My experience during my week at Racheal’s Rest Retreat: Upon meeting all attendees all kinds of fears flooded my mind - where do I fit in? There was fear in not knowing what God would reveal to me. Yet without a doubt I knew that it was the Lord who planted me right then and there-knowing that I would come out at the end of the week being better for it.We all seemed to have an unspoken, yet overwhelming compassion for each other - ALL of us - staff and attendees alike. Mere strangers…loving, laughing, compassionate and respecting each other’s own internal world of pain.I was safe. What a feeling! And judgment? No matter how hard I searched, there was no judgment towards me or my other new-found friends there.There definitely is (not “was”) abounding hope for me for once. For the first time, I felt as if everyone there stood beside me hand-in-hand, brave enough to help me confront my pain and my abusers… and helped me begin the process of shaming my abusers and realizing I have been carrying all the shame and guilt they should have been bearing all of these years. Praise God! I learned that being in nature; it’s sounds, it’s smells, the warmth of the sun and the breeze as it consumed me - as if God himself reached down caressing my face – reassuring me His peace is always with me. There was no pressure, no expectations and a great amount of understanding.LAUGHTER-SO WONDERFUL TO SHARE IT! I’ve learned I sometimes use it as my mask, yet how humbling and freeing it is to share with others. I thank God for Racheal, for the Bible Study she attended and for the legacy of her life of pain; now helping me. Thank you to all who provide for the scholarship funding and for Karen and Susan allowing God to work through them