I spent the weekend before the election in an oversized cabin in the woods of Tennessee talking and learning with a bunch of awesome women — and we never once talked about politics. I’m sure there were Trump supporters, Hillary supporters, Bernie supporters — and all the rest (including me), there at our retreat but we didn’t find it important enough to bring up.

I think the Refresh Summit was timed just perfectly for me. As someone whose daily life is enmeshed in national politics, it was the relief I needed after a very long campaign season. Most of what I do is online but boy, that is enough to kill someone sometimes.

Like most people not working in politics, we talked about our daily lives — our marriages, kids, insecurities, fears about the future, paying the bills and dealing with how to trust God in the midst of uncertainty. It didn’t — and doesn’t matter — who we voted for. And it reminded me how lucky I am know that life doesn’t end here on earth — how hopeless that an sometimes be.

In the past year — and I’ve mentioned this before — I watched a friend lose her husband to a tragic accident, a couple lose their baby to a senseless disease and many other heartbreaking situations with truly no peaceful ending possible. The only thing that can lift the despair of such vast loss is the thought and hope that there’s more to life than this.

One thing I’ve love about the Internet (among the many) is it’s ability to find people in just your niche and come together. Refresh Summit is for women who love to express their faith in writing and love fitness as well. And there’s so much about faith and fitness that can go together. It’s incredibly…refreshing…to hang with like-minded ladies and experience God together in the midst of our natural inclinations in life.

Lastly, this kind of weekend forces you to be extremely vulnerable with people you may not know very well. But, in turn, you find this immediate community that you carry with you back home. It’s part of why participating and being vulnerable and willing to lean on others is such a big part of maintaining a strong faith. God gives us these people to hold us up and teach us things.

Because I’m not used to be amongst such groups, it sometimes felt weird to talk about God so openly, like He is our friend, comforter, healer — and all the things that He is. But it was a reminder to continue speaking about him like that in my daily life — and remember that He’s not only present during church or morning prayers. He’s present always, no matter what, forever. I am thankful for this weekend and thank you to Bobbi for hearing God’s call to put it on.

Events like these are often not possible at an affordable price without awesome sponsors, who we believe in, to put them on. So thank you to all those companies who felt Refresh was worth it to sponsor. Some of those are included in the photo below. I’m especially loving the Plant Fusion and Vega, as I’m always looking for new proteins to try. Speaking of which, the Vital Proteins collagen is new for me but I’ve been hearing people rave about it!  Also pumped to wear my new band from Sweaty Bands and try the other goodies as well.