Grace Community Church
Developing Bibically Grounded Followers of Christ
Touch of Grace
We have an incredible group of ladies at GCC and I experienced that to a deeper level during my first Women’s Retreat. The speaker was challenging and the activities were engaging, but those are not the memories I anticipate will be most prevalent as I look back at the 2008 retreat. As simple as it sounds, I will remember the women.
I am fairly new to GCC and am still in the process of adjusting to married life in a city far away from family and friends. Coming to church each week, I am flooded with faces I recognize, yet I yearn to truly know the people, to know some of their life stories. For me, the women’s retreat provided a step closer to that true community I desire.
I appreciated the honesty and authenticity the women of GCC revealed. We did not have to shape up and pretend we knew all the answers or that we had it all together (as if that is even possible). Instead, there was the availability to share hopes and fears, joys and disappointments. Exposing the real “me” to one another, helped us realize that at the core of our struggles is a shared brokenness.
At the retreat, we were able to talk and process together, but we did not stop there. The older, wiser women (wink, wink) reminded me to seek the Lord for guidance and direction. It was a sweet, sweet thing to go before God together. I needed that.
So, thank you ladies, for being real and modeling how to bring that before God.
By Julie Friesen