Called Out Of Darkness And Into Wonderful Light

The endurance needed to care for a family member with a significant disability year after year is a labor of love few can understand. For many families impacted by disability, the pain can be too much to bear.

Isolation and hopelessness leave these families teetering on the brink of depression.

You see, the demands of disability never end. Often, families feel there is simply no relief in sight. They are at an utter loss as to where to find someone they can relate to – someone who cares. Rejection is an everyday heartbreak for families wrestling with disabilities.

That’s one reason why Ken and I love serving at Family Retreat. Families living with disability need a place where they can breathe in God’s renewing presence and recharge from the stress and pressures of this world. They need an encounter with Jesus, and that’s what they find at Family Retreat.

Family Retreat lets weary families know they’re not alone.

The unmistakable fragrance of heaven permeates every one of our Retreats & Getaways!

Many families living with disability cannot get to Family Retreat without help. Their financial resources are depleted from expenses that come with a disability: surgeries, physical therapy, visits to medical specialists, and multiple costly medications.

Warren’s family is the perfect example. Five years ago, Warren was the victim of a robbery. He received multiple gunshot wounds in his spinal cord resulting in paralysis and subsequent blood clots in his brain. After having a stroke, surgeons needed to cut Warren’s skull open in order to drain fluids and allow for healing.

Warren used to be the older brother caring for his siblings, Justin and Waveney. Now, Justin and Waveney are the ones taking care of Warren.

Families like Warren’s need Family Retreat. As Justin explains, “Family Retreat brings me and my sister and brother closer together. It gets us out in nature. We hiked in the creek and went in the canoe. We haven’t been out in nature like this in ten years.”

Family Retreat also brought Warren and his siblings closer to Jesus. Warren’s Family Retreat buddy watched the Lord work. He said, “Warren has had a lot of darkness and suffering in his life. The life he knew before his disability has been taken away from him. But coming here – being around God’s Word and the Lord’s presence – Warren found the light here.”

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9

“At Family Retreat, God put the right people into my life. He changed my whole situation around. I don’t worry about the spinal cord injury here. That’s how I know that there is a God. That’s how I know God is real. He turned me around – he turned me all the way around! God is great!

I get very frustrated and depressed. But here at Family Retreat, everything is accessible. This brought me from dark into the light. It’s so rejuvenating! It helps me forget about my injury and keeps me pushing forward. At Family Retreat, my injury doesn’t hold me back!”

Warren