Friday at 5:30 pm I loaded my car up with 4 lovely Charis ladies and embarked on a expedition towards Turner, Oregon. In Turner resides the beautiful Aldersgate Resort where the Lord radically changes lives and empowers women.
As I signed up for the womens retreat and was immediately excited. I KNEW that the Lord was going to move in my life and was positive He had a massive work to do. After all, I have been a mess these past couple weeks. I was ready to just be poured into by the single adults, mothers and grandmothers. I seriously couldn't wait to spend time with all the lovely women of calvary! My excitement grew when i learned the theme of the weekend: Identity. I was even more delighted when I heard that! I was ready for the Lord to rip my heart into piece and recreate it into something beautiful.
Friday night:
When we arrived on Friday night I was surprised by how many women I knew that were there. Mothers whose children I babysat for, their kids are in the middle school group or women who are friends with my mother. It was a welcoming and great environment. The first session was about overcoming insecurities with anxiety and depression. It was about how one lie can consume your whole life and become so crippling. But with the Lord we have hope. His timing is perfect and we do not need to fear with Him. Lies that consume our lives are holding us back from the full potential we can have in Him.
Am I living in the fulness of what God has for me?
Who or What has control over me?
Saturday:
One of the sweetest times of the womens retreat is the mornings. We have a "fast of silence" until 10am. That just means silence and no talking until brunch at 10am. I love this time because I was just able to shower, get ready and spend my morning in the presence of the Lord. Glorious time. Currently in my quiet time I am doing the read-through-the-bible-in-a-year plan! Its been a joy and I am so blessed by the little nuggets [Cindy RogerIsm (CRI)] I am finding as I read through His word.
That afternoon our session was taught by my dear friend, sister and charis cook, Heather Rogers. She spoke on confidence in hearing from the Lord. Its hard to sum up all the gems (CRI) that she spoke but I will do my best. Heat encouraged us in the fact that tuning our ear to the Lord is a process, it takes work <<1 Samuel 3>>. We need to anoint ourself with the fragrance of Christ so others can smell His sweetness radiating from us. When we surrender to God we have a peace that the world can never offer <<Philippians 4:7, John 14:27>>. It's easier for us to walk in our destinies when we have tuned ears to the Lord. We need to abide in the Lord always << John 15:4-11>>.
Another major thing Miss Rogers touched on is how we can have confidence in Christ! That isn't just a christianese thing to say! But there is biblical proof backing up our confidence! SWEET! << Acts 28:31, 1 John 3:20-21, 1 John 5:14>>
Do I know the Lord as my good Shepard? What does it look like to hear His voice? Do I have confidence? What is holding me back, am I putting a wall up? Am I abiding in God? Do I spend time in His presence?
That afternoon I spent drinking coffee, chatting and laughing with some of my favorite ladies, Maggie Saunders, Haley Barnes (soon to be Nunes!) and Roxanne Weiner. The four of us went on a wonderful drive sharing our hearts, where the Lord has taken us and things He is doing in us. We listened to worship music in the car and ended up driving to Silver Falls. It was magnificent.
That evening another women spoke telling about the Lords redemption in her life. I was praying through the teaching just asking Him what is going on with me. Where are my insecurities and asking all the questions that I stated earlier in this post. However I just felt like the Lord was telling me that right now I get to just bask in His presence. I get to just enjoy resting and spending time with Him. I am so used to God just needing to mold and reshape me that I don't really have time to rest in Him the way I did this weekend. I was amazed! The Lord continued to show me my identity and just instill in me confidence in Him. God gave me pictures of dancers just telling me He wanted to dance with me and gave me the freedom to do so. He reaffirmed the different names He had already given me and it was like no other retreat I had ever been too. Just enjoying the presence of the Lord. God also told me that He has adorned me. << Titus 2:10, 1 Peter 3:5>>
Sunday:
This day was so relaxed. We had breakfast at 9, and then went in for a worship time and enjoyed a cool session of card board testimonies with the women who were changed that weekend. For those of you who don't know, card board testimonies are were on one piece of the card board someone write the lie they were believing and on the other side they write the truth that the Lord brought to their life. Here is a link to the cardboard testimonies done at Calvary a couple years ago so you can better understand what I mean!
What lies are you believing?
God moved in my life this weekend and taught me so many things that I wasn't expecting. I was surprised by the type of work He did in my life and was reminded to never box Him in and to always expect from Him but not expect in my own realm on thought.
Here are some fun pictures from this weekend!
Thanks for reading! I am sorry my post was so long, I just couldn't help it! I challenge you to meditate on the questions above written in red.
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