Nearly a year ago, Vivien Lee called to ask me about speaking at the women's retreat her group, Women of Destiny, was planning. I prayed about it and agreed to help. We soon began monthly meetings to plan, pray, and dream about the upcoming event.
It's almost here.
We've considered a plethora of options for activities, teaching, and hands-on experiences. The longer we've planned, the more we've been convicted that, if we truly want to hear the still small Voice, we'll have to make time to be still.
Friday, we'll open registration at noon and continue until 5:30. (Eat lunch before you arrive) Dinner isn't until 6 pm, so we've allowed some "down time" for participants. We'll have a few optional activities, but we've purposely allowed a stretch of free hours. Walk. Read. Talk. Laugh. Spend time with friends. Pray.
We want to be still and know that He is God.
The evening session starts at 7 pm. We'll have a special time of worship. Effective prayer begins by removing the barriers that separate us from close communion with God, so we'll spend a little time taking a careful look at our own hearts.
We'll let go of the things of the world to embrace the things of God.
In between the worship, we have fun (and sometimes silly) activities planned. We hope you'll laugh, cry, and rejoice with us.
Saturday, we'll have a morning devotion before breakfast, two short sessions, and lunch at noon.
I'd love to teach in great detail about prayer, but it won't be much of a prayer retreat if all we do is talk about prayer. Instead, we've made time for individual, directed, and corporate prayer.
We hope you'll come with a friend or two, maybe as a small group from your church. If you do, we expect you'll have built-in prayer partners when you leave.
We want you to take what you learn and use it when you go back home.
Not everyone will arrive at noon on Friday. We realize that many people will come after work that day. Most of those who attend will spend less than 24 hours at the retreat. If it works like we've planned, you'll have a sweet time with our Lord and leave refreshed and ready to tackle the life God's given you.
The dates are Sept 22-23 and the cost is $65 for the night's lodging and three meals at Crow's Neck (FCR) Christian Retreat Center. To register, call Vivian Lee at 662-523-6684 or Wendy Shumaker at 662-279-3692. Make checks payable to Women of Destiny and mail to P.O. Box 359, Dennis MS 38838
We're looking forward to seeing you at Crow's Neck Sept. 22-23. Please share with your church and invite your friends to come along.
If you're interested, we have several opportunities to serve. There are a few "administrative" type tasks for which we would love some help. We'll be collecting items for personal care packs for the homeless. (list below). We also have a painted rock activity planned, so we'd be grateful if your group would like to paint and donate rocks to the project. (Contact me for more info.)
Suggested items for personal care packs include:
- hotel-sized soap
- hotel-sized shampoo
- tooth brush
- small tube of tooth paste
- small pack of band-aids
- comb
- “hot hands” packets of hand warmers during cold weather
- knit gloves that stretch to fit all sizes during cold weather
- knit caps
- deodorant
- potted meat, etc. if you can find some with pull tab openings
- crackers (small packs)
- any snack they can just open and have on hand (protein bars, etc)
- socks (clean socks are a big need)
- bug-off-wipes
- feminine hygiene products
Our focus verse is 1 Kings 19:12. Elijah heard God's voice in the gentle whisper. We hope you will, too.
"And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper..." 1 Kings 19:12
Silence the noise and hear the whisper...
___________Please like and share if this blog post has touched your heart. It extends our digital reach in significant ways. Thank you.
In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: The Freedom Option We Should Never Refuse
If you feel led to partner with this ministry (US, Jordan, the digital world), here's the link to give your tax-deductible donations: Global Outreach Acct 4841
Or you can mail your check or money order to: Global Outreach/ PO Box 1, Tupelo MS 38802. Be sure to put Account 4841 in the "for" line
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