Ladies Retreat part 2

The theme of our retreat was: Live Lighter! That wasn't a motto for serious dieting, because the food was awesome:)(And one of the things we ladies enjoyed a lot was, that we didn't even have to do dishes there:)

We all carry burdens in our lives. The presentations brought were titled: the burden of discontentment, the burden of worry, and the burden of exhaustion.

* Being discontent can be positive or negative in our lives. If I'm discontent with the way schools are teaching our kids, I can try to make a difference. If I'm unhappy with my figure, I can start excercising more.
But if I'm unhappy with my figure and only worry about it, or talk about it, and never do anything about it, it can poison me and turn into a bigger problem.
God loves me the way I am, he doesn't care what my bank account or my scale says. We can choose to be content with what we have, or we can choose to gripe about it and live in discontentment. But then we usually miss out on the great things God has in store for us. The gift Jesus gives us, can never be taken away by people.

*To worry is to not trust enough in God. God made heaven and earth, why wouldn't he be able to take care of me? God gives us just enough strength to get through one day at a time. Worrying takes the clouds of tomorrow, and puts them in front of the sunshine of today. Again, it's my choice if I want to worry or if I bring my worries to the Lord and trust him to take care of me.

*We can't always be running around, cleaning, cooking, working, etc. Our soul and our body needs rest. God didn't take the seventh day off because He was tired. He did it so that we should take time to rest. Sometimes we need to find a hobby or an activity that is different from our daily work, just to rest. It could be a craft, or taking walks or even just a 5-min crossword puzzle.





Romans 12,2 (the Message) says: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

A very talented young lady preformed a song for us, and I would like to translate it here for you:

"Lord, where else should we go? Where in the world would we be happy? No one, no one else can give as much as you do. You lead us back to the life. Only you, only you give us happiness.

I hear the most beautiful love song from your mouth. I can tell your ear, what my soul needs. I can fall into your hands, and know you won't let me go. My hunger ceases at your table."

I'm thankful to the Lord that he led me to this retreat, and I'm thankful to my family that they let me go.