women's retreat

Our church had a women's retreat this last weekend at a Bible camp.  There were about 20 of us there and it was such a treat to get away with such awesome ladies.  Some of them I knew pretty well and some not so much and a weekend away is perfect to deepen those relationships.  We laughed and cried and cried some more and made lots of fun memories together.

One friend that was there is really struggling with her marriage right now and 4 of us spent some time reaching out to her and sharing from our own struggles.  I just could not imagine how much something as simple as being vulnerable and share the past hurts/mistakes as well as hear the other womens' stories could be such a blessing to me.  I came to the conclusion that even in church and among friends women don't open up and so many times put on a mask pretending their life is perfect yet they are so lonely in their marriage.  No wonder couples don't make it more often than they do because so few people talk about their struggles when it comes to husband and wife issues.  So it was really great to talk and cry and pray together about it.  The theme of the retreat was to "upcycle" our life, to renew our walk with God, to be bold in all areas of our life.  But after our talk I could not get marriages out of my mind and my prayer for me and all the ladies there was and is to be bold in our marriages.  After all they are the second most important relationship we will have on this Earth and we have to fight for it no matter what.

There was also a lot of fun stuff of course like crafts and games, going cross country skiing on the most hilly trail I've ever been on (not counting the downhill skiing :)) and the famous polar plunge.  Guys had their retreat a couple weeks ago at the same Bible camp and a few of them did the polar plunge and so some of the ladies were pretty determined to beat their number of participants. :)  I knew some of the girls were thinking of doing it before we went and I only brought my swim suit for the sauna because I love that part.  I thought there was no way I would do it but of course, peer pressure always does it to me and if they can do it so can I!  So there we were, in our swim suits and socks (something about it's better than bare feet on the ice/snow) sitting in the little sauna warming up and hyping each other up to do the plunge.  There were 3 or 4 ladies that did it first and as I watched them I was pretty much screaming with them and thinking this is the craziest thing ever.  At the same time I wanted to prove to myself I can do this.  And not just barely do it but put my head under the water which I hate doing on a nice summer day. :)  Then another group of girls did the plunge and it was just me and another friend left  so we said "let's do it" and off we went.  We sprinted to the lake which wasn't very far but honestly by the time I reached the ladder I didn't have any of the warmth left on me from the sauna.  As I was stepping down the ladder into the icy water I kept saying "I can't do it" but kept going and finally dunked my head under.  The very first thing as you come up is not that you're cold, but that you can barely take a breath in, like your body is in shock.  But luckily it only lasts a few seconds and then you're just really cold everywhere.  We sprinted back to the sauna and it took a while to warm up again.  But just doing it with someone is so much more fun and you laugh at each other and at the craziness of it all.  It was the perfect end to our day.

I'm so glad I was able to go and spend the weekend with these precious women.  It was time to replenish, connect, renew and be still without having to think of a to-do-list or what's for supper.

      

 we all bought the same shirt from the Blue Water Bible camp so we had to take a picture and laughed at ourselves that it was like we were back in junior high. :)