A Great Stop on the Journey!

Did you make it this weekend? Were you a part of the wonderful time of worship, fellowship and teaching? It was a wonderful weekend, and the Lord was faithful to come and be among us and minister to our hearts.

Friday night was a fun evening of fellowship with a powerful time of worship and prayer. Pastor Carol shared with us about our Journeys through this Christian life, and the wonderful truth that JESUS is both the Journey and the Destination.

Saturday morning started off with a giggle (I hope) and a great word of encouragement from Kathy Schinhofen. Can we ever hear too much about the love our Savior has for us? The way the weekend was so well intertwined with the words that were shared, and the Truths we were reminded of, only God can orchestrate something so beautifully.

Did you enjoy your workshop? There were so many to choose from, and we only got to pick one! That might have been the biggest challenge of the weekend, but don't be discouraged, Pastor Carol mentioned that the workshops will be offered again at our Spring Retreat!

Spring Retreat? Yes, that's the plan. Details ahead! And as for all the workshops, we hope to do a series here in the meantime with articles based on each of the workshops over the coming months. So be sure to check back! (Sign up on the mailing list at right and we'll let you know when new items are published.) We're hoping to offer lots more articles to encourage and inspire here on the Women's Ministry blog, so pass it on!

f course I cannot talk about this weekend without mentioning the incredible testimony that was shared by Teresa Jepsen for our final session. What an incredible account of the love and goodness of our God. Teresa knows Him as "Daddy" the way that each of us should hope to, and to hear her story was an amazing inspiration. Thank you Teresa for sharing!

The food was great, the teachings educational, the sharing inspiring, the worship amazing, and most of all each one of the ladies there was a joy! To our fellowship and most of all to the Lord! Can you just hardly wait till the Women's Tea when we can all get together again? Sign up to hostess or serve, invite your girlfriends, your mom, your sisters... It's going to be a GREAT event December 8-11, 2009. Tickets go on sale November 1st.

Let's all pray a special blessing over our Women's Ministry leadership, Pastor Carol Danna, and Rebekah Contreras and Angela Carlson. Their service created a huge blessing this weekend, which if you were there, you already know! And if you weren't, let me encourage you don't miss out again!

By Diana DePriest CWM Communications Ministry

The Benefit of Fellowship

We live in busy days, constantly running at the "speed of life." In my own life, I often find myself waking up to hit the ground running, get up get dressed, get the kids up, breakfast, making lunches, homework check and off to school. After dropping them off it's off to my job where I tend to spend long hours chasing my tail, only to rush out at the last possible moment to head back to school, pick up the children, get them home, get through a snack, homework, dinner, all the while fitting in all the extracurriculars like karate, gymnastics, soccer. All the while the cell phones beeping with missed calls or incoming text messages. The computer cries out, "You've got mail." And we go, and we go, and we go.

It's hectic, and keeping priorities straight is a challenge. Giving the Lord first fruits, not only in things like finances, but in the practicals like time and attention is a challenge. Maybe your schedule doesn't look anything at all like mine. Maybe your children are still little, and you find your time consumed with things like dirty diapers and whining toddlers, you haven't been alone in the bathroom since 2007, but at the end of the day, the results are the same. Or maybe you're an empty-nester, who looked forward to this season with anticipation of free time, only to find out that time has a way of being easily consumed. Maybe these kinds of challenges lie years ahead of you, you're young and strong and on your own, but you still have the "speed of life" running you fast with things like school or work. Even if you're in the "honeymoon phase" of your life, it seems something. always. demands. our. time.

For me, I find, even when I seem to have all my "ducks" lined up beautifully and my devotional times is set, and I'm plugged in faithfully with the Lord, even if I'm getting a good solid night's sleep at night, there is something that always makes even the good a little better. The bible talks about the importance of fellowship, being connected with one another and taking to the task of building each other up.

These days if you turn on the television, or sit down to a movie, it isn't often that you find an example of a great friendship between women. It seems they're always competing, tearing down, or isolating themselves. The days of great friendships like "Lucy and Ethel," are not what they used to be. I think that's kind of sad.

Nothing refreshes me more than an evening out with a good group of girlfriends, or a nice long phone call, or even an email just to catch up. When we don't have those fellowship times with our sisters in the Lord, I think the world seems a little lonelier. When my heart is low, there is nothing better to lift it than a hug, or a word, or a note from a friend. It's the benefit of fellowship.

Check Back Soon!

Mommying Made EZ

New post is up.

Click to go: Lighten Up

Recommended Reading

I wrote a blog post about what Pastor Rick spoke on Sunday (and what spoke to me) and Pastor Carol asked me to post the link here to share it.

Click here to go: Denial

Blessings!
Diana