I could honestly write pages and pages of all that God did during the creative weekend. I had been praying for a few months for a way to work and have an income to help support my family while raising my children. I am a stay at home Mom and have no formal painting experience. All I had was a nudge from God that I should go and I am so so glad that I did.
I was so concerned with not fitting in and wondering why on earth God would send me to a weekend retreat with the purpose of starting an art business. But he met me every step of the way. Every. Single. Step. Melissa helped to bring forth a talent to paint that I did not even know was inside me and I feel equipped to paint, start a business, and most importantly, walk in God’s purposes for my life as his daughter and disciple.
Women were there from all different backgrounds and for all different purposes but by the end it felt like we had become a tribe of women, always meant to have known each other.
Melissa is an incredibly talented and generous person. I have not ever known a business owner like her. In every single thing she does, she is led by the Lord and she puts her very heart, soul, mind and strength into the entire weekend. She has a heart for women and for seeing them equipped to walk in purpose and be a powerful and successful presence in the marketplace.
Not only did I feel blessed by her wisdom in both creating art and starting a business, being there in her presence, and ultimately, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, allowed me to break free from mindsets and issues I have held on to and dealt with for YEARS. Melissa is completely whole and free in Christ, and you cannot be around that all weekend and have it not rub off on you. Thanks to the creative weekend, I am no longer comparing myself to other women, trying to be someone I’m not and that God has not created me to be. I am not constantly worried about my children and their future, or submitting to a victim mentality. I am free in Christ.
I feel so blessed to have been able to be mentored by Melissa at the creative weekend. It is an experience of a lifetime, and one I will not soon forget.
Thank you Melissa.
-Shantell
@undefeatedmama on instagram