Why a retreat center? 

Why a place that focuses on those with PTSD and the effects of trauma?

Because when you have lost hope and are in despair, you need the reassurance that you are not alone and that there is a place of refuge where you can go for help!  

When in the thick of struggling with my own PTSD and the effects of trauma, the suggestion was made by my counsellor that I attend a Wounded Spirits PTSD week-long camp.  I was very skeptical.  How much would I really be helped and was it really worth going and opening my wounded, hurting heart and life up to strangers.  But I am so thankful for the miraculous ways God used that camp to change my life!  Not only did I find answers to questions and complete strangers becoming friends overnight, but my hope and vision for the future also was restored.  Being broken was not the end, because I had the Great Physician holding all of my broken pieces in His hands, and He was going to put me back together!  He could use my PTSD to make me all He wanted me to be, to glorify and serve Him, if I would let Him!  My path was lit with a new light from Heaven, and it was ok to smile and laugh again!  It felt like I was freed from so many parts of the bondage PTSD had put on my heart and mind.  I no longer felt so alone.

God used that week to make it very clear what He had for me to do with the “messed up” life He had given me.  Did I still have PTSD?  Yes.  Did my crushed heart feel completely healed?  No.  Did my flashbacks, nightmares, and sessions of overwhelming grief and loneliness disappear?  No. But they began to get better. I had a support system and hope.   

The despair had been replaced with the precious consciousness that God was not done with me!  

As the Lord reminds us in II Corinthians, as He helps us, He gives us what we need to help others. I followed His leading and have now payed it forward counselling many ladies and children, from many walks of life.  Their forms of trauma have differed in many ways, but their one common need and request has been the same--a place to go for help.  Some need a place to feel safe from abuse.  Some need a place to be able to just get away and think through choices they need to make, to move forward in their lives.  Some need intense counselling, one on one.  Some simply need a place to be shown the practical love of Jesus demonstrated and showered on them.  For many, one week is not nearly enough!  They need weeks to reach the road of recovery.  

This is why I believe, without a shadow of doubt, that the Lord has led us to begin the Wounded Spirits Christian Retreat.  Through moment by moment dependence on the Spirit of God, give hope to the hopeless, clear sight to those who feel lost in darkness, and God’s vision for the future to those who feel there is nothing left for which to live.  To be a place of refuge for those who feel oppressed, overwhelmed, and at the end of their rope—a place where individuals and families can come to heal from trauma and PTSD, receive counselling, encouragement, and practical ways to move forward in life!  To show the light and love of Jesus with every person the Lord gives us the privilege of seeking to restore to abundant life and joy!