There were rainbows, open fires, wild weather, beautiful scenery, fabulous food, a gorgeous baby, good teaching, and many beautiful and wonderful women! The Lifestream’s women’s retreat to Hanmer had it all!
We arrived in Hanmer on Friday night to a mocktail and enjoyed dinner and dessert together. The first evening was about getting to know each other and we played Getting to Know You Bingo where we had lots of fun finding out interesting things about each other. We ended the evening with night prayer and enjoyed a good night’s sleep. Unlike Saturday night where the majority of us were still awake at 3.30am listening to the storm and high winds! At one point I thought I had a troop of tap-dancing Opossums on the roof!
The theme of the retreat was Sitting at the Feet of Jesus, and we first looked at Ruth and did a Bible study on Chapter 3 looking at the assurance of God. We then brainstormed some ways that we could sit at the feet of Jesus. The afternoon session was a contemplative exercise on Luke 7:36-50 where we reflected on the women at Jesus’ feet. Some used the time to write, some sang, some walked, some did crafts, and some just sat in the silence and contemplated and reflected. The rest of the afternoon was spent as free time. Some headed off to the Hot Pools, some went walking and some of us may have had a wee nap.
Saturday night we enjoyed more good food and heard some testimonies and discussions and evening prayer. Sunday morning we all went to church at the Hanmer Church of the Epiphany where were heard Paul Askin preach. And it was a delight to hear him talk about some of the passages that we had looked at on Saturday! It capped the weekend off beautifully.
It was lovely to see everyone getting to know each other, new friendships forming, and older ones growing deeper. There was a real sense of sisterhood in Christ of support, growth and fun.
Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a great weekend and to everyone who came, participated helped out, and had fun.
By Jo Cotton
