Monday, April 18, 2011

to be refreshed

I went away this weekend.
To a girls (can I still call myself a girl? calling us "ladies" conjures up thoughts of doilies and calling us "women" makes me think of something more professional or organized than this weekend actually was. "girls" it is.) cottage getaway.
It.Was.Delightful.
And refreshing.
It truly was just what I needed.

About a year ago (more?) I started getting together with several young moms from my church for a purely social evening. You see, it's kinda hard to make friends on Sunday mornings. So we all would get together and at first we got together at a restaurant and that was pretty fun, but soon our conversations would last longer and were more intimate than a restaurant setting provided. So we started meeting in each others' homes. Until this past December as we were heading out sometime before midnight I said, "I feel like we could talk all night long! We need some kind of retreat!"
And then Katie said that their family had a cottage.
And the rest is history.
To be honest, I didn't know if it would actually come together but I'm so glad it did.
We pretty much just talked


and ate.


The amazing thing is that we didn't just talk about our kids and our husbands and our lives, but we shared deeply with each other. I shared things I've never told many people (save for my husband and maybe even my sister) before. There was no judgement, no competitiveness or one-upping. It was safe and fun and loving and I think probably one of my favourite parts was sharing our testimonies with one another on Sunday morning. 
Each person was vulnerable in their own way and we were able to pray for each other and come along side each other as we shared how God has redeemed us and changed us and continues to work in our lives. 
It was beautiful and such a perfect example of how the body of Christ is supposed to come together to truly be a family - sisters in Christ.
I loved it.

Part of me just weeps when I think of leaving this group now as I know in my heart that God is doing something and is going to do something really big through this group and these women, but I know that He is sovereign and His timing is perfect. 
But mostly I'm just thankful to have experienced such awesome fellowship and friendship and I hope to continue to experience it - it will just look a little different.

Oh and I ate amazing food (quiche & thai soup and indonesian curry and scones and delicious salads). And laughed. A lot. It was amazing.

3 comments:

  1. this sounds delicious. i'm so happy for you to have experienced it, and to be honest, a bit jealous! i want some!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When someone is leaving there is a fine line between being too sentimental and not letting the person just feel normal and freed up to just live before they leave and the other extreme where you don't tell the person how much you will miss them/appreciate them until they are gone or never say it....

    so all that to say I have that tension in mind when I tell you:
    Who you are and what you bring will be really missed in this group!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh Suz, you can give me the sentimental any day! :) knowing that you will be missed DOES free you up to live and leave. i think it's healthy to be sad, just not so sad that it paralyzes you.
    :)

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you!
If you're commenting as "Anonymous" please make sure to sign your name under your comment so I know who you are!
Happy day to you!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...