From Christy LaLonde:

On Saturday morning of the women’s retreat during the devotion time we were given a list of statements from God to read and reflect on. The first statement on the list was “Do you realize that I came to meet with you?” When I read that statement the first time, I flew right by it. My thoughts went something like, “No, I don’t think that you came to meet with me.” And I just moved on to reading the rest of the list. Now as I reflect back on the weekend, that statement keeps coming back to me. God did meet me. As I listened to women share part of their stories it was God saying, “See you aren’t alone, I am working through your pain and I love you.” On Saturday night we split into groups based on the relationships that we struggle with. As I saw that the “testy parent” group was huge and had to be split into three separate groups it was God saying, “See you aren’t the only one.” God used the words of Beth Moore and several women at the retreat to speak truth and encouragement to me.

I just want to say thank you to all of the women who were involved with the retreat. It was such a blessing to me.

Here is the list of those statement’s Christy was referring to - I hope they are as much of an encouragement to you as they were to us.

1. Do you realize that I came to meet with you?

2. Do you have any idea how much I love you? How taken I am with you?

3. Do you know that I have never forsaken you nor will I ever reject you? I was there all
along. I always will be.

4. Do you realize I knew everything about you the day you were conceived? I anticipated
your life and planned for it.

5. You do have an enemy, My Child. But it is not Me. He wants you to think it is.

6. I am for you.

7. Do you think you need to prove yourself lovable to Me? Deep down inside, are you trying to earn My love and attention?

8. As you strive to love Me more, do you realize the key to loving Me more is to let Me love you more?

9. Why are you resisting Me? Why are you running from Me?

10. To whom have you compared Me, and with whom have you confused Me?

11. I’m not like them.

12. I know what’s happened. I know what’s on your mind.

13. I alone know the plan for how this turns out well. I alone know how to prosper you
through this.

14. My eyes and My affections are on you right now.

15. Quit trying to be so strong. Let Me be strong for you.

16. I love you unashamedly. Even now My banner flies over you. Everyone in the heavenlies knows how I feel about you. I’d leave you red-faced over My love for you … if you’d let Me.

Nothing Can Separate Handout
Loving Well Kit. Published by LifeWay Press®. © 2006 Beth Moore
Published in the United States of America. Permission granted for dupication.

Like Rinnie, I also went to the Women’s Retreat this weekend. It was a great time! Lots of great fellowship, laughter, tears, and great teaching from Beth Moore! Not much sunshine though (thanks Karin!) I believe Beth Moore was the most animated I have ever seen her! That stirred lots of smiles from me.

As for what I learned from the time, I would say the statement Beth made “We will not love well until we feel well-loved.” That is definitely been a struggle of mine, as far as feeling well-loved from God. Sure, I have lots of blessings in my life, to which I am grateful! Truly grateful! But I must say, there have been several struggles and issues in my life that have made me question God’s goodness to me.

This weekend, we were given a sheet that had a list of questions and statements we were to read, as if from God to us. The 3 that stood out to me the most were -
~Do you know that I have never forsaken you nor will I ever reject you? I was there all along. I always will be.
~I am for you.
~Quit trying to be so strong. Let me be strong for you.

Those statements are so profound! So, I was reminded this weekend, that I need to continue to trust God, feel His love for me, believe Him that He is for me (even in the hard stuff), and stop being so self-reliant!

If you were there and have the list of “Nothing Can Separate” sheet, what statement(s) stood out to you the most? And if you weren’t there, can you relate to these statements I mentioned?

I was one of the 70+ women who descended on the Ocean Walk hotel at Daytona Beach to learn about Loving Well this past weekend. I had such a great weekend. The hotel was awesome, and my roommates and small group were even awesome-er.

But even better than those 2 things were the things I learned about the Lord. If I was to sum it up in one statement, I’d say it was the statement that Beth Moore said on Saturday morning “Love is part of God’s Godness - it’s not an emotion to Him, it’s part of Him.” She then related that to how we are a woman, even if we have a hysterectomy or masectomy. In the same way, there is nothing bad or good that I can do to make God love me more or less, it’s just as much a part of Him as being a woman is a part of me.

We’re going to spend time this week reflecting on things we learned this week. So if you have anything you’d like to share, please put it in the comments, or email it to us via the “contact us” page and we’ll post it for you.

You have until Sunday August 19th, to sign up for the UPC women’s retreat this year. So hurry up!

Click on the “Women’s Fall Retreat” link on the right side for more information on how to sign up.

I’m super bummed that I won’t be able to go this year. Last year was my first UPC women’s retreat and I had the best time EVER!!! No exaggeration there at all.

I met a lot of new women and it helped me to feel more involved at UPC. It wasn’t focused on mom’s like I thought it might be (I’m not a mom.) It’s for women of all ages!

So here are some reason’s why you should go to Women’s Retreat on September 28-30:

1. It’s a Beth Moore weekend retreat. We all love Beth Moore, at least I do.

2. It’s at the beach.

3. The resort is AWESOME! I’ve been there before. Not only is it on the beach but there’s also a lazy river pool as well!

4. You’ll get to know your roommates really well since the accommodations are apartment style.

5. Did I mention it’s a Beth Moore weekend?

6. The weekend theme is on “Loving Well” - learning to love other people well, especially the ones we don’t like so much. And we all have people in our lives that are difficult. If you don’t, I’d like to meet you.

7. You’ll get to know new women from UPC, and get to know better the women you already know!

8. You’re bound to learn great spiritual truths.

9. You’ll have the opportunity to hear from God.

10. It’s a weekend away to spend time with God, friends and even time alone.

I live in a small country neighborhood.  It’s dark at night.  I mean DARK.  The street lighting is sparse: I have no idea how the minimal outside lighting was determined.  The other night I was walking the dog late at night and let her pull me off the road and along a ditch that bordered the street.  (This happens, particularly when I don’t see a critter in the dark and she goes from zero to 50 in the 6 feet of leash she has.)  The next day - in broad daylight - we passed the same stretch of ditch.  Lying precisely where I had walked the night before was a seven foot snake…dead, but still a snake.  I haven’t walked in a dark ditch since.

Light can make all the difference in our lives, both for seeing and appreciating what’s around us and for avoiding danger.  God’s word is described in many helpful ways, but one of the most beautiful pictures we’re given is that it is ‘…a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.’ (Ps. 119:105).  Darkness is confusing, scary and - at times - dangerous.  God’s Word sheds light and brings freedom along this difficult and sometimes dark path we call life.   Probably the primary tool He uses is the wonderful gift we have which we call ‘His Word’.

In this breakout session, we took a mini-survey on people’s views of the Bible and their personal practices in spending time reading and studying it.  This was followed by a mini-history on the uniqueness of the Bible and how it came to be.  The goal, though, was to provide a practical approach to personal Bible study.  We looked at a grid that can help us do a ‘treasure hunt’ when in the Scriptures, making us better able to see what’s there looking back at us.  The only lasting benefit to this seminar will come through the individual’s use of the tool provided.

Goal of all Bible study is a changed heart and life as we know Him and let Him work His grace and truth into our lives.