Brave Girls Club Camp

Earlier this month I attend Brave Girls Club Camp in McCall, Idaho. http://www.bravegirlsclub.com/  I took the opportunity to drive there to carve out some additional thinking time alone, and to visit my girlfriends at various stops along the way. Brave Girls was all about being in this amazing, luxurious place where all the women attending were taken care of, meeting the most amazing women from all over the world in this super-supportive environment, setting boundaries, knowing that LOVE is the IT, and processing various prompts through mixed media art. There was no competitiveness, no catiness, no gossiping, no fixing each other...there was listening, and understanding, and love and God, and yummy food and art. Melody Ross, the talented amazing artist behind Chatterbox, my all time favorite scrapbooking paper company, and her beautifully talented sister, Kathy Wilkins are the driving force behind Brave Girls. I found out about the BGC after "stumbling" across Melody's blog several years ago looking for her products. Her writing was so incredibly transparent, so incredibly honest and open, so real that I kept checking in to see what she was writing.  Then she started to write about Brave Girls about a year and half ago, and I knew I needed to go.  

I don't believe in accidents or coincidence, I believe in God. And HE is amazing how he pulled this group of women together for those short few days together from all over the world, from different faith backgrounds and walks of life.  Each is a beautiful woman, with  a story and challenges, doing the best 'she can anyway'.  We all know intrinsically that LOVE is the IT, we all need to feel it and to give it, and Brave Girls just brings it to the front of mind, keeps it simple in a beautifully complex way, the real paradox.  Be Brave, Be not afraid, Fear Not. It is what Jesus teaches us.

So what was Brave Girls for me? A lot of what this is about for me, is was just having the opportunity to process and think about what I already know to be the TRUTH of the human experience of trial and triumph and what I know of God, the Holy Spirit. I was able to step away from my day to day briefly, and journal through art. It was a pause, a chance to be still and listen to what God is writing on my heart. It was a time to reflect and a chance to relax, fully.

Before we attended we were asked to fill out a questionnaire about ourselves that was shared with just the other women who were coming. It asked us about our families, what we love to do, what is the bravest thing we had ever done? The sharing was testimony, it was strength in action. Everyone has a story, everyone has had challenges, everyone has had triumphs. There were young women, little girls, older women, middle-aged women...and the wisdom was terrific.

By the end of the camp I had been soaked in modge podge, aka Soul Glue, pampered and rested--if you think staying up until 3am giggling like little girls at a slumber party is rest--I do! I met women I want to stay in contact with, be friends with forever. I made Holy Spirit connections with people that were awesome. I love it. I hope I can go back to a reunion some day, and I hope I can take my daughters one day, too. It met all my expectations as a spiritual art retreat. I would recommend it to anyone contemplating an experience like this one.  "It's All Good."