Retreat

This weekend I went to the Grace Church Women's Retreat. I originally signed up because Melanie didn't get to go to the Plymouth Park Women's Retreat last April. I am glad that we went. I had a great time. Melanie and I roomed with my Mom and Judy. They are a lot of fun. Can you believe that Mel and I were in bed before Mom and Judy!

The speaker was Kim Humphries. She is a counselor here in Dallas. Her name sounds awful familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. Kim spoke about communication and resolving conflict. While I knew a lot of the information, it was still good to have a refresher course and it provided affirmation on some of my communication skills.

There were a few things that I thought were really interesting. First, when we began to talk about conflict, Kim mentioned that all situations - the good, the bad, and the ugly - are sifted through the hand of God first. There is nothing that He doesn't take in consideration regarding out personalities, our situations, and our burdens that allows us to endure. Like 1 Cor 10:13 says about temptation, I believe that everything the Lord allows is never beyond what you can bear. Likewise, as it is said in Psalms 46:1-10, God is our refuge and strength and we can trust in Him through all conflict.

I also thought it was interesting when Kim talked about the 5 levels of friendship. While it is natural to know that not all friendships are not the same and fall into different levels, I don't know that I have ever actually read or heard about the levels. It wasn't the fact that there were levels that interested me, but it was when I began placing my friends in the different levels. I have always known I am a person with few very close friends that I am transparent with - and more that are just acquaintances, but it was interesting to actually think about it. Not that it is a bad thing... everyone is different.

And once again, we talked about temperaments. I know what I am, but I think we often forget to take into consideration what other people's temperaments are when we communicate with them, and especially in resolving conflicts. It is amazing how different the outcome can be if you pay attention to this first! (And it goes to say we don't take this into consideration when my mom had all the ladies sing Happy Birthday to me at once... and I don't like to be the center of attention! I was so embarrassed!)

Overall it was a good weekend. I pray that I (and all the other ladies) will be able to remember what we learned this weekend and apply it to their daily lives as they communicate with their family, friends and coworkers (and you know us ladies are going to be communicating!) And actually, Kudos to Melanie who used her communication skills Sunday!

Permissive and Perfect

I have been studying Romans in BSF this year and along with it I have been studying the Women of the Bible with the PPBC Women's Bible Study. This week the woman of the Bible was Leah, poor Leah. This particular study was on being or feeling unloved, but how God loves you and how we should rest in that. This lesson was nice, but something else was said that struck a chord in my heart and since I have been thinking about it.

I have been thinking about God's permissive will and His perfect will and how they fit into my life. I think that Oswald Chambers explains it nicely in My Utmost for His Highest:

Always make a distinction between God’s perfect will and His permissive will, which He uses to accomplish His divine purpose for our lives. God’s perfect will is unchangeable. It is with His permissive will, or the various things that He allows into our lives, that we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to these things allowed by His permissive will that enables us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will for us. "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . ." ( Romans 8:28 )— to those who remain true to God’s perfect will— His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the testing He uses to reveal His true sons and daughters. We should not be spineless and automatically say, "Yes, it is the Lord’s will." We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength.

I have been thinking about things happening in my life, in John's life and in my friends lives. It is always hard to understand why things happen, why God allows some things and not others. I think most importantly, we have to remember that we cannot look at things from our perspective but from the perspective of our Almighty God. I know, easier said than done. But just in the last few days I have allowed myself to turn my negative, humanly, sinful thoughts to positive, God-is-in-control, like-minded thoughts and I have to say that it has really effected my outlook on life, at least for now anyway. I know that God is in control and that He has allowed some unpleasent things/situations to come and go (or come and stay) but I know that, even if it was a result of my sin, God has allowed it for some reason, He has a plan for it that I cannot understand, and I just have to trust and hope in Him that things will work out as He sees fit.

Hopefully I can keep my hope and trust in this and continue to allow the Lord to speak to me regarding the things I dont understand - or at least keep the channels open for communication!