Testimonies from Women's Retreat June 2008
Jody Reich
One Sunday morning before church I was praying about going on the "Women's Refuge Retreat." My first thoughts were "they don't need me." God, however saw things differently. He brought a visitor to Ark Ministries that morning with a word for me. The word was "YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT". I knew that was my answer. If I wanted to walk in obedience, I had to go on the retreat and be part of the worship team.
The Sunday before the retreat, one of many things God was speaking to our church about was how He can move mountains. Our job is to step out in faith, be bold and like a soldier who is trained for battle, have confidence and trust in that training. God has prepared us.
About a month ago the Lord put the song "Centre of My Life" by Hillsong on my heart. I never expected He'd have me play and sing it BY MYSELF during a service at the retreat!! (YIKES!) Those who know me will tell you that is way out of my comfort zone! I'm so glad I chose to obey, though because through it He gave me confidence and boldness and more freedom than I've ever felt before. He is so good and so faithful!! I'm excited at all He is doing in my life.
I am thankful to each of the women at the retreat for being so friendly and accepting of me. What a joy it was spending time with them and growing together in Christ.
I pray God blesses each one of them as they continue to think "rubber bands" and step out in obedience.
Marilyn Jean
I came home late on Saturday night and on Sunday morning I looked at my husband Joe's calendar. He has a revolving calendar called, 'The Power of a Praying Husband'. It is a flip type thing and when I looked at it, one page was standing straight up instead of being flipped all the way over. I usually don't read this but I thought I'd fix it.
I decided to read the words for the dates of the Ladies weekend. First I looked at June 13th, it read: "Lord, I pray that my wife will always be a forgiving person. Even if she doesn't feel like it at the moment, help her to forgive out of obedience to You. Show her that forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes HER FREE." This was a good word and I needed to do that!
Then I looked at June 14th, Saturday and I was really blessed! It said, "Please pray for your wife that she will have close friendships with godly women. She will have good relationships with all family members. She will be able to release hurts from the past. She will forgive others completely."
The first line wowed me! How many days in a year? And this was on the day of the retreat! Pretty cool! Guess God really answered that one!
The next day of the retreat June 15th says, "I have prayed that God would send a few godly women into my wife's life whom she can trust and with whom she can be close. I prayed for women who will love my wife, pray with her, and stand with her."
So that was my first blessing and it came true!
Jean Bundas
The air was charged with excitement and expectation as the women began to arrive at "The Refuge," a wonderful cottage-like home in Higgins Lake, Michigan. We were all looking forward to a wonderful weekend full of relationship building, fun, food, and above all else sharing some awesome times with God.
It was our first evening together and I had just finished barbecuing the hamburgers and hotdogs. The table was overflowing with delicious things to eat as we bowed our heads to say the blessing. I could sense the presence of God so strong in the room as we began to give thanks for God's bountiful provision. The other women must have felt it too because they began to laugh and shout. I thought to myself, "Wow! This is just the blessing for the food; I can not wait until the worship service tonight!"
Needless to say, it was an awesome weekend. We saw people set free in healing and deliverance. Others stepped out in areas they had been tentative to step-out in previously. God brought laughter to some and rest to others. Times were spent together in fellowship, and building relationships.
My favorite memory is how God moves in ways that we least expect it. The worship team was doing a sound check and a few of the women were sitting in the room with us watching. Jill, our worship leader, spoke into her microphone. "Test, test," she said. I turned it into a little tune and began to sing, Test, test take a test..." Others joined in with various harmonies as we began to add silly phrases. The room was filled with joyous sounds as people stepped out of their comfort zones and begin to join in. Suddenly I heard someone jammin' away on the keyboard, it was awesome! I looked over expecting to see Jill playing and there was Jody, our "slow and steady" keyboard accompanist grinning ear-to-ear. Her fingers were flying all over the keyboard (or so it seemed to me!). Incredible!