God's created and redeeming desire for women

     A few months ago one of our daughters friends from back in high school  wrote and asked if I would be willing to be a part of a retreat she was organizing for a few of her friends.  I was surprised, delighted….and a bit afraid.  One of the topics she suggested turned out to be something I have been giving a great deal of thought to and wrestling with for quite a while now, so after praying about it I decided to take the plunge.

     I will be leading a couple of sessions in which I plan to talk about God’s created and redeeming desire for us as women…starting with Genesis, looking at how Jesus and Paul interacted with women and ending with a discussion about women's current roles in the church and as Christian women in the world.   It should be a bit lively, because the more I seek to look at the scripture with fresh eyes, the more I see that some of the things I was initially taught and then based my life choices on were very possibly not God’s best for me.   I deeply desire my time with these women to be a space where we can talk about some of the lies we believe about who we are and what we can and cannot do…that we would begin to replace some of these lies with truth….and that each woman will be strengthened to continue to live their lives deeply connected to God and being all that he has created them to be…all this while remembering the importance of granting grace to others who may see things differently. 

    I have been so encouraged to have many excellent resources available to me as I have been researching and praying about this; one of these has been the notes from a gathering of women leaders in Wycliffe from throughout the world this past spring.  Reading what they discussed has encouraged me greatly and made me very proud to be a part of this organization.  I have also been greatly encouraged by the writings of  Carolyn Custis James…and I am looking forward to this exciting conference that is going to be held in my neck of the woods this summer (does anyone want to go with me?!?)

   I am excited about this opportunity and thankful for what I have learned/processed as I have prepared for it.   I would like to invite you to pray for me as I continue to prepare as well as pray for Katie (the retreat organizer) and the other ladies and our time together on May 16 & 17.  It may be a very small group, but I read just yesterday that:

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.   James 3:1-2  

Grace and Peace!         

Shevawn