’t like to push these retreats on anyone and I’m not someone who wants to fill your “scroll” every moment about them! But, I have to get the word out there or no-one’s going to sign up. So I need help in this area.

Being in the world of women’s retreats, I know there are SO many options for women to find beautiful retreats to go to, and I totally get that. I also know that my retreats are very unique and reach a very small “niche”… i.e. women who want to go on beautiful retreats, but also want to open their Bibles in these places and know God more.

That makes for a pretty small scale of who would want to come on these retreats, but I know without a shadow of doubt that’s what God has called them to be… and that’s what they will continue to be.

So… If you would like to help me in any of these ways, I would be so grateful to you! And one more thing…

In the hopes of trying to reach more women, my daughters encouraged me to create postcards that explains the retreats and have photos on them, (with a QR Code even)

So I did! They just arrived today, and they are so pretty! (I’ll share a video of them on my IG tomorrow… it was too dark to get a photo of them tonight)

And I’d LOVE to send you some!

If you would like to have some of these postcards to share with friends, to put on your local coffeeshop “announcement board” or leave a few at any local shops that might be a fit, or your home Church (only if they allow it) I would love to send some to you! It would be such a joy to get the message out about these retreats all over the world! Just email me if you’d like to help out in this way and I will send you some in the mail.

And, if you have any other marketing ideas that you would like to share with me, I’d love to hear them. I don’t have the budget for a marketing or social media manager, but I’d love to find a few friends who know more about this stuff than I do, and are willing to help. If that’s possibly you, please reach out via email to me and we can talk about how this could work.

I truly am so thankful for all of you. So many of you have stuck with me through many, many years of blogging and sharing my life for all to see. I think I started this journey back in 2007, and some of you have been here since the very beginning (well technically at “A Kiss on the Chic” blog first) and some of you have even joined me on our retreats! That has been such a blessing to me. You know my heart is to share the Good News of Jesus with as many women as the Lord allows, and to encourage them to live there lives fully to the glory of God, in beautiful and creative ways… and in beautiful and awe inspiring locations around the world.

I’d love to continue doing that and would love to have your support and community in seeing what God has next.

Let me end this blog post with a beautiful reminder for all of us as we go into this weekend…

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Hugs to all,

Laura McCollough

P.S. If you’ve read to the very bottom, thank you. It’s not easy being vulnerable and sharing some of the difficulties in doing these retreats, but I so appreciate all of you who reach out and encourage me each time I do.