Thanksgiving Weekend!

We just finished another great weekend at Briar Ridge. In the planning stages, we were hoping to use this past weekend as a girls’ weekend, but obviously, we forgot that it was the biggest shopping weekend of the year. We couldn’t find any mentors for the girls because everyone was still wrapped up in Thanksgiving or Christmas shopping. We finally decided we would just cancel the weekend and do a family weekend for anyone that wanted to come. The Sunday before I got a call from a friend and she said they were planning on coming, they had been up on the grand opening and field day so we were excited they were coming back.

The week of Thanksgiving came with Michael being horribly sick. He could barely get out of bed, and he didn’t eat a thing all week. He was miserable and I was worried, I told him he could stay home and get to feeling better. He refused to stay home, saying that God had given him this ministry and he wasn’t going to stay home. He rode up sick and praying, and I drove praying and worried. We got to camp and were the first to arrive. He dropped me off to hunt and he went back to the camp to rest and pray. When he came back to pick me up he was so excited. He said he prayed and felt 200% better! Thank God that if you step out on faith that everything will be fine he comes through, and praise God for healing.

The other two families that got to come up arrived back at camp around the same time we did and we were blessed to eat a delicious leftover thanksgiving meal. We spent time talking about the ministry and our families and headed to bed. We woke up for an early hunt and although most of us saw deer, no one took a shot. We got back to camp and had a little lunch and some of us went back for the evening hunt almost immediately. We had some excited girls that couldn’t wait to get a deer. Four shots were fired Saturday evening and although one was a miss, and one was a raccoon, the other two got deer down. We came back in and Bro. James Edwards brought the message.

Brother Edwards spoke on the fact that everyone wanted Power, but God has all Power. The only way we can receive power is through him. He said there are 5 ways to receive power from God and spoke briefly on this.

1. Power of the Word – When we use the Word of God he can work through us to be changed and let others know God’s plan for their life. Acts 2:37
2. Power of the Blood – Redemption comes through the Blood of Jesus Christ, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Romans 3:25
3. Power of Prayer – And I will do whatever you ask in my name John 14:13 Ask, Seek, Knock Matthew 7:7-12
4. Power of the Spirit – We should walk and be led by the spirit Romans 8:1-4
5. Power of a Surrendered Life – We should surrender to God’s will for our lives. 1 John 3:22 and Romans 6:13

You know it’s important that we all know this list, but more importantly that we receive God’s power to walk in liberty and freedom. No one wants to be bound by sin, or watch a loved one struggle with sin. If we realize we have power to prevail we can accept his power and share it with others.

After the evening message, some of the group went to retrieve a deer and the rest stayed around camp to get dinner ready. We all got back and had a wonderful meal from the grill and spent time talking and enjoying each other. Sunday morning a few of us went to have a final hunt and a few of us happily stayed in the bed. We weren’t able to retrieve a deer Saturday night because we lost the blood trail so we called on Zach Crowley, a local man with a great blood dog, and Deuce. They arrived and found our second doe, and we were very happy to have been helped by him. We arrived back at camp to have our final message and it was brought by me, with music by one of the families that got to come. God laid on my heart to tell part of my testimony and to read Jeremiah 29:11. God has a plan for our lives, and we should seek his will. If we are wrapped up in ourselves and not looking at those around us we can miss God’s will. If we are the light of the world we should make sure our light shines out. People need to see Christ in us, not just at church or around our friends but we should be a light to all of those we come into contact with. What a great weekend, and we can’t wait until the next one.

Love and Prayers,

Briar Ridge!