For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, Titus 2.11-13

The speaker at our retreat this weekend was Janie Alfred of Calvary Murrietta. This woman has a powerful testimony of faith and hope during some of life’s most difficult moments. The moments she shared with us revolved around her children (five daughters!). I cried with this woman this weekend. My heart broke for her as she shared with us how she experienced the murder of her daughter and rejoiced with her as she shared how she survived by holding on to her faith.

You know, it’s not easy being a mom (or a dad for that matter). As our children grow and mature into young adults, we find ourselves having to let them go (sooner than expected). We must allow them to stand on their own two feet, make their own decisions, and suffer the consequences (be they good or bad). Sometimes those consequences can be so heartbreaking that we don’t think we can bear it. But try as we might, we can’t fix some things… we can’t reverse time and stop the bad things from happening.

Some things are completely out of our hands and out of our control. What a powerful lesson that is for me to learn. More importantly is to learn that those things must be left at Jesus’ feet; He is all powerful and most capable of taking care of those things that we cannot take care of ourselves. Our God loves us more than anything we can comprehend. He loves our children even more than we do. He wants only good for them. We really do need to learn to get out of His way and let Him work in their lives.

I spoke with Janie for a bit after the first session. Some of the things she had experienced with her daughters, I have experienced with my own. She shared some verses with me that helped her during her most difficult times and showed me a picture of one of her beautiful daughters that she had prayed for and she shared the results of those prayers. Her encouragement meant the world to me. It came at a time when I most needed it, when I felt so helpless that I could do nothing more than put my trust in God. Trust is not an easy thing for me…yes, even trusting God is not an easy thing for me.

But God is working on that for me.

I came away from this retreat with a couple of verses to hold on to. The one that speaks loudest to me is found in Luke:

But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, "Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well." Luke 8.50

Only believe.