Women seem to either love or hate going to women's retreats. Obviously, I love them, and my mission is to try to help others attending have a great time so they'll return the next year. The past few years have been especially rewarding in connecting with other women and seeing how friendly and caring they are with each other. Our visiting speakers always tell us how blessed we are to have such wonderful women in our church. We know it! We enjoy beautiful worship and praise and we laugh hysterically at the hilarious skits and funny conversations, all made possible by talented, fun-loving and hard-working women. As you can see, we are a hip, happening group!
I almost didn't write anything about this weekend because I feel my words can't do it justice. But I must at least make an effort. We ended on Sunday morning with a time for women to share the blessings they had received. Women who were new or didn't attend our church commented how welcome and included they felt, others mentioned the support and prayers they needed and received from other women during the weekend. One talked about how wonderful it was to see Jesus in so many godly women. Women were blessed by hearing stories about how God worked in the lives of our speaker, Dorcas Smucker, and three of our women who shared their testimonies. One woman told of a friend who was able to sign up after the deadline, and she was privileged to pray with this friend who gave her life to Jesus on Saturday night. That's what it's all about.
What really resonated with me was the woman who, while sharing her testimony, had challenged us to look honestly at difficult situations in our lives and be willing to admit and change when our own attitudes and actions are wrong. She said she was struck by how our speaker and all three of the women's testimonies shared a theme that we are not perfect people, but we have a perfect God. That summed up what had helped me so much through the weekend. I am normally a fairly confident person, but by the time I arrived on Friday afternoon, I had been through a few days that had me feeling like a failure as a friend, a mother, a wife, and a normal human being in general! But God's perfect grace keeps covering my failures and picking me up, helping me to forgive myself and reminding me to ask others to forgive me.
Another thing that keeps coming to my mind is what Dorcas said about how we fill the empty places in our lives with various things when what we really need is Jesus. Today I was craving chocolate at work and I told myself it's not really chocolate I want, it's more of Jesus! But what does that mean, exactly?
Last year at retreat, we were given a laminated two-sided half sheet with names, titles and descriptions of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I looked at the descriptions of Jesus tonight and wondered how in the world I could still be such a self-centered, imperfect creature when he offers so much to me. Here are some of my favorite descriptions of Jesus from this very long list:
The author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2)
Bread of life (John 6:48)
Christ Jesus our hope (1 Tim. 1;1)
Eternal life (1 John 5:20)
Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11)
Great Shepherd of the sheep (Heb 13:20)
Head over every power and authority (Col 2:10)
Him who loves us and freed us from our sins (Re 1:5)
Indescribable gift (2 Cor. 9:15)
King of Kings (Rev 19:16)
Light of the world (John 8:12)
Lord of peace (2 Thess 3:16)
Merciful and faithful high priest (Heb. 2:17)
My friend (Jer. 34)
My intercessor (Job 16:20)
One who makes men holy (Heb 2:11)
Our glorious Lord Jesus Christ (James 2:1)
Our peace (Eph 2:14)
Our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30)
Physician (Luke 4:23)
Refiner and purifier (Mal 3:3)
Source of Eternal Salvation (Heb. 5:9)
Teacher (Matt. 23:10)
The truth (John 14:6)
The way (John 14:6)
Wisdom from God (1 Cor 1:30)
Wonderful Counselor (Isa 9:6)
This retreat was somewhat bittersweet for me, because after 15 years of various roles on the retreat team and as the MC, I am stepping down. It has been such a privilege to work with so many different women on the team all these years, and especially the awesome group these past two years while I was the director. They have helped me so much, and I am constantly amazed at the way they use their talents. Their love for Jesus and each other inspires me greatly, and it is really hard to give up being a part of this awesome team. But... I look forward to coming next year to just relax and enjoy!
