This weekend was the Holland Park Church ladies' retreat at the Bonclarken Conference Center in Flat Rock, NC. There were about 70 of us women bunking together, four to a room, on Friday night. I knew only a handful of people going in, but left feeling connected to 70 beautiful Christian women.
If you know me, then you know I'm not a big group kind of girl, so, of course, there was anxiety attached to this event. While the ladies from my Thursday night Bible study and Sunday night Life Group were all going, I've still only known them for a couple of months, and here I was about to spend the weekend with them. When I met the Bible study ladies for the drive to Flat Rock, I just had to say a prayer and hop in the car.
The drive to NC was great, and once we got there things only got better. Many of the women had brought crockpots full of their favorite soups, and we had a dinner of every soup imaginable and giant chunks of French bread. I consider good food to be a good sign. Our speaker was Cheryl Cannon, and she was amazing. Though she claimed to be goofy and a little ADD, she led us seamlessly through funny stories and explications of Scripture. Her overarching message? God is enough.
That night, we played games. (Can you say, "organized chaos"?) After that, it was time for sleep (or at least attempted sleep.) Whoever thought that rubberized mattress covers were a good plan should be soundly beaten. Every time you shifted your weight (or breathed), the sheets slid on the mattress cover and made terrible noises. So I basically laid there intensely aware of every move I was trying not to make. Fun night. At least nobody snored.
The next day we had more fellowship, singing, and Bible study. We also got to take a walk across the grounds down to a beautiful little lake. Very scenic. Most importantly, though, I was so grateful for the friendship extended to me by so many women. I am including some pictures, though they don't do the fun justice!
So now it's back to the real world of mountains of school work and deadlines. I feel renewed and ready to face them (well, mostly, anyway.)
Haha - I can relate to the mattresses. But you're not really supposed to come back from a retreat rested are you? :)
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