Women's Retreat

When you hear about a church "women's retreat" do you think of a bunch of 30-something women sitting around talking about their husbands and children all day long? I used to.

It was a stretch for me, but I signed up for my first women's retreat with Vanguard Church 6 years ago, and have gone almost every year since then. This year was the best, though! And throughout my time there, I kept thinking about all the women who didn't join us, because they thought it just wouldn't be for them. It's sad how those certain weekends away get such a bad stereotype.

This year's theme was Embracing Intimacy with God, and it was excellent! There were a few changes from years past, but by far my favorite was the structure of the gatherings. They were times to break up into groups to pray for each other and build relationships. Our group spent the time very focused on passages of Scripture that God has shown us, and then praying for how the verses relate to our lives or what God wants to tell us from them.

We also ate good food, laughed a lot, talked a lot, listened a lot, worshiped God, and of course we stayed up late talking and playing games. Our main speaker was Susan D. Hill, author of Closer Than Your Skin, and she was inspiring. It was just a good time all around, and I'm so glad I went.

Worship led by Dana, Rachel and Nancy (three of the women I rode up to the retreat with)
Mona and Rachel in the car after the window fell down into the door (Wendy warned us that it may happen if she unlocked the windows... but we really pushed her to give it a try... and we quickly regretted that)
After more than half an hour we finally pulled over and got the window back up (even though the ride had gotten extremely funny, the poor people in the back seats were crazy cold)
My friend (and chauffeur) Wendy and Me on the balcony
Jamillah and me have gotten pretty creative in our way of declaring "Not it"... at stake right before this picture was taken: Karaoke. I was nervous the whole time of being dragged up to sing a tune, but thankfully, I got out of it.
Well, for any of you who don't go to women's retreats because you think they're for 30-something women who are married with children, please reconsider. They are great times for all women to connect with others and learn a ton!