Let us be… Found Faithful ~ Day 4

Today I’m continuing to share from my journaling on the retreat last month. I hope it shows the faithfulness of God in our daily lives, and it blesses you in some way.

Day 4 ~ Praise the Lord, I’m feeling better today!

With all the rest, prayers and medicine from the pharmacy I am finally feeling well enough to gather with the women today and walk with them to my favorite “hidden spot” in Bellagio!

Well… Pescallo is not so secret anymore, especially since Lake Como has become “the place to go” in Italy this year. I’ve never seen it so crowded in all the years we’ve been coming here! But I am so thankful the Lord allowed me to have the strength to walk there, read Day 3 of our Bible Study together, (and in front of some very curious bystanders) AND see the blessings of this sweet time together, mid-way through our week together.

We spent a good portion of the day in Pescallo and were able to take time and journal after the devotional, which I usually give the women about 20 minutes to go through on their own. Each day’s devotional ends with a Bible verse and some “Daily Prompts” to help them go a bit deeper and spend time praying over and journaling.

After that, I gave them time to sketch or paint in their Traveler’s Notebook, and showed them some ideas from my art journaling in this spot over the years. Some wanted to sketch the whole scene, some just a boat in the water and some merely wanted to sit and be still in that place.

And while all this was taking place we had a few surprises I wanted to share with you!

First off, I mentioned that we had an “audience” when I was reading the devotional out loud. Typically that would be very nerve-racking for me. I already get nervous just doing the morning devotions in front of the ladies who come… so having total strangers coming to this spot for their own reflection and time in this place was a bit much for my inner-introverted self! lol

But God… (And I know I’m saying that every day, but it’s so evident it was ALL Him, and praise Him for that!)

If you’ve followed me for any length of time you’ve probably heard my story of starting these retreats and how I really, really don’t like to fly and I really, really don’t like to speak in public! (I got sick to my stomach in High School just walking to Speech class…) So having people already sitting there in Pescallo really made me consider not doing this devotional out loud. I know that’s my own inadequacy, and I had to pray and ask in that moment for the Holy Spirit to speak through me and give me the strength to go through with it…

And He did.

There was an Irish guy who was sitting on the bench when we came there and he let some of the ladies share it with him. He was super sweet, and just moments after that prayer where I asked for help, he told me he was “open to hearing” what I had to say! Wow… ok then.

I pray for him still, and I’d love for you to do the same. His name is Jason, and he listened so intently, I even took a few glances his way while I was sharing God’s Word and the Bible study on faithfulness, and the guy always had his eyes directly on me. Some of the women noticed he was recording it on his phone, so maybe he’ll look back at it and the Holy Spirit will stir his heart and point him to Jesus. We talked with him afterwards for a while, Lori even got a photo with him, and later that evening as we headed to dinner we saw him and his face lit up to see us again! You just never know the ways in which God moves, right?

It was so divine that what I was sharing on this “Day 3” of the devotional was about being faithful in our world today and living that out. How easy it is for us to cower from it… I mean I almost didn’t want to do it! Like I said, I normally would be timid in talking about or reading the Bible out loud, in front of strangers, but what came to mind was the verses in Isaiah 55 about the Word of God going out and accomplishing God’s purposes. Yes & Amen! (Read the whole chapter of Isaiah 55 when you have a chance, it’s so powerful about the compassion and will of our Lord!)

Another blessing this morning was having a woman from a past retreat (the fall of 2018) show up right then and there in Pescallo! Yes, true story. She had been traveling in Italy and teaching art classes in Orvieto I think (she is a very talented artist) and had decided to come to Bellagio for a few hours and show her sister where she had been on our retreat in 2018. She remembered this peaceful place I’d shared with her and asked her driver to find it back for them so they could spend some time there. She told me she was so excited to have found it back and then when she walked up to this little cove she got excited again because see saw people sketching and painting… the things she loves to do as well. Then she heard my voice and saw that it was me and come up to say hi! How amazing is that!?! I recognized Lorraine right away and wanted to hug her but told her I was still recovering from being sick. She told me she was sick too, so we both just went for a big hug anyways! hahaha

Now here’s the hard part, but I want to share it with you…

What was so incredible (and truly a God appointed appointment) is that I had been thinking about Lorraine recently… seriously, the Lord put her on my heart before I left for Italy and while IN Italy! Mind you, I haven’t seen her since 2018 or communicated with her since maybe early 2020? But, I had felt like I may have said something online a couple years ago, (probably some stupid political or covid comment… that I try not to get involved in anymore) that may have offended her and I just didn’t have a peace about it. So I was able to pull her aside for a few minutes and share my heart and apologize to her in that moment. God is SO good! (She said there was nothing she remembers and we were all good, but it gave me peace to share that with her) Thank you Lorraine for being so kind and for the chance to catch up in this place we both love so much.

We forgot to take a photo today, but here’s one of us from 2018

What a gift this day was, in so many ways.

To see the places the Lord has allowed me to share about Him, be places these women who come with me want to return to is beyond anything I could have dreamt up when I started these retreats 12 years ago! And to be able to share the message of the gospel with total strangers around, (there were more that came up to us afterwards and wanted to know what I do here) that was something only God could give me the courage to do! And, to be able to see someone who had been on my heart and I felt I had hurt in some way, to be able to ask for forgiveness and apologize in that place where we met… WOW.

God is SO faithful friends… and kind, in always reminding us of what He is doing, whether we see it right then or not.

So let me leave you with this:

The Gospel message is powerful friends. It doesn’t take some hightened spiritual experience or goosebumpy feelings for people to come to Jesus and be saved. It is simply sharing to Word of God with others and letting the power of God and His Word bring salvation! And as Christ followers, we are called to share it with others. It may not be easy, it may give us the cold sweats, but I think the more we are open and sharing our faith, the more boldness the Lord graces us with.

Here are two verses that come to mind today. I hope these simple stories of God’s faithfulness in my life, and the lives of those who come on these retreats God is calling me to do, will encourage you, bless you and show you the power of God in all of our lives!

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16

Romans 10:17 shows us: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Hugs to all,

Laura

P.S. Don’t forget to come by tomorrow to read the blog post from Thursday on our retreat… it’s a story you won’t want to miss!