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Sanctuary Celebrates 10 Years!
In February 2015, Sanctuary, a ministry for ministry wives, was birthed with an inaugural two-day, two-night retreat for a small group of ministry wives in attendance. Each guest was personally invited by host Bridgette Tomlin, so no one knew what to expect, who else would be in attendance, what the accommodations were…nothing.
“The Holy Spirit was so explicit with me about the initial formula that would come to identify much of what makes up a Sanctuary Let’s Retreat today. But it was a scary risk for me personally, as well as for the invited guests. None of us truly knew what the Lord had in mind. But I knew it was going to be good. He crafted a beautiful experience for women who otherwise are often overworked, under-thanked, and filling in all the gaps. Nothing could have brought me greater joy than to honor women like that,” Sanctuary founder Bridgette Tomlin recalls.
“It is my desire that ministry wives find a way to ‘cross the street’ and connect with ministry wives in their communities. Sometimes you need to connect, face-to-face, hold the coffee mugs, and just laugh and listen. Being in the same room brings an intimacy that a phone call or video chat, or even social media conversation, can’t provide,” Bridgette continues.
“With almost three decades of ministry experience myself, I have discovered that ministry wives can be considered some of the loneliest people, despite being perpetually surrounded by people. But isolation is the devil’s game to talk her into quitting, distracting herself with work or tedious tasks, or, worse, believing that this is all there is for a woman in ministry,” Bridgette shares. “I believe that the awareness that ‘you are not alone’ and ‘you’re not the only one who feels this way’ can go a long way in providing support, love, encouragement, and longevity to ministry wives across this nation and around the world. We can do better. We must do better.”
Today Sanctuary celebrates 10 years of fruitful ministry to ministry wives…
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