Annual Ladies Retreat 2014

 

In April we hosted our Annual Ladies Retreat which focused on the blessings of biblical mentorship and discipleship among women.  We had a lovely time listening to our speaker Nicole Tsui's presentation-and you can too!  If you missed it or you would like to hear it again click these links:

 

Friday Evening-Session 1

Saturday Morning-Session 2

Saturday Afternoon-Session 3

 

Or if you prefer to read, up at the top of the blog there is a page (it will look like a tab for all of our non-tech-savvy readers) that says "Women Growing Together-Manuscript" and you can click that to read her full manuscript of the retreat.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Thank you, Anna, for the lovely pictures!  :-)

Teaching the younger women...

Titus 2:3-5 "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."


God is wise!  He knows that women need the wise counsel of other women; He did after all create us to live in relationships with others.  And these are verses have really been sinking into the hearts of our women at Redeemer.  We are praying that God will transform our behavior and each of our relationships so that loving each other and encouraging each other is the God glorifying focus.  Our bible studies, gatherings and upcoming things like the annual Tea, the Women's Retreat in April and Sunday School classes are all surrounding this topic.  We need Christ!  And we need his people! 

So we thought it would be nice to do a series of Testimonies giving God praise for what He has done in our lives and also to prepare us for our upcoming retreat where part of it will be sharing and listening together about our walks with God.

The following testimony is from Lisa Trigstead.


It's hard to put your testimony down on paper, compressing all that the Lord has done in your life into a paragraph or two. But here are the things that stand out most in my life. Things that changed my life forever, thus drawing me ever close to Him.  When I was six years old, my mom became very ill, mental issues that would later be diagnosed as schizophrenia and manic depression. She could not recover and was sent to live in a mental home. My dad remarried when I was eight, and I became the oldest of seven children. We attended the Catholic church and I did all the things growing up like taking my first communion, first confession, confirmation, etc. For me, it was just going through the motions, never understanding why I was even doing it, or ever feeling conviction of my sin. I always felt a hollowness, a longing to have that hole of missing my mom filled, which led to making bad choices for myself.  Fast forward a few years, to a time that was very difficult for me, a sweet Christian friend came along side me. She was my co-worker and took notice of my deep need of His Saving Grace. She invited me to go to her church and see a Wednesday night program on Heaven and Hell. I was very moved, and at that time felt the Spirit stirring in my soul. I gave my heart to the Lord a short time after that, and have been walking with Him ever since. I praise God for using all these things together for His Good. I am thankful for my friend's witness in my life and for loving me enough to speak His Truth to me. Of course there is so much more to this story, of which I would be happy to share at anytime, but suffice it to say, I cannot imagine my life without His Love and Saving Grace pouring over me.  Amen.

About the "Psalms of Ascents" take-home bible study~by Rebekah L.

Have you ever read the words "A Song/Psalm of Ascents" and wondered what it meant?  Before our Women's retreat where Terri taught on the annual feasts and before studying the take home Bible study written by Kathryn R., I did not realize the significance of these psalms in the lives of the Israelite people. The Israelites would quote Psalms 120-134 as they traveled toward Jerusalem for the annual feasts.

These Psalms touch our lives at the various moments we go through.  We all experience times of disappointment, discouragement, hope, excitement and great joy.  Just as God was with Israel, He is also with us~leading us toward Himself and His eternal kingdom.  God has taken Kathryn through great difficulties, but by God's grace she is walking in joy as she continues this pilgrim journey.  We're all in need of encouragement and that's what I have found in studying the Psalms of Ascents!  I want to encourage you to pick up a copy if you don't already have one, and if you have one, but haven't been able to to begin the study, I pray that the Lord would help us all to make the time.

Kathryn's final paragraph of her introduction says,
"As we read through the Psalms of Ascents these coming weeks, imagine yourself being a pilgrim quoting these words as you travel on that dusty path. And, remember that you are, in truthful fact, a pilgrim traveling toward the New Jerusalem, the celestial city, where you will be forever in the joy and majesty of God's presence."

May the Lord bless us all richly as we study His Word together!
~Rebekah L.

Synopsis for the Women's Retreat of June 2013~by Terri L.

While living in Europe I became intrigued, perhaps obsessed is a better word, with the history of pilgrimage and its offspring, tourism.  Whereas in the United States you might stumble upon a few religious sites, Europe has thousands.  Even our town, Jezus Eik, right outside of Brussels, boasted one; well, at least it was boasted about in the Middle Ages.  Nowadays, like most pilgrimage sites, the area’s draw is not religious; people come as tourists to experience nature in the expansive woodland and dine in the bevy of fine restaurants nearby.  I thought about American Christians and our tendency to approach our faith journey as tourists rather than pilgrims. This led me to God’s Word to search out more what it means to be a pilgrim and to contrast that with the spiritual tourist.

Pilgrimage, the idea of a traveler who is moving and a destination that is fixed is a theme woven throughout scripture as well as specific books of the bible.  As Christians, we are the travelers; God is our destination. Final union with God in heaven is fixed, but what an incredible blessing and privilege that God sends his Holy Spirit to move along with us and move us along in our spiritual journey. Psalm 84:5-7 became the key verses of study.  “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As the pass through the Valley of Baca (Valley of Weeping), they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.  They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion.” 

By the time we had returned to the States, I felt led to share this material with others in the form of a women’s retreat.  It was an “easier said than done” process getting what was in my head out onto paper.  Reliance on God was such a sweet experience as bits and pieces were given over time. Many times during the corporate worship service God would send a verse or thought or connection and I’d have to quickly write it down on my church bulletin so I could refocus on what the pastor was saying.  Over the years, I had built up quite a stack of bulletins!   Other times, after praying, He would send just the resource I needed.  In addition to contrasting the pilgrim and tourist, certain Old Testament feasts that required pilgrimage were important to explore because that’s what Psalm 84 refers to in the literal sense.  The Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134), songs sung as they went up to Jerusalem for the feasts were brought out in the study as well. The pilgrim heart always has the steady rhythm of worship. Jesus, as always, would prove to be the key to the study, being the fulfillment of all the OT feasts as well as the Perfect Pilgrim.

God decided to add a dramatic, life changing event during the course of preparing this study.  While at a Women’s Ministry planning meeting, I was giving a summary of the retreat topic.  I quoted the theme verses, Psalm 84:5-7, sat down, and collapsed to unconsciousness.  God’s timing is perfect!  He could have had this happen any other time of day, but He chose to do it right after I recited, “…till each appears before God in Zion.” While I was in a coma in the Neuro ICU for ten days, my family, friends, and the church would grapple with God as to whether I would “appear before Him” in heaven or come back to them on earth.  I had suffered a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, the most devastating form of bleeding stroke due to a brain aneurysm rupture.  It is the rarest type of stroke, but because of its sudden onset and severity, it has the highest incidence of death. 

While unconscious, my mind was still working in darkness.  Although I did not see or hear God with my senses, I knew He was there. Scripture was in my mind and I talked to God; I repeated parts of the theme verses from Psalm 84.  Although I did not see or hear people with my senses, I knew they were there.  I knew I was in the hospital and that I teetered between life and death.  On the tenth day, God saw fit to allow me to awaken and take in greater details of His purpose, provision and care. I already knew God would be my Guide, even till the end (Psalm 48:14) but the experience of being taken to the edge of “the end” and then brought back was at once terrifying and amazing.  It’s added strength in the “strength to strength” and weakened my ties to this world.  This became my “Valley of Weeping” from Psalm 84:6 and God would go on to help me make it a place of springs.

My prayer regarding the retreat has always been for God to be honored and exalted.  Instead of describing dos and don'ts or unveiling a new spiritual shortcut, I sought to magnify Christ.  I thought if I could do that, God would produce lasting fruit in the hearers' lives.  I also prayed that women’s hearts would be transformed and their minds renewed by the Holy Spirit, that they would grow in their love of God and others, and have a greater sense of priority for eternal things in the midst of their busy, temporal lives.  In short, I pray for the women and myself to have pilgrim hearts in a tourist world.
~by Terri L.