Wednesday, March 30, 2011

What I Learned At The Retreat

Last weekend was our annual trip to the Living Waters Women's Retreat. As always it was a lot of fun to be with the ladies from our own group and get to know one another better.

On Sunday as we had our own ladies fellowship up in the mountains- one of the best parts of meeting in homes like we do is that it can easily be taken on the road with our families or whoever we are with- we were asked to share what we felt God taught us individually throughout the weekend.

To me, a recurring theme throughout all the sessions was truth.

He speaks truth to me. I need to speak truth out of my mouth. God's Word is truth. Everything we do, say and think must line up with His truth. He is Truth!

As we know, Satan is a liar and the father of lies. So naturally, he doesn't speak truth to us. Instead, he will twist the truth and cause us to question our identity. After this, he deceives, dominates and destroys. (Genesis 1:26,27).

In Exodus 1 beginning in verse 6, we see the Israelites, who were God's chosen people, mighty and VIP's in the land- living like slaves. They were deceived, dominated and almost destroyed!

A quote that really spoke to me was, " For every thought, ask "Who gave me that information? Test every thought against the Word of God." The speaker went on to say that if you get up feeling depressed, God did not put that thought in your mind! God also will not compare you to other women or tell you that you do not measure up. We must take every thought captive and think of ourselves as God thinks of us! She also said we need to be aware that  our feelings are our feelings but our feelings can lie. We need to speak truth out of our mouths.

We see in I Peter 2: 9 and I John 4:4 who we really are in Christ:

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. "
I Peter 2:9

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world".
I John 4:4

" Your identity is not in what you do but in who you are."

God says that I am chosen, royalty, holy, His special possession and an overcomer! How am I living? Do I live like one of God's chosen people?

This is just a small summary of the pages of notes I wrote down during the sessions! There was so much to take in. I'm still pondering it all!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. I've re-read this several times and I just have to say that I really needed to go on that retreat with you :-) I need that kind of time of fellowship and refreshment and renewing of the mind.

So glad you went and thank you for sharing with us.