Our Spring Retreat was held at ALOFT hotel this year! What a great place to have an event! It was a time to connect with others, enjoy food, worship, play games, sleep (or not sleep for some of you), laugh, meet new people, and learn about restoration from stories in the Old Testament. Carey Scott, our speaker, mentioned that restoration often starts with going back in order to move forward. Like layers of paint on an antique table, you have to take it down to its original design before you can refinish it with stain and varnish. So it is that God uses the corrosive pieces of our life to eat away false identities and reveal who He made us to be. In essence we are all in the process of being restored! Whether you are in the midst of the harsh corrosive of life or in the healing, know that the Master Carpenter is taking great care of His masterpiece, YOU! Check out this post for a recap of the weekend!
Barb and Linda: can't get much better than these smiling faces to welcome you
Our evening began with dinner and then worship led by Sara Bieri! She has such a gift for leading worship and it was a great way to prepare our hearts for the message:
Carey Scott introduced us to three Old Testament characters who play a role in restoring Jerusalem from rubble to its former beauty. Our first character, Zerubbabel, showed us that you must restore your relationships. In doing so you will face opposition, but God will send reinforcements to sustain you. For Zerubbabel, these reinforcements were the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. Those men are the type of people that encourage and help you during your best and darkest of times. Do you have a Haggai or Zechariah in your life? Are you being a Haggai or Zechariah for someone?
Our next character was Ezra and he taught us about restoring our community. Community could mean your church, work, family, neighborhood, or any environment in your life. Do you think that this is not for you or that God has someone better in mind to restore your community? One thing we learned from this talk is that God has a purpose and a desire to use anyone who is available. If He can use prostitutes, adulterers, or murderers to make a difference, He can sure use you (no matter what your past is) to make a difference in your community. Are you willing?
Our last character was Nehemiah and he taught us that we cannot give into fear! Some form of "fear not" is used 366 times in the Bible. Clearly it is an important command! What fears or obstacles are keeping you from following God's calling in your life?
Carey shared a genuine and vulnerable message from her heart! I think we can all appreciate a woman who is willing to share with such openness!!
Friday Evening ~ Connecting with Friends, Playing Games, & Meeting New People:
Playing Games:
Saturday Morning:
Cheryl and Jessica entertain us and give us some food for thought with their skit about restoration and strippers... a furniture stripper that is. We like to keep it clean at these events! Jessica’s character in the skit was a divorced mother navigating the challenges of single parenthood, relationships and how to restore an old chair. That's where the furniture stripper comes in...and he happens to be a single Christian man who leads a Bible Study (a potential match or what!) We learned that just like this poor chair, we all need restoration in life. See the previous blog post where we have some "Thoughtful Truths" regarding restoration using the analogy of the chair in the skit. Needless to say, I think they managed to make sure we were awake with their play on words!
Barb gives us an update on the Break the Chains event. Look for info coming soon on the blog. 
We also decided to spice the afternoon up by beginning with a purse exchange. We encouraged women to bring a gently used purse and exchange it in a free for all. Thankfully no brawls broke out this year! But as you can see we took this exchange seriously! Extra purses will be donated to Theodora House.
Enjoying the beautiful March weather before our Saturday afternoon session:
Cheryl and Kinsey after the retreat:
Are we really happy to have a Spring Retreat under our belts?
Or just delirious...Hard to tell!
We hope you will were able to grow spiritually through this experience! One of many ways to continue this journey is by using the journals and heart boxes that contain application questions:
Or by investing in your relationships with women at the retreat! Who is your Haggai or Zechariah?
What a great retreat!! Thank you to everyone who was able to make it. We really tried to capture the weekend through photos of everyone! However, there were a few pictures that didn’t turn out well and were not included! Sorry if I missed you in the photo collection because of that! If there are any specific photos you would like emailed to you, contact Kinsey.
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