SGF Ladies’ Retreat 2009 - Report
May 26th, 2009 by SGF
Over May 1 - 2, 2009 at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, a group of 45 women from SGF and associated churches all across Ontario gathered to learn, to fellowship, and to grow as sisters in Christ. The weekend retreat was well received and left me personally refreshed and challenged to continue following after Christ.
The speaker was Hetty Payne, who spoke on The Proverbs 31 Woman, The Imperfect Woman and Roadblocks to Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman. The messages were rich, and challenged us to be women who are trustworthy, busy, compassionate, organized, elegant, wise and worthy of praise. Hetty then encouraged us through a study of imperfect women in the Bible that God used greatly.
We were also given practical wisdom on how to overcome the problems in our lives that prevent us from being the women God calls us to be, most notably, the subtle ways we can easily backslide in our Christian walks.
Deborah Vereecke, Sarah Vereecke, and Heidi Peterson led us in musical worship multiple times over the weekend and it was wonderful to lift up our voices in song together to praise God. We also had the opportunity to focus on prayer as Merry-Lynn Hudson organized a time to share our own personal struggles with a small group and then bring them before our Heavenly Father.
The food was abundant and excellent; there was much laughter (especially when Carol and Leah “Diora” Christopher illustrated where beauty was and was not found in an original skit) as well as renewing of old friendships and the making of new ones. It was encouraging to be among women of like-minded faith and we look forward to next year’s retreat with anticipation of what God will do among us.
