Ladies’ Retreat Blessings

The ladies’ retreat that we held at our church this past weekend was such a blessing. My prayer had been that the Lord would allow it not to be successful, but significant. My desire was that we leave the retreat on Saturday changed, have new tools for our walk with the Lord, and be better equipped to serve Him. Of course we had planned much fun and fellowship in the weekend as well. Here are some pictures of the weekend and some of the memories that I’ll take from the retreat.

One fun thing was the giving away of special gifts. There were about 15 ladies that went home with a lovely gift that tied into our theme. I heard that there was even some friendly bribing that went along with it…that’s how desirable those gifts were!

One highlight of Friday night was “Fun time” put on by three men in our church – two of them on full-time staff (scary!). They made us laugh with their antics, stories and surprises. Here’s Pastor Steve telling us why men aren’t depressed. “No strap problems in public, one suitcase for a week’s vacation, one wallet, one color for all seasons…” Very funny, and very true!

Here was one of the surprises. My husband (that’s him in the overalls! Ahhh!) sang me a love song with our daughter, Allison, accompanying him on her guitar. “If my nose were running money, Honey, I’d blow it all on you!” Does that touch your heart? I think you can tell by the expression on my face the effect it had on me!

Here are Pastor C. and Pastor Steve doing a skit “in a fast sports car with Cooter, the dog running alongside.” Don’t you love the foot wear?

Brad Higgins joined our pastors on the stage coach ride of their lives…all for .25!

The last song by the men, sung to the tune of Rocky Top, described how “well” they were caring for things at home while their wives were away at the retreat. Trust me, every woman had reason to worry about things on the home front after they finished!
We had an ice cream break with seven different flavors of Blue Bell ice cream being offered! Sweet treat and sweet fellowship! The men in our church served us all weekend. What a blessing they were! We didn’t want for a thing – they were always at hand to take good care of us!

After returning back to the auditorium we had the serious part of our service. The special music pointed our thoughts to The Light of the world – Jesus.

Our speaker Friday night was Debbie Duncan. How the Lord used her to give us a sweet challenge with her testimony!

Debbie began her testimony by sharing her love for music. She told us that in music there are rests – times when there is no music. She said, “God puts rests in our lives too. There was a time when there was no music, but God was there.” Debbie shared with us her testimony of losing her husband, Tom five years ago. Tom was out hunting with his son-in-law when he experienced a heart attack and died. Debbie’s life changed in an instant, yet her faith remained strong. She shared that there were many days that she didn’t want to get out of bed, but she did. She trusted her God and what she knew to be true about Him to get her through the difficult days. She shared with us how the Lord had prepared her for this time using His Word and other experiences, such as a ladies’ retreat at The Wilds. Her face radiated the love of her God, as well as the peace that only the Lord can give.

A couple other quotes that I jotted down as she spoke were:

“This day didn’t take God by surprise.”

“We can’t control what comes into our lives, but we can control how we respond to it.”

“I had people tell me to let them know if I had a need, but I just went to my heavenly Father and let Him burden their heart about it.” (This was a sharp reminder to me that I must obey when the Spirit of God nudges my heart to do something for someone else. God may want to use me to be the answer to their prayers!)

Tomorrow I’ll share about Saturday and what the Lord did on the second day of our retreat.