Barcelona Hot Chocolate with Strawberry Marshmallows by cherineufeld on flickr used with permission
On the 22nd – 24th July, 70 ladies from WDBC headed to Katoomba for our annual Me Time Retreat. This was our first year at Katoomba Christian Convention – our registrations far exceeded our expectations and we ended up being split between Hartley and Kedumba Campuses!
Katoomba turned on some miserable weather for the start of the retreat, as we drove up the mountain we were met with rain and thick fog! However the weather fined up for the rest of the weekend, and it was wonderful that all the rooms were toasty and warm inside, regardless of the cold temperatures out!
Friday night saw us all dig deep to find our inner artist as we each created a hand drawn poster to tell a bit about ourselves and played a couple of quick getting to know you games. We all settled in for the night and were treated with a beautiful cooked breakfast the next morning.
Joining us this year (for her third year!) was our wonderful speaker, Gillian Davis. Her talks were most definitely the highlight of the weekend! She spoke on the topic of Intimacy With God and broke it down into three sessions for us, using various Psalms as prompts to reflect on our own personal relationship with God. In the first session she spoke about Intimacy with God in the Messiness of Life and referenced Psalm 73. She encouraged us to look at our thoughts and feelings about the world we live in and how that affects our relationship with God. We need to be honest in our relationship with God because real, true honesty leads to a deeper intimacy. In our Christian walk we aim to become more like God, but we can’t do this by ourselves, we need God’s help.
Next, Gillian spoke about Intimacy with God through Confession using Psalm 51 written by King David. Confession is God’s provision for us to stay intimately close to Him and to stop us developing a hard heart. We need to closely examine the small choices we make and justify in life. To receive forgiveness we need to ask for it, then we need to rely on God’s ability to forgive and not hold our sin against us but work in us to create a clean heart and restore us to Him.
In the final session we looked at a number of Psalms that explored the Intimacy with God and Joy! We looked at the difference between happiness (which is largely dependent upon our circumstances) and joy (that sort that we can only know through loving and enjoying God forever). Gillian explained that we all have a longing to be loved for who we are, as we are – but that we often betray ourselves by placing that expectation to fulfil that desire on someone or something else. God should be the source of fulfilment for our deepest longings and desires.
You can download Gillian’s Me Time 2011 Intimacy with God Booklet here. The recordings of the session will be available for you to listen to within the next couple of weeks, we will update the link here once they are available.
In what can only be described as God working in the preparation for Me Time, the three ladies who shared their testimonies on the weekend were so raw and honest and their stories reflected beautifully the content in Gillian’s talks. Thank you to Vanessa, Maryanne and Jennie for sharing your life, faith and very personal stories of God at work in your lives.
The Pyjama Party on the Saturday night was a lot of fun! We shared a lovely meal together dressed to the nines in our dressing gowns, PJ’s and slippers – full marks go to those who decked themselves out in cold cream and rollers 
After dinner Hartley and Kedumba competed against each other in a unique (and very large) board game that allowed the ladies to use their talents in scattegories, pictionary, trivia, popcorn catching, bed sheet tug-o-war and various other physical challenges to work their way around the game board. It was a close game but Kedumba emerged victorious – although it could be said that age was on their side??? After the game we all tucked into a beautiful Candy Bar prepared by Trish and whilst some stayed to watch a movie, others retired to enjoy each others company in smaller groups.
In other happenings many enjoyed the opportunity to explore the local attractions including Leura, Katoomba, the Three Sisters, chocolate shops and bush walking. Others opted to enjoy the chance for uninterrupted crafting or a quick Nana Nap. There were many occasions to chat and get to know each other better, especially over the meals that were prepared by the new chef at KCC. Lunch on the Saturday consisted of gourmet hamburgers with caramelised onions, homous and aioli, whilst the freshly cooked pastries for morning tea on the Sunday were melt in the mouth delicious!
Over the weekend we had many times united together in prayer and worship. There is nothing quite like the sound of a room full of ladies voices singing together, the highlight would have to be the spontaneous acapella singing of Amazing Grace! Thank you to Alissa, Michelle and Barb for leading us in worship. Thank you to Nerida who finished our last session with a time of communion, closing our weekend with a time of reflection, remembrance and thanks giving. What an amazing weekend! God truly blessed us in our time away, we returned home to our families having enjoyed a great time of fellowship with the ladies of our Church.
What was your highlight from Me Time this year? Feel free to share in the comments section below!
Barcelona Hot Chocolate with Strawberry Marshmallows by cherineufeld on flickr_featured
About Tarissa Flesser
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