Women's retreat recap

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to attend a women's retreat this past weekend with a bunch of other women from Bethany Bible Chapel.  The purpose of the weekend was to strengthen the bond between women, learn as a younger woman from older women, and focus on what is the basis of our worth.  I drove there on Friday, Oct 4th as a passenger in Rachel's car and I came home with Faith on Sunday (Oct 6th) afternoon.  (Rachel went on to IA City after the retreat for an ortho meeting)  Dave was home with the kids, but with his left foot still healing only 3 weeks past his flat foot surgery, I asked my parents to help out with child care.  My dad came on Fri night through Sun morning to help out and my mom came Sat evening and stayed til I got home Sunday afternoon.  I am so grateful to have such loving supportive parents to help out in times like this.

We did lots of singing together, hearing testimonies from 2 ladies, and had time to break up into small groups for part of Saturday and discuss this topic in detail and pray together.  Our culture does not communicate worth through the eyes of Christ, so we must look past "culture" and focus our eyes, hearts, and minds on the fact that our identity in Christ is what makes us worthy in His eyes. 

There was lots of discussion about this verse:

1 Peter 3:3-4

³ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Some struggled with the phrase "gentle and quiet spirit" because they were given louder or more boisterous and outgoing personalities.  It says "spirit", not "personality".  This verse is describing the spirit and motive that drives your personality, not the personality itself. You can still be outgoing and strong and passionate, while also possessing a quiet and gentle spirit underneath.

That said, it’s also important to note that a woman can be painfully shy and quiet, while also possessing a rebellious and bitter spirit. It’s not the personality that this passage is addressing, but the guiding compass behind it. God cares about your heart.

Another point brought out was regarding this verse:

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the human to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him.” . . . but for the human no suitable helper was found. Genesis 2:18 & 20

I had to look this one up to explain it again correctly because I didn't take notes during the conference.  But this article sums it up exactly as it was explained.  I like how this is written.

http://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/a-suitable-helper/

Woman was created as "helper" which in Hebrew is specifically the word "ezer".  It is a combination of two roots, meaning "to rescue, to save" and "strength".   Ezer describes aspects of God’s character – he is our strength, our rescuer, our protector and our help!  And ezer was the Holy Spirit’s choice of word to describe the first woman.  Eve was someone who would provide valuable and vital strength and assistance to Adam.

The ladies as a group also ended the retreat with a fancy dinner where we got a chance to dress up formally and enjoy a tea party/dinner together and listen to Laura Woodhouse, our guest speaker, explain these same things about a woman's worth to us in her fun, southern way.

B elieve
E ndure
A dore
U nderstand
T rust
Y ield