Just mind The Gap: A Victorian Christmas Tea Party

It's amazing how our annual ladies retreat at Arrowhead seems to come around the calendar year so quickly! And yet, here it is come and gone already.

It was with great excitement and anticipation that I prepared for the weekend. Venus Coté was slated to speak, Crystal Welch and Dianne DeNuke were going to be our special music. Plans were made well in advance, things were coming together. And then, the day before the retreat started, Crystals father was being rushed to the hospital with chest pain. Upon further observation it was a blockage and major surgery would be required. Crystal made the right decision to remain with her family at that difficult time. So, the duet became a solo. Dianne carried on and all were blessed by her beautiful voice and song of praise to our God.

No doubt, some may have come to our retreat especially to hear Venus Coté speak. Our experienced NCEM missionary shared her testimony on Friday night, the first of the four sessions at which she was to be speaking. During the first session, she began to experience a tightness in her chest, and great discomfort. She finished speaking, but afterward it was decided that it would be best for her to go to the hospital to be checked out. She was kept over night and the rest of the weekend for observation and tests. Based on her symptoms, the doctor said it looked like Venus had suffered a heart attack. More tests would need to be done Monday to determine just how severe a heart attack that it had been. Venus told the doctors that people all over the country were praying for complete healing and that she believed the Lord could heal her. And then, a miracle. The test showed No damage to her heart and that she had actually not suffered a heart attack at all. The doctor called what she had suffered, "broken heart syndrome", which mimics the symptoms of a heart attack? Thankfully all that was required for recovery was lots of rest!

Isn't it something how you can make all the plans in the world and think you're prepared, but really God has His own plans in mind!?! Even before Venus left for the hospital Friday night, two of our very faithful NCEM missionaries, Cathy Hill and Gracie Welch, came to me and said they both had messages prepared and were willing to fill in if needed. God had laid on both their hearts these messages and had said that they would be sharing them sometime! And what a blessing it was to hear what God had lay on their hearts They both shared as if they had been preparing all along for that weekend! Certainly God had been!

Our 'theme' was a Victorian Christmas, and so we enjoyed many a Yuletide decoration and even a lovely Christmas tree to sit by. Our Saturday afternoon was spent working on some lovely Christmas crafts, facilitated by hostess extrodinare, Tracy Burgess. She also gave us some great decorating tips on small touches that make Christmas extra special.

We also had our second annual tea. Irene VanAsperen baked us many delicious sweets to go with our tea. She always makes sure we get well spoiled with her goodies!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention all the men that cooked in the kitchen. What a wonderful job they did! Thanks to Todd Neilsen, Zack Neilsen, Justus Neilsen, Jonathan DeNuke, Andrew Ardern, Len Breen and Grant Fawcett for providing such lovely meals. Especially the lovely candlelit dinner Saturday night in which we were served our food! Todd even serenaded us during our desert!

It truly was a wonderful time. But not because of the planning, not because of who was going to be there or what we were going to be doing. Yes, those are all good, but because God is in control. And it was wonderful to see Him work everything out. Although He had nothing to work out, He had it planned that way all along.