Friday, February 27, 2009

Aren’t Girlfriends a Treasure?!

At a meeting last May a friend I just met agreed with my comment that it would be great to have a group of girlfriends to get together with, to encourage each other and develop a tighter support group. We decided to start a GirlFriends Club and each invite a couple more girls who felt the same way to join us.

Since then we have managed to meet at least monthly as a group, usually for dinner somewhere. It may be a restaurant one month and someone’s home the next. In between times, the “GF’s” may get together individually to do fun things, do business together, share insights and resources or ideas, or simply call or email to keep in touch. We have our own online photo album of shared times together. And there’s an instant prayer chain, as we rally around each other when there are times someone needs extra prayer for a situation.

In this hectic-paced society with fragmented family units there just seems to be a greater lack of community than ever before. The family, relatives, and community support of those being more aware and in touch with their neighbors have waned over the past few decades. In light of divided families, the transient nature of our society, privacy and isolation desires as people are jammed closer together in larger cities not knowing their neighbors – all is exacerbated by the further isolation through internet-based communications versus the previous high-touch methods.

Many live in fear and loneliness and even guilt. Or they live at a high pace that would preclude any time to develop new or deeper relationships. The age of accountability is long gone. People come and go as they please, not wanting their activities or attitudes to be judged by others. They have settled for being content in their discontent.

So the insights from all this societal philosophy I’ve presented is that there are deep needs for meaningful relationships. These needs are undulating just below the surface in many people, waiting for a tender loving touch to draw them out.
Will you be the one God uses today to reach out and touch someone at a deeper level? Will you be the first one to reach out a hand of friendship to someone in need? Are you willing to just listen to those whose hearts are aching to share what they feel inside – whether joys or sorrows?

If you’re wishing you could have a few more close friends, why not start your own GirlFriends Club with a few women God brings your way?

When I prayed for God to send me a couple of good friends, he told me to find some ladies who were looking for a friend and then for me to be one to them. I have more GF’s than I ever imagined with this approach!

God is so good! If you’ll ask him for what you want – and then wait expectantly, you will see how he’ll amaze you with his answers!

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." - Luke
11:9


"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." - Jeremiah 33:3

For pictures of our GF Club to inspire you to start your own, visit our photo album at: http://tinyurl.com/GFAlbum

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Retreat to Leadership

Recently I joined a group of ladies from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) at an area retreat. We had a delightful time on a cold winter weekend meeting new friends, working on missions projects and enjoying good food and fellowship.

This was my first time to a LWML retreat. In fact, since I’ve only been attending the Lutheran church for under two years, I didn’t know much about the missions group and what they did.

My first visit to a LWML meeting was an end of year luncheon that was not a typical meeting. It was in a local restaurant where there was mostly fellowship with a brief business meeting at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the ladies I met and planned to join them in the fall for their regular meetings. During the business meeting, they said there was a need for a person to present a devotional at each meeting. Since I love to speak and share how I see God moving in my life and the world around me, I volunteered. Another lady spoke up and joined me as co-chair.

Since September when we presented our first devotional, I’ve learned a lot about who the LWML is and how they work. Things were not as I had perceived from an outsider’s view, as usually is true in everything! As I developed more friendships through the group, I looked forward to the retreat at a conference center I’d always wanted to visit. And I looked forward to getting to know more of the women in my group better at the event.

Little did I know what amazing things were in store for me!

I shared a ride and a room with a lady from my group I didn’t know at all. She was a treasure, with such a kind and sweet spirit and great faith that showed, even though she had been going through a lot of things with her family’s troubles.

We were the only ones from our church who stayed overnight on the Friday night. My roommate knew most all the ladies present from the other churches, so we were invited to sit at various tables for different events throughout the evening. It was great to meet lots of women from the area and find out about their churches and their LWML group’s projects and activities.

Not only did we have a whole lot of fun together, but the retreat center was located in a virtual paradise of nature! I’ve posted a few pictures here and others on my photo site (link below). You may notice it was very cold, as there was even ice on the water in some areas. We rarely see that in this part of Virginia even in the winter! To my artist’s eye, the stark beauty of nature was unmistakable even in the midst of this barren season. Perhaps you’ll get the idea when you view more of the pictures at:
http://tinyurl.com/LWMLRetreat

Now here I was at my first LWML Zone Retreat - enjoying the beautiful natural setting, the great fellowship and fun and meeting new ladies from the area. I kept getting volunteered to read Bible passages, be a team leader, and be in a skit. I was having too much fun, I think!

Then during the business meeting midday on Saturday, they were looking for new officers to lead the area for the next two years. Some of the ladies told me I should volunteer. I told them I was so new I really probably wasn’t the right candidate for any of the jobs. Well, they introduced me to the nominating committee who immediately jumped all over me and begged me to be the new president. I guess they were looking for some “fresh meat!” and it looked like I was it!

After some going back and forth and finding out more about what the job entailed, I finally acquiesced. The women in my group that had nominated me said it didn’t matter about knowing all about the organization; they just felt I was presidential material & that was all that mattered to them! I was amazed! But I figured it would be a great way to widen my circle of friends and influence, as well as learn a lot more than I ever might normally about the bigger picture of the LWML.

A strange way to step up to leadership by going on a retreat! But my prayer and purpose in going was to be a blessing to others and to see how God wanted to use me further. I think my “mistake” was in asking God to “enlarge my territory” as in Jabez’s prayer.

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. - 1 Chronicles 4:10, NIV

Be assured he is just waiting for you to ask and he will do it! ;-)