Let’s Catch Up… Part One

Fall Art & Faith Creative Retreats

I’m back from a six week whirlwind trip through France, England and Italy… and I want to tell you all about it!

But first, let me say that if you’re thinking of joining us next year at one of our retreats, I am so excited to meet you. I’ll be getting back to work and sending out all the welcome letters and contracts for those who have signed up very soon. I truly can’t wait to meet you in 2026 and see how the Lord will connect us, for His purposes and glory!

He is so faithful friends. I see it in each retreat and in every detail that He weaves together. The two fall retreats I just finished in France and Italy were smaller retreats, and it was such a JOY to get to know each lady in a smaller group setting. I wanted smaller group sizes because it was going to be easier for me to organize without having my daughters helping me, and because of the locations of the retreats. Paris isn’t easy to get around with a big group, and I had dreamt of staying in an apartment in Bellagio that I’ve loved for many years, but it only has 7 bedrooms.

I’ve loved each retreat the Lord has allowed me to host over the years, and it’s a huge blessing in my life to have met and connected with hundreds of women over the years through these retreats. But quite honestly, I believe the smaller retreats are where we can connect on a deeper level, and that’s where my heart for these retreats is headed. So… I’ve made some BIG changes for our future retreats and I want to share more about that today. I also want to share some of the wonderful moments from the last two retreats, so go grab a coffee or tea and come back and sit with me for a while as I share the stories with you.

Do you see the heart rock?

Steps of Faith

Ok, so being gone for six weeks in Europe sounds like a fun adventure…and it was! But it was also really hard. When I planned two retreats and an anniversary trip in between, Rebecca and Jacob weren’t even expecting a baby yet. Isabella having the lead role in the fall musical wasn’t even on the radar yet, and having a new baby grandson I’d miss wasn’t even a thought in my mind. A little backend of retreat planning: These retreats take well over a year of planning and it’s a step of faith to plan them and hope and pray that people find out about them and sign up. I still get nervous each time I announce a retreat because I don’t know if anyone will want to join me. And in the middle of all that planning “life” happens, and I know I’m going to miss big moments at home, and miss my family when I’m gone. But I’ve come to realize that when we take those steps of faith the Lord is calling us to take, it’s not going to be easy… but it is going to be fruitful.

Because God is so faithful and good!

~ He is faithful and good to be with us each step of the way.

~ He is faithful and good to guide us and protect us.

~ He is faithful and good to remind us what IS good and true, and…

~ He if faithful and good to grow us through those steps of faith.

So let me share some moments of His faithfulness from the France retreat.

France Art & Faith Creative Retreat

Paris, France. It’s my favorite big city in the world, and it still holds true after spending a LOT of time there. I left Colorado August 31 and was in France until October 1st. A month of exploring France on my own, with these dear ladies and with my husband showed me a lot!

Here’s some photos to show you the beauty of Paris:

Rooftop restaurants, picnics on the Seine, antique markets, morning devotions in the gardens, sketching by the Medici Fountain… the list goes on with so many wonderful places we explored. It was simply perfect strolling the streets of Paris with this group and sharing my favorite places with them. I’m an architecture girl and I LOVE the buildings and gardens of Paris, so we took time to visit several gardens, museums, cafes and my favorite art shops too!

The art theme for this retreat was Impressionism and it was incredible getting to walk in Claude Monet’s footsteps with the ladies. From visiting places he painted, where he lived, his own home and incredible gardens, seeing his art up-close in museums and even staying where he lived as a young boy in Honfleur. We learned so much about Monet, and even saw his final resting place in Giverny. He’s been my favorite artist since I was a teenager and this was such a treat to immerse ourselves in his art! We looked at other Impressionists like Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, and heard more about Monet’s mentor in Honfleur, Eugène Boudin. It was such a treat to share these moments with the ladies who joined me, and to connect our creativity to our Creator through our own expression of “art and faith” time was incredible!

The faith theme was “You are the Light of the World” and each day we talked about how God calls us to shine His light in a dark world. There were hard things going on in the world (and in our own lives) during this retreat, and it was a dynamic that effected our conversations and prayers. I remember being in a church in Mont St. Michel and I was planning on walking through it and sketching outside, but I felt compelled to stop and stay in the church. I sat in that tiny chapel for a very long time and sketched the statue and prayer candles and just prayed. It was a moment I’ll remember forever because I know it changed me. I prayed for Charlie Kirk’s family, for my family and the ladies with me, and for all of us who love Jesus to be emboldened to share the Good News of the Gospel. That is the heart of each of my retreats: to point us back to Jesus and the reason for the HOPE we have in this life, so that… we can go back home and share what God is doing! Every day we were reading our devotional and looking at God’s Word alongside hearing the news back home and I think it caused all of us to take a deeper look at how we are shining a light in this dark world. I think it effected all of us and I pray that it will go forward in how we live our lives for Jesus back home.

My “take-away” from this Creative Retreat

(…and for you who so kindly read to the bottom of this blog post)

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all of for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

Our chief purpose in life is to glorify God. Every breath we take, every action we choose, and every word we speak has the potential to shine the light of His glory. This is a calling of grace and beauty; to live in a way that reflects our Creator and points others to Him. That’s no matter where we are in life, whether we’re young or old, at home or traveling or working 9-5. 1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us that even the simplest acts, like eating and drinking, or creating and traveling, can glorify God when done with the right heart. Imagine how much more our creative expressions, relationships, and stories can magnify His glory when we dedicate them to Him!

We are invited to live boldly, shining the light of Christ into a world that desperately needs Him.

I hope this encourages your heart today. These retreats aren’t fluffy retreats, I’ll warn you now. They are beautiful, creative, adventurous and so much more. But first and foremost, they are about connecting our hearts to the One who created us, sustains us and loves us, Jesus Christ!

Have a WONDERFUL MONDAY EVERYONE!

Hugs,

Laura McCollough

P.S. I’ll share Part Two about our Italy retreat later this week.

Italy Art & Faith Creative Retreat