It’s Monday morning, and I’m pretty impressed that I made it into the office after a packed weekend. Although, I’m thinking a short nap on the office floor may be happening soon. 🙂
The women’s retreat was a success! There were a few glitches along the way…we were without water for about 20 of the 48 hours we were together, and the pastor who was supposed to speak Saturday morning arrived about 7 hours late…but I think overall the women really had a refreshing time.
My favorite part of the weekend was Saturday night when the church group here from Colorado threw a birthday party for all of the women. There were balloons, streamers, KFC and cake, but the best part was the presents…each woman received her own Bible! I hope I can post a video clip of them receiving their Bibles sometime soon, because everyone needs to see how excited they were! I had tears in my eyes as all 50 women, packed into one room, sang and danced while holding the Word of God high in the air. It was really beautiful.
Later that night we had a “spa” area where the women got facials and foot scrubs (the water came back on just in time!). Sphiwe, one of the cute little grandmas in the group, left her time at the “spa” doing a little dance and singing in her broken English, “I am a beautiful lady!” over and over again. 🙂
Our theme for the weekend was “Faith That Endures.” A couple months ago God really got me thinking about what I would want to teach these women if I knew I only I had a short amount of time left with them. There is unrest in countries around us. The muslim influence here seems to be increasing. I’m realizing more and more that even though Swaziland is currently a peaceful place, you just never know when the “climate” here could make a quick change. Last week on the phone my mom was telling me about the flooding in parts of Iowa, and about how people were sand bagging to help structures withstand the floods that were probably coming their way. I thought, “what can we do now to fortify our faith so that it stands firm against whatever might come in the future?”
As I started studying for the teaching I’d be doing on Friday night, I spent some time looking at scriptures that include words such as endure, enduring, steadfast, everlasting, firm, etc. Of course there were many vss talking about believers enduring hardships, remaining steadfast etc. but more often, the vss containing those words were not referring to believers at all…they were describing God! His love endures forever, his kingdom endures forever, his righteousness, his glory, his kindness…they all ENDURE FOREVER. God calls us to endure, and we are able to do so, because we serve a God who “endures.” He is unchanging. His mercy never ends. He is our firm foundation. PRAISE HIM. Whatever part of the world you live in, I think that is good truth to dwell on.
I think that’s all for today. Hopefully I’ll get some pics or video from the weekend posted soon!
