This was my opening notes for the Ladies Retreat Day Hosting Sherry Gore. Because of my sister's brain aneurism trauma 3 days before and me not being sure I would be there or emotionally be able to do my job, my friend Beth did the opening honors and used my notes, not positive if she used all or parts of them, but here they are for the number of you that asked to have a copy of them, not sure anymore who wanted, so figured this the simplest way. thank you each one for being a part of my life, blessings on your day!!
Good morning!! my name is Janette Diem and i welcome you to my little corner of God's
beautiful earth. I'm married to a carpenter named Glen, we live around the block from
here maybe 2 miles or so. we have been blessed with 5 precious kiddos, Brandon 19 who is
currently in Montana for a few months working in a butcher shop, Emily almost 15 and my
right hand gal, and Ava almost 5 who bounced into our lives 10 years behind and has been
running to catch up with the rest ever since, bringing with her sunshine and
roses even on the dreariest of days. we have an infant angel babe and an angel son Devin
who is forever 5 and passed due to cancer. i love planning events and parties and get
togethers, i love people, and being with people, escpecially my people, my tribe, i however,
never considered my self a public speaker but it comes with the event territory, God and my
tribe know i can chatter with the chattiest of peeps but somehow publicly when i open my
mouth it also turns on the faucet to my eyes and nothing comes out sounding like i heard it in
my head, i write better and more comfortably than speaking, so i'm gonna put a disclaimer
right here to please bear with my nervous sprinkler system and trembly lips.
I am always amazed at how God speaks to me, and lets me know He's right there, after
messaging a few of my tribe to please pray for me that i would be calm and unweepy it was
like God chuckled and elbowed me as i pulled into the local bent and dent and the Word FM
DJ women on the radio says, are you one those people that gets teary quickly over random
things or nerves and gets frustrated by it? well, take heart, recent studies have shown if your
a weepy individual you are healthier than most cause tears release toxins and flush out
unwanted germs and give clearer vision and shows you have a big heart and a warm caring
soul that lives life..... i just sat there a bit chuckling to myself, and thot, well, there is that!
it was alot of fun planning this event today, a bit harrowing at times as more
details would pop up that needed to be worked out, but i hope i got all my bases covered and
if not, well i trust you could extend a bit of grace and overlook it, im sure we'll still be able to
have a good time in spite anything that hasn't reached perfection. i want to thank my people,
if you dont know me that good, well, you will soon learn i have people, or as i like to refer to
them more often, my tribe!! Sherry and I were giggling over this cause we both are tribal
beings and have referred to that frequently over the last few days leading up to today. My
tribe, these dear girls are a mixture of souls from all over this crazy world, from near and far,
from teenage years to present day, that God has sprinkled into my life through out the years
and its many different seasons, these are those heart soul girls, those that have stuck with
you through the good the bad the ugly, those you share hearts, connect with and say, you get
me, you were given to me by God for such a time as this and to do life with, now your forever
more a part of my tribe. so, to Andrea, Miriam, Beth, Laura, Miranda, Paula, Anna, Shelley,
Maryann, Sara, my sister in law Rosene and my sister Angie, thankyou from the bottom of my
heart for being my sounding board, idea bouncer offers, runner byers, detail workers,
advertisers, dishwashers, bakers, mixers, freezers, storers, setter uppers, babysitter
encouragers, and prayer warriors, for bringing me coffee and chocolate !! none of this
would have come together smoothly without each of you! and Miriam, thankyou for being
married, and roping your man into kitchen duty, you have trained him well, and for having 2
dear girls to be waitresses along with my Emily who always has my back with stuff around the
house and helping out with laundry and her little sister!!
it really is good to see so many ladies here this morning! i thank each of you that has chosen
to come out to make this day possible. i know many of you are mamas and have hubbies and
families that require your attention, so to do a day away also requires an effort and some
sacrifice, and i thankyou for choosing to make that effort and sacrifice, and i pray you each
will be able to relax and soak up the prescense of each other and God and by hearing Sherry
and what He has given her to share with us, you each will leave here this afternoon refreshed
and renewed in spirit, body, and soul. the bible says where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name,
there am i in the midst of them, and i truly believe and feel God here with us today. I am
beyond excited to introduce to you one of my tribe, my dear friend, Sherry Gore.
Sherry is from Sarasota Florida, the sunshine state, i firmly believe Florida came by that
name because of radiant ladies like Sherry that spread a happy glow wherever they go!!
Sherry was first introduced to me online by my friend Beth. She said Janette you need to
follow this lady, she's a pie baker like you and an author like you have pipe dreams of being
and she has a cancer child, i think you 2 would hit it off, so i started following her and i
dreamed of meeting her one day. i wished often that we lived closer when she was on the
cancer journey so i could stop in and hug her or sit with her, there's just something about
some one being there that gets it, that has worn that particular pair of crocs! but we didn't
actually meet in person until the fall of 2015 when my friend Sara and i traveled to NC to
the embracing womanhood conference. there our hearts connected and our friendship
cemented, one of the special memories i have of that time there was being given a moment
in the prayer room with just Cindy Mullet, Sherry and i as we shared memories and pictures
of our cancer kiddos, it was a precious moment, 3 mamas connected at the heart where
only those in this certain type of club can be, it was like wow, we get each other, we have all
worn that particularly nasty pair of crocs. and survived. sherry didn't become a full blooded
tribal member until the following spring at a retreat in Montana where a couple of us ladies
went to this darling little western town for lunch and as my friend Judith was making an
attempt to ask her something she put her fork in the air over her pie and said, ladies, excuse
me a bit, i'm in a relationship, me and my pie are having a moment, and she closed her eyes
and purred over that mouthful of berry filled pastry!! i knew then she had just mastered the
initiation into my tribe, she understood food and the pure comfort, goodness and love of all
things delectable and palette pleasing!!
Ladies, we all have a window in our hearts through which we can see God. Once upon a time
a time when our relationship with Him was new, our window was brilliantly clear, our view of
Him crisp, fresh and transparent. but then as life goes so many times, along came a pebble of
pain, bouncing up out of no where and hits that window causing a crack and our view of him
becomes a bit marred, and after awhile wings of hurt and betrayal fly our way and splatters
our window and our view of God becomes more blurred, then a bit later a grimy hand full of
grief and fear deals a devastating blow to our already cracked and dirty window leaving with
it a massive smudge and we're left standing there desperatley tring to peer thru and we can't
and God seems so far away and all but blotted out, and we search for just a tiny spot of clean
clear glass to catch a glimpse of him, to assure us God is still there, but we still can't, and then
we begin to panic and cry out wondering where He went and how we're gonna go on thru life
if we can't see him clearly anymore. when i heard Sherry for the first time, it was over a time
in my life when i was battling hard to once again gain a clear view of God, i knew he was out
there, but my window to him felt blacked out, and i wondered if he gave up on me and
moved on, but after hearing her brokenness and her share her life in the real, hope and
peace began to shine through the cracks and the smudges, life is hard, it's a choice each day
to keep polishing our window and bettering our view of him, i've found it feels more doable
if i keep in mind that life is not about me, and that God has a specific purpose for each
broken, smudged piece of our life and that through our brokenness God can reflect himself.
and to remind myself of His never failing promise that no matter how far away he seems or
how desperatly i try and see him and feel blinded He is always, always right there next to
me!! one of my favorite thoughts i've ever come across is, when it feels like your alone and
your prayers are hitting the ceiling, it's ok, rest, cause God's right there in the room with you!
sometimes in life, if we were one of the ones blessed to have been raised in a christian
church and grown up being taught the bible and all it's wonderful stories we can tend to
become immune or numb to them, it's kinda like i've heard this a thousand times and our
mind wanders and we tend to tune it out, it's not fresh and new anymore. im a firm believer
that God brings those dear souls like Sherry into our lives to give us a fresh perspective of
him, souls like Sherry become our modern day bible stories an extension of God's word for
our day, for this particular moment or as in the book of Esther the queen, for such a time as
this. so i pray as we listen to what God has given Sherry for us today that we would hear what
he has given her for us in this moment, no back ground noise or rush of life, but only his
voice and that we would see Him clearly, no smudges or cracks or dirt, just a crystal clear view
of who he is and who she is through him.
