Calvary Women's Retreat

What an amazing weekend...women's retreat at the Mandalay Beach! I have been waiting and planning the retreat since October and now it is already over! It was a weekend of encouragement, wisdom and fun. I roomed with Kristin Wettmore, Debra Richards and two girls I just met Jessie and Melissa. Right from the start my roommates and I had fun. Friday night we stayed up late talking and laughing. Lucky for Debra…. I shared a bed with her and I kept her up late telling stories and right when she was about to fall asleep I had another one for her...your welcome Debra. There were many highlights of the weekend including me caravaning down with some of my homebuilderes friends. They went 55mph the whole way down and I went 80mph. We stopped in Santa Barbara for an authentic mexican lunch at La Costa Rica, which was really fun and I learned from Robin, April and Gwen that when you pass the age 40 apparently you carry beano in your purse with you! I met a lot of new woman at retreat and was greatly blessed to know how God is working in their lives and challenging them. Jean Mcclure was our guest speaker and she spoke of different woman in the bible and how God has made them beautiful in His timing, which was our verse for the weekend. Eccl.3:11 When we first started meeting for retreat planning, Sherry shared this verse with me I was trying to think of how we could display that visually....God simply laid the pearl upon my heart. It started with the centerpieces and the scattered pearls of all different shapes and sizes and how I wanted that to represent the woman there and how we are all fearfully and beautifully made no matter what size we are. As retreat planning went on God continually had me praying for theses woman and I wanted so badly for the woman to feel welcomed, loved and valued when they walked in. Over the past few months God continually showed me that through my trials I must continue to give Him my struggles so that He can do something beautiful in me. I was so busy with school, work, etc I didn’t see what God was doing in my own life. The last day of retreat all the woman were given a vile with sand and a single pearl in it to remind them that throughout their trials God is there refining them and making them beautiful in His time. As I looked around the room the last day I was reminded of God’s goodness and faithfulness to these woman. Some I know very well and the trials they face and others I don’t but I know God is faithful to all who call on His name.